Can You Make A Living Playing Blackjack Without Counting Cards

• Can You Make A Living Playing Blackjack Without Counting Cards At A
• Can You Make A Living Playing Blackjack Without Counting Cards Free

Is it possible to win off blackjack without counting cards? Yes, definitely but having both killer instincts at the table of knowing when to split or hit coupled with card counting will go a long way in getting you to Don Johnson Levels. Vary where you play. If you’re playing blackjack to make a living you will be noticed – whether online or at Land Based Casinos. So vary where you play and also your screen name if your playing online. It’s easy online as there are loads of live casinos where you can play. Not without cheating. The best possible blackjack play without counting leaves the casino with an edge under nearly all rules you will encounter. It is possible to keep the edge low enough so you earn comps more than your expected loss. You can definitely still be profitable, and with the right skill set you may be able to land on a profitable rotation of casinos to make money from. It’s not horribly consistent though with both the inherent volatility of BJ and trying to balance playing enough money without drawing attention to yourself. A very important principle in card counting and blackjack odds is higher value cards (10's) help the player and lower value cards hurt the player. The reason is the dealer MUST hit to a 17 or higher.

The first thing we’re going to look at is a handful of popular methods to win at blackjack without counting cards. Many blackjack pros incorporate these skills into their gameplay, and you should, too. They include…
– Hole Carding: This skill mainly involves looking at the dealer’s exposed card and adjusting your strategy accordingly. Ordinarily, a dealer will be exceptionally good at hiding their hole card. However, they get sloppier over time and might reveal it. If so, you need to pounce to take full advantage of that. Once the dealer’s hole card is exposed, you can consult the basic strategy chart to figure out your best move.
– Front-Loading: Front-loading involves the dealer inadvertently exposing their hole card when dealing, either by pulling it out to carelessly, or by sliding it under another card. Like hole carding, this allows players to put together a strategy for their next move.

– Shuffle Tracking: This requires players to track specific cards, or sequences of cards through several shuffles. It is tricky to use this method because it requires you to guestimate where the 10s and face cards are, and when they will likely come out. However, if you know that face cards aplenty are in the shoe, it may be worth betting more.

– Ace Sequencing: Ace sequencing is another form of card tracking. This time, players need to remember several sequences in the shoe, most importantly, where the aces are. If they know when an ace is due, they can, in theory, gain as much as a 50% advantage on the house.

– Edge Sorting: Not all cards are perfect. In fact, some have imperfections. Phil Ivey (the famous poker player) figured this out and won $20 million with this technique. He identified defects on the edges or backs of cards, and this helped him remember what types of cards they were. It may work a treat for you, too.

Blackjack uses a standard deck of playing cards and a set of rules that allows for a manipulation of the house edge based on the cards that have been dealt and the ones left in the deck. Further manipulation of the house edge can be made based on how you play hands.

Card counters use these facts to raise and lower their bets in certain situations to overcome the house edge, and some of them are able to make a long-term profit. It’s not easy, but blackjack can be beaten.

The common belief is that the only way to beat blackjack is by counting cards. But if you know what you’re doing and can find the right situations, you can learn how to beat blackjack without counting cards.

To be honest, I’m convinced it’s easier to learn how to count cards than do some of the things on this page, but not everyone holds the belief that they can count cards. Keep reading to see if you have what it takes to win without counting.

1 – Play Perfect Strategy

If you want to have the best chance to beat blackjack without counting cards, you need to start by learning how to use basic strategy.

Each hand you receive in blackjack has one particular way it should be played, based on what the dealer shows as her up card.

Basic strategy plays are based on the odds of each card being dealt, and are designed to reduce the house edge.

You’re going to learn more about how the rules of the game change the house edge in the next section, but when you use perfect basic strategy combined with good rules, you can often play blackjack with less-than-a-half-percent house edge.

Basic strategy seems complicated at first, but when you practice, you can quickly learn how to make the correct plays. You can use a chart to help you, and even if you don’t want to memorize the plays, you can use the chart while playing.

Here’s a link to a basic blackjack strategy chart:

Blackjack Strategy Chart

Find your hand down the left-hand side of the chart, and find the dealer’s face-up card along the top. The chart tells you the best play for each situation. It might not seem like the play is the best for each hand, but the chart has been developed using computer programs, and each play has been carefully considered. Any time you don’t use the correct play, it costs you money in the long run.

Here’s an example using a strategy chart:

You receive a seven and a six, and the dealer has a six showing. You find your hand, a hard total of 13, on the left, and look under the dealer’s six. The proper play is to stand.

Here’s another example:

You receive a pair of eights, and the dealer has a nine. You find your hand under the section for splits. The correct play is to split.

When you have an ace that can be counted as a one or 11, you look under the soft hands section to find the best play.

The final thing you need to know about basic strategy is to never take insurance or even money. Insurance is a bad bet and costs you money.

2 – Find Games with Good Rules

The basic rules for blackjack are the same in all games, but many secondary rules variations change the house edge. The difference in house edge changes from rule to rule, but if you can find games with more good rules than bad, it lowers the house edge.

Let’s assume the following rules apply:

• A game with the exact same rules, except it only uses two decks, has a house edge of .255%.
• An eight-deck game with the same rules, except the dealer hits on soft 17, has a house edge of .661%.

Here’s a list of rules that are good for you and lower the house edge. Try to find games that have as many of these rules as possible:

• It’s better if the dealer stands on a soft 17.
• The fewer the number of decks, the better.
• Surrender is better than no surrender.
• The more hands you can double down on, the better.
• The more split options you have, the better.

In addition to these rules, you should never play a blackjack game that pays less than three-to-two for a natural blackjack. Many tables have switched to six-to-five payouts, and this increases the house edge so much that it makes the games unplayable.

3 – