When you play Blackjack, it is must to know all about card counting. Card counting skill gives the players marginal edge over casino. Card counting is just like a science but learning card counting is not going to make you a winner all the time. Even then by applying card counting skills, you may even beat blackjack hands. A set of 52 cards is called a deck. Blackjack is also played with “shoe” comprising of multiple decks ranging from 4 decks to 8 decks. The existence of high value cards in a deck depends upon the condition of the table so, it is always better to enquire about the cards value. Most casinos allow players to see number of cards to make the dealings more transparent.

Normally one dealer and 1 to 5 players play Blackjack at a time. Players put their bets on the table before issuing the cards. Minimum and maximum range varies from one table to another and also from one casino to another. Generally most casinos offer $1 to $500 betting range and clearly indicate betting limits on the table. Online Blackjack player has to compete 1-on-1 with deputed Dealer (also called Croupier). Each and every player wishes and tries to make the value of his hand 21 or maximum close to 21 but without crossing this limit in a bid to beat Dealer's hand. Each card has an individual value which is added to determine entire score.

• K, Q, J —10
• 10—10
• 9—9
• 8—8
• 7—7
• 6—6
• 5—5
• 4—4
• 3—3
• 2—2

Ace is not included in the list above because it can be calculated in two ways- either as 1 or as 11. Selection of the value depends upon the requirements of player or dealer. For example, if you have A, 2, 10, 3 and 4 in hand, you will naturally choose the value of A as 1 otherwise you will lose because of having the total of 30 points. In case, you get a K, after the opening deal, you’ll calculate the worth of Ace as 11 to get the total value 21 that is known as winning hand, “blackjack” or “natural.”

If the single deck of 52 cards has four Ks, the probability of getting a K is 4:52. The chance of getting an Ace, out of four Aces from a 52-card deck after removal of one K is 4:51. If, for example, every 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 is removed, probability of getting an Ace will become 4:20 or 1:5. Similarly, probability of drawing a 10 point card, like K after removal of Ace will be 16:19. The probability of getting both is (1:5) X (16:95) 16:95 i.e approx. 17 percent. So, card counting is just using the laws of probability. If you don’t have perfection in card counting, you may lose ultimately because most of the time odds will be against you. Thumb rule of Blackjack Card counting is that the high proportion of high value cards in the deck is advantageous to the player while the reverse condition is advantageous for the dealer.

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