Does Live Dealer Blackjack Card Counting Works?
Card counting is the stuff that movies are made out of. Card counters go into a casino and head to the blackjack table. Their ability to work with numbers and understand when the odds are in their favor allows them to walls out of the casino with plenty of money. The aim of any blackjack counting strategy is to give the player an idea of the composition of the remaining cards in the shoe. Not exactly what those cards are, but rather the broad composition of majority high cards, or majority low cards. Knowing whether the shoe is high card or low card rich, puts the player at an advantage over the house
Card counting is not allowed in live casinos. They take many different steps to make sure that card counters are not able to succeed. From using multiple decks to having a database of people that are known card counters, the live casinos can be effective at making sure that this strategy does not work in their casino.
Online casinos do not have the ability to stop a card counter from plying their trade. They also may not be able to tell if the card counter is using any electronic tools to help them as they are counting. They cannot see the player.
The Use of Live Dealer Blackjack
Many online enthusiasts do not trust computer-generated blackjack games. They think that these games are not truly random and that will prevent any card counting from working. The solution is to turn to live dealer online blackjack games. In these the player sees the dealer of the game through a video feed. They play the game in real time and believe that to be a fairer way to play the game. It also gives them the opportunity to use their card counting skills.
The thing that makes card counting work with live dealers online is that the dealer cannot see the player. They do not know what the player is doing on the other side of the computer. That means a player can use the card counting tools they have available to them.
When you play a game of blackjack in a real casino or online casino the deal happens fast.
A great way to practice counting cards is to deal a deck to yourself and keep a running count. If at the completion of the deal you have a count of zero, you were spot on. Increase the deal speed until the count is pretty much second nature and then you’re ready to hit the casinos.
Underlying any counting method is the fact that a high card rich deck/shoe, combined with optimal play, increases the mathematical returns of blackjack. This is because a high card rich deck results in more pat hands for the player and increases the likelihood of dealer busts with forced hits on stiffs like being 12’s to 16’s.
A high card rich deck also increases the chances of Blackjacks being dealt – both to the dealer and players, however for players Blackjack pays 3:2 swinging returns in their favour.
Thus a high card rich shoe improves players’ chances of winning, and the running count tells you whether the remaining shoe is high card rich or not.
The running count gets high as more low cards have been dealt than high cards, meaning on balance there are more high cards remaining in the shoe. This is referred to as a positive count. The greater the positive the count closer to the end of the shoe, the better the odds for players.
Also if the running count is less than zero which is a negative count then the remaining shoe is low card rich and not a good shoe for players. Card counting is simply a means of calculating just how high-card-rich the remaining shoe/deck is so that you can bet accordingly.
Does it work?
Card counting can work. It can put the odds in the favor of the player instead of the casino. The problem is that any card counting strategy can be difficult to use. It requires a lot of work, practice and it means not making any mistakes. Most of the people that fail when counting cards in blackjack do it because they make mistakes when they are playing. They fail to count correctly, lose their count or don’t use the system because they have a hunch.
As said above at land casinos you will not be allowed to count cards if they know you are an advanced player who knows the card counting method. Note that they are pretty good at detecting bet patterns consistent with card counting and they will ask that player to leave and not return.
At an online casino RNG (random number generator) blackjack games preclude the possibility of an effective count because all online RNG games are dealt from a full shuffled deck/shoe. Online blackjack card counting is therefore totally useless as you are playing to a full deck/shoe with every deal.
At live casinos, the scene is different as live dealer games do not have a computer-generated deck that can be automatically replenished and shuffled every game. Also each casino has their own set of Live casino Blackjack rules to follow. At Playtech powered live casino for example you might find eight deck Live Blackjack with a live dealer and a real Blackjack table, with multiple players. The cards are shuffled when there are approximately four decks left in the shoe.
At Evolution Gaming powered live casinos shoe is shuffled at regular intervals. In practice, you will find this translates to an approximate mid-shoe shuffle also.
In both cases players aren’t able to penetrate deep into the shoe with their count. Playing live dealer blackjack you aren’t given an opportunity to effectively gauge how high card rich the shoe is because the deal never runs to the (near) end of the shoe.
So playing live online, any counting strategy, while good counting practice, will not enable you to gain an edge over the house either.
Only at real casinos amongst the lots of noises, distractions you can use card counting if not detected by pit boss.
Counting cards does not guarantee a person will win when they are playing blackjack. It does not matter whether a person is playing in the live casino, an online casino or a live dealer online blackjack game. The best thing a person can do is practice a lot before they play live dealer online blackjack. That will help them to avoid the mistakes that can occur at any time.
Online live casinos do not want the players to use a counting system when playing blackjack. They will try to eliminate anyone that is using the system. They may base it on the way a player is playing the game or if they think the player is winning too much money. It may not sound fair, but the casinos can do it. It is up to the player to get as much as they can counting cards before the casinos stop them.
