In the both the cases you will come across players who will say that they can beat the game. The main difference between the two is poker is not fixed, but blackjack is, that is not to imply there is cheating. Poker is very different matter altogether. Whatever game of poker you play, here the players have to compete against each other and not the House. So it means that though there is a level of luck element attached, but players with skill can certainly pull off a win with poker game.

We see that there are many professional blackjack players who are now poker enthusiasts. Counting in the public arena, which is a rule for blackjack, can be difficult and hence we see that the transition from blackjack to poker is becoming a reality with each passing day.

The book of Ken Sutton encourages the evolution of the blackjack counting teams, and hammers on the fact at anybody could be victorious at black jack counting. The casinos are responsive to that fame which has made the operation of these teams quite hard. Individual blackjack counting could yet be successfully applied. Francesco and Hyland shifted to a various blackjack counting called “ace sequencing”.

They incorporate systems to spot the card at the bottom in a shuffle. They’ll then cut the deck quite expertly. The casinos had it more hard this moment. The members of these teams were arrested for team play at Casino Windsor. The judge ruled that the conduct wasn’t tricking. It is an essential ruling and blackjack counting wasn’t thought about an offence.

That though was an extremely hard system to master, and consequently this day we have much easier black jack counting systems accessible to us.

But that’s not reality.  At best – at absolute best your depth will be 85% into the shoe.  Most likely you’ll end up somewhere around 75%, or even 70%.  Unless you’re stuck playing in Atlantic City; I’ve written before about the problems in playing blackjack there.

And please don’t ask about depth of deal in an online casino.  The only reason to even play blackjack in an online casino is to work one of the buy-in bonuses.  There is no such thing as depth of deal in an online casino - if you have to ask why, PLEASE do not gamble.  Ever.

On the flip side Atlantic by law CANNOT throw a player out because they are card counter. They will be the ones in trouble. So if you got the smarts that is the place to go and for some card counting techniques here are a few places to visit.

Card Counting Techniques 1

Card Counting Techniques 2

This counting method results in what’s called an unbalanced count – in most counting systems once you go through a deck, starting at zero and counting all of the cards, you’ll end up at zero. With an unblaanced count, you start at zero and after going through a deck you will not end up at zero. The advantage at using an unbalanced system is that you do not have to estimate the count in relation to the remaining decks. The disadvantage is that a counting error will result in more fluctuations (therefore being MUCH less effective) than with a balanced counting method.

But the Red 7 is definitely the easiest of all counting methods and is very very efficient for doing what it does.

The starting count, when you first sit down to play, is NOT zero. It is -2 for each deck available. So for the typical 8 deck shoe your starting count should be -16, for a 6 deck shoe it is -12, and so forth.

The pivots – the points in the count at which you gain successive 1% advantages – depend on the number of decks in play, so for the purposes of this we’ll assume ‘shoe’ play. Six or eight decks. If you play fewer decks you should find any one of Arnold Snyder’s books, especially Blackbelt in Blackjack. If you start with the proper number (-16, -12, depending on the decks in the shoe), the pivot point will always be zero. Once it hits zero your advantage over the house has been raised by 1/2 of 1%. It is also at this point that you should raise your bet.

In a shoe game, your base bet should be 2 units. If the count goes negative, your bet should be one unit. Increase your bet to three units at +6, 4 units at +8, 6 units at +12, and 8 units at +16.

Take insurance anytime the count is +2.

Playing decisions change in this manner:

At a count of zero:
Stand on player 16 vs. dealer 10.
Stand on player 12 vs. dealer 3.

At a count of +2 or higher:
Stand on player 12 vs. dealer 2.
Stand opn player 15 vs. dealer 10.
Double down on ANY player 10.

Obviously, if you are going to play a shoe game, you need to practice over and over and over and over and over and over and over using MANY decks at home. For every deck of cards you use, the final count shoudl be +2. If you practice with one deck, after going through it your count should be +2. If you practice with four decks, your final count should be +8.

PRACTICE!

But let’s take a comparison of the two games:

In Las Vegas, you can find pretty much any kind of game you want. Some single deck, 2 deck, 4 deck. Good penetration in the shoe.

in Atlantic City, nearly every every blackjack game is 6 or 8 deck, with maybe 50% penetration. Sometimes even 40%!

In other words, not barring card counters means the casinos have to come up with ways in which the game is awful for the counters. (This in itself opens up the ridiculous betting systems using amounts, which we don’t need to get into) In Vegas, yes, you can get removed from one, and therefore all, casinos if you’re marked and put in the book. But in the meantime, you’re in for some excellent games of blackjack.

But it’s for a single-deck game. Where I usually play, most games are either 6 or 8 decks, so I should post the odds for those games:

For the 6 deck game:

And for the 8 deck game:

That’s it. As you can see the tables aren’t that different between the 6 and 8 deck shoes, but in some cases it’s enough to make a long-run dent in your bank.

The tables from MindPlay/Bally’s track everything. EVERYTHING. ALL cards played, all wagers spent, in what denominations. EVERYTHING.

According to the casinos this is supposed to be a boon for players because now it’s efficient for them to trace comps on the lower ($5-$10/hand) players. Except it’s really just another way to screw the player in favor of the casino.

Can you imagine being able to track the cards – exactly – while also tracking each player’s bet strategy – exactly? This is just another gimmick that is sadly somehow catching on, because the casino VPs are calling the shots and not paying a damn bit of attention to the marketing people who are seeing the real blackjack players run away from these tables in droves.

Trust me. If you play the Mohegan Sun, stay away from these tables like the plague. No. Even worse. Stay away from them as if they pay 6-5 on blackjack.

These mindplay tables failed in the Las Vegas Hilton, despite the claims of Bally’s marketing staff.

Once RFID is instroduced into the cards, this will be the end of counting. As soon as the casino can determine when the deck becomes heavily stacked to the player, POOF, reshuffle.

Not as bad as the tables I saw in a casino in Longview, WA, which didn’t use cards but a video screen for each seat….but in any case. Play MindPLay tables at your own financial risk.

But a smart counter would investigate the math of the machines before they make a decision. And oddly enough, the reason you don’t want to play at a table with a CSM is not what you think it may be.

A Continuous Shuffling Machine is a combination automatic shuffler and 4 or 5 deck shoe. After each round the cards played are put back in to shuffle, meaning that you have a constant freshly shuffled 4 card deck before each round. Unlike a game that uses a cut card.

Which would make you think “Holy Crap! I can’t keep track of cards any longer if they could be popped right back out almost immediately!” And on the face of it, that’s true.

But a substantial mathematical inquiry was taken by Michael Shackleford which showed four points of consideration (and I’ll spare you the raw statistics):

1. The average number of 10s per hand is slightly higher in a CSM game than in a hand-dealt game
2. The probability of getting a blackjack is slightly higher in a CSM game than in a cut-card game
   Which would obviously lead you to the conclusion that
3. The casino’s edge over a basic strategy player is slightly lower (due to #1 moving odds in the players favor and #2 moving more money in the player’s favor) in a CSM game than in a cut-card game
   
   however
   (everyone I know has a big ‘however’, including me)
4. The player is dealt about 20% more hands per hour in a CSM game than in a cut-card game. This means the player will stand to lose about 20% more money per hour (as you cannot truly count a CSM game, only play basic strategy) because while the casino’s margin is smaller, the margin is still in the casino’s favor.

Best advice? Stay away from the CSM.