You’ve likely seen movies where card counters make big profits. Although such film scenes are unrealistic, they at least show that skilled counters do win money.

• How Many Decks Are Used In Blackjack At Casinos
• How Many Decks Of Cards Are Used In Blackjack
• How Many Decks Are Used In Blackjack

The total number of possible combinations for each of the two cards is C(52, 2) = 1326, for the 1-deck game and C(104, 2)=5356 for the 2-deck game. Probability of obtaining a natural blackjack is P = 8/663 = 1.20663% in the case of a 1-deck game and P = 16/1339 = 1.19492% in the case of a 2-deck game.

In Blackjack games where a 'shoe' is used to deal from 4 to 8 decks and the patrons cannot touch the cards the cards are only changed (normally) once every 24 hrs, Most typically at 7:00 a.m. Modern blackjack, as played in how many decks are used in blackjack at a casino most land-based casinos from Las Vegas to Macau, uses six to eight decks of the standard 52 playing cards Several! When the blackjack rules applied, the biggest change that occurs from the increase in the number of decks is from 1 deck to 2 decks. You want to know the probability that you’ll get a blackjack. That’s easily calculated, but it varies based on how many decks are being used. For this example, we’ll use one deck. To get a blackjack, you need either an ace-ten combination, or a ten-ace combination. Order doesn’t matter, because either will have the same chance of happening. Jan 06, 2021 As stated above, Multi-deck blackjack was introduced to minimise the possibilities of card counting by involving two, four, six or eight decks of cards used simultaneously. Due to differences in the number of decks, the odds and house advantage varies. Listed below is the house advantage for multi-deck blackjack.

But one thing you never see in these movies is somebody sitting at home and making thousands of dollars through online blackjack. In fact, it’s widely assumed that card counting doesn’t work at online casinos.

You may be surprised to find out, though, that card counting actually is possible at gaming sites. However, the real question is if it’s profitable.

I’m going to cover the stigma against online card counting and why it’s feasible in certain cases. I’ll finish by discussing if the profits make it worth your time to be an internet card counter.

What Are the Basics of Card Counting?

The very essence of card counting is to determine when you have a stronger chance of getting a natural blackjack. Assuming you’re playing at a table with favorite rules, then you’ll receive a 3:2 payout on your original bet (some tables only offer 6:5).

Your chances of getting a natural blackjack increase greatly when the shoe has a larger percentage of aces and 10s compared to other card values. You’ll theoretically gain more value by increasing your bet size at this point.

Of course, you won’t naturally know when these situations are present. But card counting gives you a tool for figuring out when the shoe is rich in aces and 10s.

The Hi-Lo offers a happy medium between accuracy and ease of use. But the jest of the Hi-Lo is that you assign values to each card that comes out. Here are the point values for each type of card:

• Aces, face cards, and 10s (high cards) = -1
• 7, 8, and 9 = 0 (neutral)
• 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (low cards) = +1

You want fewer low cards in the shoe, which is why your positive count increases when they come out.

The Hi-Lo also calls on you to account for how many decks are left in a shoe with a “true count.” You do this by dividing your “running count” by the estimated amount of remaining decks.

Here’s an example:

• Your running count is +6.
• You estimate that two decks are left.
• 6 / 2 = +3 true count

You can increase your bet size as the positive true count grows. A simple way to do this is by:

• Flat betting with a count of 0 or +1.
• Increasing your minimum bet 5x with a count of +2.
• Increasing your minimum bet 10x with a count of +3 or higher.

Why Online Card Counting Usually Doesn’t Work

One more aspect to card counting in blackjack that I haven’t discussed is deck penetration. This term refers to how many decks a casino deals before reshuffling the shoe.

Here’s an example:

• You’re playing at a table with an eight-deck shoe.
• Five of the eight decks have been dealt.
• 5 / 8 = 62.5% deck penetration

You want higher deck penetration, because this allows you to place bigger bets with more confidence. A +2 or +3 true count is much more accurate when only one deck remains, versus five or six.

How Many Decks Are Used In Blackjack At Casinos

Of course, many casinos reshuffle before this point in order to thwart card counters.

Other casinos allow more deck penetration, because they don’t want to slow down games by constantly reshuffling. They figure that lost hands are most costly than simply giving a few counters a bigger advantage.

Online casinos don’t have to worry about lost hands when reshuffling decks. Their software-based (a.k.a. virtual) tables can automatically reshuffle a shoe with no time wasted.

Online gaming providers program their blackjack games to reshuffle with very little deck penetration. You have absolutely no chance to gain an advantage in these cases.

Of course, you could slightly improve your odds if a casino allowed, say, 25% penetration. But this amount isn’t enough to count with any confidence and swing the odds in your favor.

The low deck penetration in online blackjack games is why card counting doesn’t work at virtual tables.

Some Live Dealer Casinos Allow More Deck Penetration

Many online casinos offer live dealer blackjack, which features a human dealer and real cards. These tables operate just like a normal land-based casino would, with the exception that the action is being streamed through your internet device.

Assuming the conditions were perfect, live blackjack would be the best way to count cards. After all, you could sit at home and count without drawing as much suspicion from pit bosses and floor supervisors.

Of course, online casinos aren’t dumb. They know their live tables are susceptible to being beaten through card counting.

Dealers are instructed to shuffle shoes before too much deck penetration is allowed. They’re not going to deal through 75% of the shoe and give you an easy chance to count.

Some live dealer casino games allow up to 50% deck penetration before reshuffling. You can theoretically gain a tiny advantage in these situations.

I mentioned earlier that at least 75% penetration is ideal. But 50% is just enough to where you can earn a little money over time.

You can visit different live dealer casinos and watch their games to figure out the deck penetration. Take notes on the different percentages in order to find sites that are more susceptible to counting.

What Is the Profitability of Live Dealer Card Counting?

The problem with counting in the aforementioned live blackjack games is that it’s just not very profitable. At best, you’re looking at earning a small amount of profits over time.

You also need to be able to use a large “spread,” which is the distance from the minimum bet to your highest wager.

Here’s an example:

• You’re playing at a table with $5 minimum bets.
• You increase your wager to $75 with a true count of +3.
• 75 / 5 = 15
• Your bet spread is 1-15.

Pro counters generally use between a 1-10 and 1-15 bet spread. But they must be careful, because such large spreads are a telltale sign of a counter.

You need to thoroughly research which land-based casinos allow this type of action without immediately tossing you. Some Las Vegas casinos are more lenient than others.

Gaming sites with live blackjack are generally very lenient with bet spreads. After all, they’re not allowing enough penetration to where you’ll gain a big advantage.

But you need around a 1-30 spread to get an edge with just 50% penetration. If the table minimum bet were $5, for example, you’d be betting $150 with a +3 true count.

Some online casinos might allow this. Others may eventually ban you if they monitor your play and deem you to be a bad customer.

You can of course “wong in,” which involves counting while sitting out and entering games at favorable points. “Wonging” prevents you from having to play unprofitable hands until detecting a positive count.

Another problem is that you’ll have to dedicate a lot of time for such little payoff. Online card counting is nothing more than a low-paying hobby in the long run.

Conclusion

Counting cards at live dealer casinos can result in minimum profits with 50% deck penetration. But you’ll never make any serious money with this practice.

You might be lucky to earn a few dollars an hour, even with a 1-30 bet spread and wonging. These tiny profits hardly seem worth the effort.

Live dealer counting can be a fun hobby. It’s also a nice way to prepare for counting cards at a brick and mortar venue.

Just be aware that you won’t be able to use such large spreads at a land-based casino. You might even attract suspicion at some live dealer tables for doing so.

Also, wonging isn’t permitted at most brick and mortar establishments. Casinos have a “no mid-shoe entry” rule to prevent this from happening.

Nevertheless, land-based casinos are better for profitable card counting. Live dealer sites, meanwhile, are just fun places to hone your counting skills while potentially earning a little money.

