What’s the ideal number of decks to use in blackjack?
If you’re serious about your game of blackjack then there’s a good chance that you’ve explored the likes of basic strategy and card counting. The latter is a technique mastered by the best players ever and has led to the biggest wins of all time. It works by allowing players to predict the cards that are likely to appear as the game goes on. Let´s take a closer look at the ideal number of blackjack decks when counting cards.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at blackjack and card counting. While there are variants that use different numbers of decks for a game, we’re going to consider how many decks are optimal for card counters so that they can accurately keep track. Read on if you want to learn more.
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The basics of card counting in blackjack – ideal number of blackjack decks
Blackjack is hugely popular thanks to its low house edge. The technique known as card counting is used to get that house edge even lower so that you can go on and beat the casino. You can already have a major impact on this house edge by implementing basic strategy. With card counting, you can take this even further and tip the odds in your favor.
To be clear, card counting isn’t something that you’re likely to start using tomorrow. Those who do this well have to spend a great deal of time mastering the process and getting it down to a fine art. That being said, the basic principles are extremely simple and easy to understand.
The starting point is knowing that the cards in a deck are split into three groups. Cards with a value of 2-6 are known as small cards. Those worth 7,8 or 9 are referred to as medium cards. When it comes to jacks, queens, kings, aces and 10s these are known as big cards.
These groups of cards are then given values: small cards are worth +1, medium 0 and big -1. This means that as the game is played, the count kept by the player either remains the same or goes up or down by 1. This gives the player a running count and from this, they need to arrive at a true count. There are various ways that players will do this.
As the game plays, the count will continue to vary. Generally speaking, the higher the count the better as this means that the cards left to come are the higher-value ones. Based on this kind of information, players adjust their bets. This allows them to maximize winnings as well as minimize any losses.
The number of decks needed for perfect card counting
Although the basics of card counting are simple, putting it into practice can get a little tricky. Mastering it to the extent that you can use it successfully in a casino is certainly not a small ask and it takes a considerable amount of time to get this right. What can make this easier for beginners is to play blackjack with the least number of decks possible. That’s why single-deck blackjack is preferable.
The fewer decks used the better. That’s because this makes it so much easier to keep a running count. The easier it is to keep a running count, the easier it is to arrive at a true count. One of the primary goals of card counting is deck penetration and using just one or two decks makes this much easier.
While card counting is perfectly legal, casinos don’t want you to do it purely because it costs them money. That means that they have introduced certain measures that make the process that much more difficult. One of those measures has been increasing the number of decks used. In most casinos, you’ll now find that blackjack uses 6-8 decks of cards. This doesn’t make card counting impossible but it certainly makes it that much more difficult.
When there are 8 decks in use, this means that players are left needing to consider 416 cards rather than the 52 they’d have to with a single deck. Considering this many cards, and keeping a running count, is hard and there’s no denying that. However, if you’re serious about card counting then this is something that you’ll need to get your head around.
Ideal number of blackjack decks – Card counting and multi-deck shoes
As we’ve said, getting card counting right when there are numerous decks in play is hard, to say the least. However, there are certain card-counting methods that can still be used effectively. The most common blackjack strategy here is the Hi-Lo counting system. This is where small cards are worth 1, medium 0 and big -1. You start the running count at 0 and you keep the running count as the game plays out. The true count is arrived at by dividing the running count by the number of decks being used.
Let’s say that you have a running count of +7 and that there are four decks left. Here, the true count would be 1.75 and this would be rounded up to 2. The more that a player tries this, the more effective they’ll become. They’ll also then start to adjust their bets and wager more when the true count is high.
If you want your play to appear natural so that you stay under the radar, you should:
- Increase your bet after a win
- Decrease your bet after a loss
- Keep your bet the same after a push
How many decks does online blackjack use?
When you’re playing a digital version of blackjack, rather than an online casino live dealer game, you’re up against a random number generator (RNG). Rather than being about a number of decks, it’s this RNG that determines the cards that you and the dealer have. There are no cards that you can keep an eye on and track and this makes card counting impossible.
If you want to utilize card counting, while playing online, then you’ll need to head over to the live dealer section. Here you’ll find real cards being dealt and you’ll find 6-8 decks being used.
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