Blackjack Basic Strategy Players Aren't Card Counters

A card counter wants games with deep cuts. few or no other players at the table, and what we might call "fast dealers." (In my book I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack I explain why there really is no such thing as a fast dealer. I'll be happy to send you a free copy while my supplies last. Just PM me and give me your address.)

For a card counter the deep cut and the absence of other players is a very, very good thing. In fact it is the main thing.

On the other hand, the basic strategy player wants the exact opposite of the card counter as follows:

* shallow cuts so that a lot of cards are taken out of play
*good rules
*full tables, preferably with talkative players who love to socialize
*talkative, slow dealers

Since a basic strategy player does not have an edge over the house, he wants a slow game; many players and a slow dealer help to create that --- as do shallow cuts.

I write for Henry Tamburin's Blackjack Insider and it is important that non-advantage players realize that what's good for card counters is not good for them. Sometimes this is not clear.

 

Blackjack Card Counting is nearly dead. A 6 or 8 deck shoe where you will only get a 50 or 60% penetration is not going to be AP play. Now, if you can find double deck play where they give you 70% penetration you are in business, however I can tell you that varying your bets will attract much heat, especially if the eye in the sky is counting cards and you start raising your bets when the count increases. If you think you will to go your favorite casino and count cards, think again.

Today's AP Blackjack player uses a hit and run method in the LV casinos, no players club card, and if they get to much heat or a backoff will not visit that casino for no less than six months. This ends up being a lot of work and traveling around for the AP blackjack player with perhaps visiting 8 different casinos in 12 hours to win $400 in profit with no comps and no perks.

Blackjack AP is now all about hole card exposing, and finding a casino or dealer where the hole card is easily seen. This takes an incredible amount of scouting and networking to find such a situation.