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Is Counting Cards Illegal?

In a word, no!

Many people think that casinos implement rules to try and deter card counters, but the truth is that the rules are usually implemented to deter cheating and many times these rules do put counters at a disadvantage. A simple example is the face down game. Casinos implemented the face down game to stop real cheaters but obviously a face up game would be better for a card counter.

That being said, casinos do not like card counters. You will learn as you get better at counting that some of the best bet-ting opportunities arise when you can join a game only after the deck is in your favor. Unfortunately, most casinos will resort to all sort of tactics to keep you from standing around a table and studying play at the table. Don’t ever walk up to a table and watch a game with a pen and notebook in hand, for example.

When To Split

The guidelines for splitting are best described in a table.
Split If Dealer Shows
A , A Any Card
10 , 10 Never
9 , 9 2 – 9 except 7
8 , 8 Any Card
7 , 7 2 – 7
6 , 6 2 – 6
5 , 5 Never
4 , 4 5 or 6
3 , 3 2 – 7
2 , 2 2 – 7

Again, when there is some logic behind these guidelines.
? Always split A’s. The totals of 2 or 12 are not nearly as good as hitting 11’s.
? Never split 10’s. Two 10’s is a great hand — don’t screw it up!
? Never split 5’s, but you may want to double down!
? Splitting 4’s is a close call. Don’t do it in one or two deck games. Do it in multi-deck games when the dealer shows a 5 or 6.
? Split 9’s against a dealer card of 2 – 9 except 7. The reason for this exception is simple. You have 18. The dealer’s most probable total is 17. Don’t screw up a good thing.
? Splitting 8’s, like 4’s, depends on casino rules. Always do it when the dealer shows 2 – 9. If the dealer shows 10 or A and you happen to be lucky enough to be playing in a game that allows early surrender, you should surrender. If surrender is not an option, split.
? Splitting 6’s and 7’s is straightforward. If the dealer’s card is higher than your card, don’t split.
? Always split 2’s or 3’s if the dealer’s card is less than 8.
You should also note that the “value” of splitting is increased if you are playing in a game that allows doubling down after a split.

Is Blackjack a ?Winnable? Game?

When blackjack first became a casino staple, it was assumed that it was rather like baccarat, where the house, by virtue of the rules determining play, had a statistical edge. All players and students of the game assumed that this advantage existed based on two simple facts. One, the player had to act first. Two, all busts (hands totaling over twenty-one) were losers no matter what the dealer later drew. These two rules seem to give the house an incontrovertible edge.
Conventional began to change in 1956 when a paper by Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel, and McDermont was published in the _Journal of the American Statistical Association_. This paper and a black-jack strategy manual published by Baldwin et al. the following year both attracted very little interest among non mathematicians, but it would prove to be the first step toward determining that blackjack is a “winnable” game.
Edward O. Thorp, a scientist at MIT, did understand the implications of the work of Baldwin and his colleagues and began to ex-amine two elements of the game that were previously unexamined. One, the composition of a deck of cards changes with every card dealt. Two, some deck compositions favor the player and other favor the house. In 1962, Thorp published his now famous book, _Beat the Dealer_, which contained a simple yet profound mes-sage. Unlike dice, roulette wheels, and slot machines, decks of cards have “memory.”
Blackjack, unlike Roulette for example, is a winnable game be-cause of this “memory.” Let’s look at an example. You are sit-ting at the Roulette table and the dealer throws the ball and it comes to rest on the number 9. Now, when he throws the ball again for the next round, what are the odds the ball lands on 9 again? Assuming the wheel is not rigged or the dealer is not trained to “fix” the outcome, the odds of the ball landing on 9 again are exactly the same! Let’s take it a step further. Assume that the ball does indeed land on 9 again – twice more. Now the ball has landed on the 9 three times in a row! What are the odds this happens a fourth time? Exactly the same! There is no statistical reason that the ball should “avoid” landing on 9 again.
Blackjack is different. Let’s look at a similar situation in blackjack. You are at the table with two other players. The dealer deals a 9 to each of the players at the table. Now the odds of dealing another 9 have been significantly reduced. In a six deck game the odds have been reduced from 3:49 to 7:104. This fact alone makes blackjack a winnable game.