We first present the probabilities attached to card dealing and initial predictions. In making this calculus, circumstantial information such as fraudulent dealing is not taken into account (as in all situations corresponding to card games). All probabilities are calculated for cases using one or two decks of cards. Let us look at the probabilities for a favorable initial hand (the first two cards dealt) to be achieved. The total number of possible combinations for each of the two cards is C(52, 2) = 1326, for the 1-deck game and C(104, 2)=5356for the 2-deck game.

Probability of obtaining a natural blackjack isP= 8/663 = 1.20663% in the case of a 1-deck game andP = 16/1339 = 1.19492%in the case of a 2-deck game.

Probability of obtaining a blackjack from the first two cards isP= 32/663 = 4.82654%in the case of a 1-deck game andP = 64/1339= 4.77968%in the case of a 2-deck game.

Similarly, we can calculate the following probabilities:

Probability of obtaining 20 points from the first two cards isP = 68/663 = 10.25641% in the case of a 1-deck game andP= 140/1339 = 10.45556%in the case of a 2-deck game.

Probability of obtaining 19 points from the first two cards isP = 40/663 = 6.03318%in the case of a 1-deck game andP = 80/1339 = 5.97460%in the case of a 2-deck game.

Probability of obtaining 18 points from the first two cards isP= 43/663 = 6.48567%in the case of a 1-deck game andP= 87/1339 = 6.4973% in the case of a 2-deck game.

Probability of getting 17 points from the first two cards isP= 16/221 = 7.23981%in the case of a 1-deck game andP= 96/1339 = 7.16952%in the case of a 2-deck game.

A good initial hand (which you can stay with) could be a blackjack or a hand of 20, 19 or 18 points. The probability of obtaining such a hand is calculated by totaling the corresponding probabilities calculated above: P = 32/663 + 68/663 + 40/663 + 43/663 = 183/663, in the case of a 1-deck game and P = 64/1339 + 140/1339 + 80/1339 + 87/1339 = 371/1339, in the case of a 2-deck game.

Probability of obtaining a good initial hand isP= 183/663 = 27.60180%in the case of a 1-deck game andP= 371/1339 = 27.70724%in the case of a 2-deck game.

The probabilities of events predicted during the game are calculated on the basis of the played cards (the cards showing) from a certain moment. This requires counting certain favorable cards showing for the dealer and for the other players, as well as in your own hand. Any blackjack strategy is based on counting the cards played. Unlike a baccarat game, where a maximum of three cards are played for each player, at blackjack many cards could be played at a certain moment, especially when many players are at the table. Thus, both following and memorizing certain cards require some ability and prior training on the player’s part. Card counting techniques cannot however be applied in online blackjack.

The formula of probability for obtaining a certain favorable value is similar to that for baccarat and depends on the number of decks of cards used. If we denote by x a favorable value, by nx the number of cards showing with the value x (from your hand, the hands of the other players and the face up card in the dealer’s hand) and by nv the total number of cards showing, then the probability of the next card from the deck (the one you receive if you ask for an additional card) having the value x is:

How Many Decks Of Cards Are Used In Blackjack

This formula holds for the case of a 1-deck game. In the case of a 2-deck game, the probability is:

Generally speaking, if playing with m decks, the probability of obtaining a card with the value x is:

Example of application of the formula: Assume play with one deck, you are the only player at table, you hold Q, 2, 4, A (total value 17) and the face up card of the dealer is a 4. Let us calculate the probability of achieving 21 points (receiving a 4).

We havenx = 2, nv = 5, so:

.

For the probability of achieving 20 points (receiving a 3), we havenx = 0, nv = 5, so:

.

For the probability of achieving 19 points (receiving a 2), we havenx = 1, nv = 5, so:

How Many Decks Are Used In Blackjack

.

If we want to calculate the probability of achieving 19, 20 or 21 points, all we must do is total the three probabilities just calculated. We obtainP = 9/47 = 19.14893%.

Unlike in baccarat, where fewer cards are played, the number of players is constant (two), and the number of gaming situations is very limited, in blackjack, the number of possible playing configurations is in the thousands and, as a practical matter, cannot be entirely covered by tables of values.