Blackjack Card Counting Basics

In recent years, card counting has become a major part of many blackjack strategies and, indeed, even playing blackjack itself. Many strategies out there have blackjack card counting as a central concept, giving emphasis on the right responses to certain counting conditions.

This presents a certain problem to rookie blackjack players because there are a lot of card counting techniques out there, each of a different level of complexity. There are dozens of algorithms, equations and conditions to memorize, and they could be intimidating to study. If you're a blackjack beginner, you might want to try this very simple yet effective card counting strategy.

This particular card counting technique is credited to Ken Uston, a famous (and even infamous) blackjack player in the 1970's. He helped develop a lot of blackjack techniques, particularly those that involved playing blackjack as a team. His card counting strategy, one of the simplest of them all, merely needs you to keep a simple count.

In your mind or on a piece of paper, start a tally from zero. Add 1 to your tally when cards with a value of 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 come up. Subtract 1 when any card with a value of 10 or an ace comes up. Getting a 2, 8 or 9 shouldn't affect your tally in any way. Reset your tally only when the cards are reshuffled by the dealer.

The lower the total value you have on your tally, the higher your chances of getting a card with a high value or a 10 because more of them remain to be drawn from the shoe. On the other hand, a lower number means that you'll probably get lower- to mid-valued cards, which could make it difficult for you to form a good blackjack hand and impossible to get blackjack.

The simplest explanation for the effectiveness of Ken Uston's technique can be seen by using a common example in probabilities. Imagine a drawer that has an equal number of white and black socks in it. The more the black socks remaining in the drawer, the less likely you are to draw a white sock because there are so many black socks that you could get. If you have less black socks, you are then likelier to draw a white sock.

It's the same situation with a blackjack deck. Uston's technique merely takes note of this concept and then allows you to use it when planning out your strategy for a given hand. Even if it really doesn't change the odds to make you win at blackjack more frequently, it can really help you determine when those odds are best for you to make your move.