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Can Blackjack Card Counting Beat the House?
What casino game can be won through skill and intellect? Blackjack, sometimes called 21, is one of the few games that can actually be played in a way that takes the edge from the house and puts it in the hands of the player. When a player uses a combination of basic strategy and skillful card counting, chances are good that he will win more frequently than he will lose.
But while Blackjack has always been considered a game of strategy, card counting techniques weren’t always known and understood. It wasn’t until the early 60’s that a math professor, Edward O. Thorp, first introduced Blackjack card counting to the world.
The Origins of Blackjack Card Counting
It was 1962 when Thorp published his first book on Blackjack, Beat the Dealer. The book described basic strategy and a unique new method called card counting. Thorp had researched his ideas using $10,000 and the Blackjack tables of Vegas. The result? He doubled his money in one short weekend.
The Theory of Blackjack Card Counting
The theory behind card counting was relatively simple. Thorp postulated that if a player were to keep track of which cards had already been played, he would be better able to determine his chances of achieving winning cards. If the player had this information, then it would be easier to decide what move to make next.
Implementing the Blackjack Card Counting System
The tough part was devising a method for keeping track of the cards. Thorp assumed that nobody could remember each and every card that had been played without making mistakes, so in the second edition of Beat the Dealer, he introduced the Hi-Low count. Using this method, players were able to assign point values to cards based on their value, and then keep a running total. If the total was up, that meant that the player had a better chance of winning. If the count was down, the chances of winning were low, and the player could account for that in his game strategy.
Card Counting in the Real World
Over the years, thousands of Blackjack players studied, implemented, and improved upon Thorp’s ideas. Many world-famous Blackjack players got their start by reading Thorp’s books. Big names such as Ken Uston, Al Francesco, and Johnny Chang (a member of the MIT Blackjack Team) took Thorp’s methods and made them work even better, by implemented team-play and other strategies.
Not only did Blackjack players everywhere benefit from Thorp’s card counting system, players of other casino games began to pick up on the technique as well. Many poker players report that card counting can be applied to everything from Texas Hold Em to Five Card Stud. And some of the biggest names in Blackjack card counting went on to become successful poker players and coaches.
Card Counting: An Exercise in Intellect and Discipline
Perhaps, if it weren’t for Thorp and those that followed in his footsteps, Blackjack players would still be stuck with a game that, while clearly based on skill, was foggy and misunderstood. It was the geniuses of Blackjack who took the game and turned it into an exercise of intellect and discipline, giving determined players a much better chance at winning.
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