As Black Jack is NOT a true fixed odds form of gambling like roulette or slots, there are ways of improving the odds in your favour. It takes a lot of practice and mental memory techniques and mathematical ability. As many gamblers as well as non-gamblers have heard about card counting and how casinos have attempted to ban card counters, there is probably some truth to the validity of card counting. The modern form of card counting strategy originated from Roger Baldwin's article "The Optimum Strategy in Black Jack". His strategy was on the right track but only with the use of computers was it possible to run the millions of calculations needed to accurately calculate the optimal strategy. This was carried out by Professor Thorp who published his book "Beat The Dealer" in 1962. Advancement in computer technology and processing power led Julian Braun to use IBM mainframe computers in the 1970s to perfect Professor Thorp's correct underlying mathematical Black Jack strategy. Please note that card counting is merely a way of reducing the house edge or even slightly tilt the odds in the favour of the player. IT IS NOT A GUARANTEED WINNING SYSTEM!

So how does card counting work? I can't teach you all the ins and outs as it takes a book like the "Beat The Dealer" to explain all the facets, but below are some of the basic card counting techniques.

Playing basic strategy correctly is often enough to get a basically even game, however to achieve a long term advantage for the player, card counting techniques must be used. There is no point in trying to learn how to count cards without first knowing the basic strategy correctly, so make sure you first know the basics before attempting to learn advanced techniques.

Most people think that card counting means that you have to memorize every card as it's played. Fortunately, there is a much simpler way. It requires no memorization at all, just some very simple arithmetic. The key is to assign a plus or minus value to each card in the deck, then to total these values as each card is dealt.

All of the most popular card counting systems today use the same principle of assigning a plus value or negative value to a running count. 10s (10, J, Q, K) and Aces hurt you each time one is dealt. It is for that reason they are assigned a negative value in most card counting systems. All cards from the 2s to the 6s hurt your chances of winning, so each time one is removed a positive value is assigned to them. The most popular systems that are available today include:

The High-Low system has been used in this example of how to keep a Running Count. The underlying principle of adding a positive, negative or neutral value to each card dealt is the same for all the card counting systems. All the cards from the 2s to the 6s hurt your chances of winning. It's to your advantage to have those cards removed. For that reason, you will assign a +1 value to each of these cards and add +1 to your count each time one of these cards goes out of play by being dealt to someone's hand.

The tens and aces are the cards most favorable to the player. Each time one is removed, your chances of winning the next hand suffer. Therefore, you will assign every ten and ace a -1 value and add -1 to your count each time one of those cards is dealt. The remaining cards, 7s, 8s, and 9s, have so little impact on your chances of winning that we will assign them a value of zero. The point values you have to remember for this count system are as follows:

All of the players playing decisions, when card counting, are based upon the true count. The true count is derived by dividing the running count by the number of remaining decks in the shoe. The resultant figure will determine how much advantage a player has. When the true count is positive the player has an advantage over the casino. Conversely, when the true count is negative the casino has a greater advantage over the player. For every true count increment the player increases his advantage by roughly 0.5%. Therefore, if you are playing at a casino with a house edge of 0.5% then when the true count is +1 the player is roughly playing even with the casino, that is 0% advantage for the player or casino. When the true count is greater than 1 the player has the advantage over the house.

For card counting to be profitable the player must bet according to the true count. If the true count is negative, then the player should bet small. The chances of the Dealer achieving a good total are greater, so betting small minimizes the losses. When the true count becomes positive, the player should increase his bet size. The increase in the size of the bet will depend on the advantage the player has. A good rule of thumb is to bet proportionally to the true count. Therefore, if the true count is 4 then the bet size should be 4 times your normal or minimum bet.

In the early and late 1970s the most exciting blackjack player in history, Ken Uston, beat the casinos in Vegas and Atlantic City out of over five million (some say 10 million) dollars utilizing a concept called "team play."

Here is a sample of how team play worked: Relatively small-stakes players took seats at various blackjack tables throughout the casino where they counted cards and used basic strategy to play their hands. When the shoe became positive for the player (many big cards were left), a small-stakes player signaled a "big player" (Uston) to enter the game, make large bets, sometimes table maximum bets of $500 to $2,000, and depart once the shoe went negative. It was a remarkably effective system that some teams still utilize to this day. It got Uston fame, fortune and the boot from just about every casino he played in.