Most online casino games solely depend on chance. However, blackjack is a few casino games where the skill of the player can decide the outcome of the game. Since blackjack has simple rules and offers huge payouts, lots of players are attracted to it. Is there any way to get an edge over the house in blackjack? Yes, card counting is an excellent strategy that can ensure a win by flipping the odds against the house.
You don’t need to be a genius to master card counting. It is an easy strategy that you can master if you keep practicing. Card counting is not illegal and casinos cannot expel you if you do it. However, online casinos employ a variety of methods to reduce card counting. So,
How do online casinos reduce card counting? Does it work on online casinos? Read along to find answers to these questions and learn how to count cards.
What Is Card Counting?
Card counting is a strategy employed by players in a blackjack game to have better odds against the house. Blackjack is designed in such a way that the house gets the upper hand. But, by assigning the cards with specific values, a player can guess the cards left in the dealer’s deck. This method has been employed since the age of brick-and-mortar casinos. The slow gameplay and a limited deck of cards helped players guess the cards left to increase or lower their bets.
Blackjack is also called “twenty-one’s” since the cards in the player’s hand need to have a value near 21 than the dealer or other players to win the game. The payout depends on the bet wagered by the player. By assigning a certain value to the cards, players can keep a tab on the cards dealt and the cards remaining in the deck. High cards such as 10, jack, queen, king, and ace are assigned the value -1. The low cards such as 2,3,4,5, and 6 are assigned +1. The remaining cards (7,8,9) are given the value 0.
After each round, if the value of the remaining cards is negative, players have the upper hand and can increase the bet. However, if the remaining cards in the deck have a positive value, players need to lower the bets, as the odds favor the house.
Is Card Counting Effective?
A player can easily learn the basics of blackjack and card counting. To perfect the skill, the player needs to gamble many times and be better at calculating the values within the time a blackjack dealer hands the card. In a brick-and-mortar casino, players can easily count the cards as the dealer has to physically deal with the cards. When it comes to online casinos, the cards are shuffled by Random Number Generators (RNGs). This makes it hard for the players to guess the cards in the dealer’s deck.
But it is not impossible to count cards in an online casino. You need to be keen and very focused on the game to count the cards. Recently, online casinos started using Continuous Shuffling Machines (CSMs) that shuffle the cards after each round. This makes it nearly impossible for the players to count the cards remaining at the dealer.
How Online Casinos Prevent Card Counting
The odds are usually stacked against the player in a blackjack game. Card counting allows the player to have an edge over the house. To counter this, online casinos have implemented several measures:
- RNGs: RNGs or Random Number Generators are algorithms that are implemented by online casinos to ensure fair gameplay. They also serve the purpose of shuffling the cards in a game of blackjack. RNGs shuffle the remaining cards in the dealer’s deck to confuse the players after each hand.
- CSMs: CSMs or Continuous Shuffling Machines are used only in blackjack and other card games. It reshuffles the entire deck after each round. This makes it impossible for the players to count the cards remaining with the dealer.
- Infinite Deck: A few online casinos do not use the typical 52-card deck. Instead, it uses an infinite deck to deal with a new card after every round. Also, the online casino uses the RNG and CSM to shuffle this infinite deck so that the player can never guess the cards as there are infinite remaining cards.
- Fast Gameplay: Since there are no real dealers in an instant-play blackjack game, online casinos can use algorithms and codes like RNGs to make the gameplay much faster than land-based casinos. It also helps the casino to track the cards better and issue countermeasures.
- Defensive Methods: Online casinos have sophisticated technology to detect and identify the player’s strategies and employ countermeasures to keep the game fair and unbiased. If any player is suspected of using any methods to cheat, they will be permanently banned and the winnings forfeit.
Conclusion
Card counting is a successful strategy used in brick-and-mortar casinos. It exploits the physical limits of the blackjack dealer to keep a tab on the cards dealt and the cards remaining. The time taken by the dealer to shuffle the remaining cards is also used by the players to strategically make decisions. Nowadays, online casinos are using RNGs, CSMs, and other sophisticated measures to prevent players from counting cards and have good odds against the casino. Counting cards is a tested and proven strategy, however, it is nearly impossible to employ it in online blackjack to make huge payouts.
