If you are thinking of taking online blackjack to an advanced level then you certainly need to learn various card counting techniques. In this guide, I will outline the basics of card counting that are used by most card counting systems. Card counting systems make use of point values, running count and true count to depict the situation of cards being played on the table. The main objective with all blackjack strategies is to give an approximate idea whether the shoe deck is high card rich or low card rich. Each blackjack card is given a point value. For example, low cards are given a positive point value while high cards are given a negative point value. At most cases, 7, 8, 9 usually act as natural cards meaning that they do not add an effect during the card counting procedure.
Thus, given that low cards make an increase during the card counting procedure, a positive count during game play indicates that low cards are being played more often than compared to high cards and the reverse is true, a negative count simply indicates that more high cards have been played. Therefore, when the count shows a positive, it indicates that there are more high cards remaining in the shoe deck and a negative count reflects that more low cards are remaining in the deck. Most card counting systems keep track of the running count (RC) and true count (TC). After the deck has been reshuffled, most strategies start-off with an initial count value of 0. As cards are being dealt on the table, a player will add a point value to the initial value when a low card has been placed on the table and reduce the initial count when a high card has been dealt. This count is known as the running count (RC).
For example, given that 4 high cards and two low cards have been dealt on the table your running count will be -4 +2 = -2. With a negative ruining count, this simply indicates that a large number of high cards have been dealt than compared to low cards. The true count is determined by dividing the running count over the number of decks used in the variation. Other complex card counting techniques can actually determine the approximate number of high or low cards that have been dealt on the table. The card counting systems fall in two categories of different levels which are the unbalanced card counting systems and balanced card counting systems. The unbalanced card counting systems do not take note of calculating the true count and at most cases its initial value can be set as a negative value than 0. Thus, your running count can always be in the negative region. However, both the unbalanced and balanced card counting systems are effective during game play and deliver great results but the only difference is that the others are complex to master while others are pretty easy.
