What's the Story?

21 December 2021

By Frank Scoblete

QUESTION: I have read that counting cards can give the player the advantage at blackjack. Is this true? If it is true why aren’t there a million card counters out there beating up the casinos? I have been playing blackjack for a few decades now and I don’t think I have ever run across one.

I was a five-dollar player or used to be. Now I am at $10 and $15. Do they avoid low-limit tables? How much do you think they make? Can someone make a good living playing that way?

FRANK RESPONDS: Card counters do exist but they are not an overwhelmingly large population in the casino scheme of things. It takes a lot of practice to get the skill and that practice has to be in the casino because learning at home is the easy part.

Going to the casino and playing with the noise, the other players, the dealer and the casino floor people and pit boss and the eye-in-the-sky is a lot to handle. It sometimes overwhelms would-be counters.

Most blackjack players are fun players. They aren’t looking to work when they are playing in a casino. They are engaging in a fun activity, not a grind. And being a card counter is something of a grind if you do it well. The casino is now a work place to the card counter.

I’m guessing if a player HAD to be a card counter in order to play blackjack the game would go under. Takes too much effort. I don’t think many players want to go to the casinos in order to work.

Casinos are not fans of card counters. Why would they be? Casinos are in business to make money and card counters, as a class of player, are not easy players from which to take money. Card counting is not illegal; after all you are only using your brain and there is no law saying you have to stop thinking when you are in a casino.

However, the casinos seem to have the right in most states in this country to tell a card counter he or she cannot play blackjack anymore. That isn’t a situation I like. I can understand if a player is rude and insulting or causing a real ruckus that casinos should have and do have the right to throw the person out. But watching the cards? Seriously?

I am guessing that most card counters are low to medium players. I base that on the idea that if someone is rich why waste time learning the skill when they don’t need the money. Card counting would appeal to lower-limit players. That’s just a guess of mine.

There are some players who actually think card counting is a myth made up by the casinos to bring drama to the game. Not so. These folks are real.

The edge a card counter can get is about one-half to 1.5 percent. That’s not such a large edge and seemingly endless hours must be spent playing to see that edge manifest itself in a real game.

Truly great blackjack players have more in their arsenals than just counting cards. I have written about all aspects of blackjack play in my books. I’d recommend “Beat Blackjack Now!” for a good introduction to these forms of play. But to get good enough to really scare a casino? That takes some work.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books and at bookstores.