Blackjack School - Basic Course 7

As it applies to playing Blackjack as a card counter, money management is a method of betting which will minimize your losses and maximize your gains. Playing Blackjack carries with it the risk of loss. The advantage a counter has over the casino is small and the fluctuations in a player's bankroll can occur with frightening speed. Proper management of your funds is required in all aspects of the game to give you the best possible chance of reaching that elusive "long term". Some of you will begin your careers as counters with a big win and you'll never look back. Most of you, however, will begin with a loss and it will take more hours of play before you start showing a profit; that's just the reality of the situation. What I'm going to teach you in the next four or five lessons is how to survive at the game until your long term edge begins to have its effect and then show you how to keep the profits you make.

All of our betting decisions will be made on the basis of what is known as the "true count" or more accurately, the "count per remaining deck". While most of this applies to those who will be playing at multi-deck games, you single-deckers pay attention, too -- you'll need to know this as well. If six small cards come out on the first hand in a game, we will have a running count of 6. For the single-deck players, you will have a true count of just over 6, since there's just a bit less than one deck remaining to be played. If you're at a six-deck game, the count per remaining deck (the true count) is just a bit over 1, since there is just a bit less than 6 decks remaining to be played. See how that works? We are "standardizing" the count by dividing the running count by the total number of remaining decks. Let's try another example to see if you understand the concept. At a single-deck game on the first hand, a running count of 2 (remember, I don't use "+" to indicate a positive number) converts to a true count of 2, when rounded off. In a six-deck game and a running count of 12 after the first hand, the true count converts to 2. Both true counts are 2 , but it takes a much higher running count to achieve that in the six-deck game.

TO DETERMINE THE TRUE COUNT, DIVIDE THE "RUNNING" COUNT BY THE NUMBER OF DECKS REMAINING TO BE PLAYED.

Don't let that statement confuse you. What this means is the number of decks left, whether they'll actually be played or not. In a six-deck game, a deck or more may be cut off by the dealer, but that means nothing when computing true count. The basis for the calculation is the total number of decks in the game which is adjusted by the number of decks which have been played. An example: in a six-deck game where two decks have been played and put into the discard rack off to the side, a running count of 8 translates into a true count of 2 because there are four decks left in the shoe. The dealer may shuffle before all four of those remaining decks have been played, but for true count conversion that doesn't matter.

Take this this little test with me to see if you understand the principle.

The casinos are very nice about providing us a device to determine just how many decks there are remaining to be played in the shoe. No, that device is not the shoe, but the discard tray which can be found on virtually every table where a multi-deck game is played. As cards are used, the dealer places them very neatly in the discard tray where everyone can see them so counters use that, and a bit of subtraction, to determine how many decks are left to be played. At a six-deck game, if there are two decks in the discard tray, there has to be four decks left in the shoe, assuming no cards are on the table. What we strive for is to be accurate to within a half-deck for our estimation. Just exactly how to train for that is one of your homework assignments, so don't worry about it for the moment. What's more important at this point are the mechanics used to calculate the true count by that method. Let's walk through a simple explanation together.

We're at a six-deck game, the running count is M-6 and three decks are in the discard tray. That means three decks remain, so we divide the running count by 3 and our true count is M-2. Yes, this works for negative decks as well -- exactly the same way. Got it? Try this test to see if you do.

Assume we're at a six-deck game. I'm only going to give you the decks in the discard tray, so do the calculation to determine the number of decks left in the shoe.

I can see some eyes glazing over out there, so we better stop for this week. But don't be discouraged; you can learn this -- it just takes some practice. Speaking of practice, pick up your homework assignment and practice "calibrating" your eyes.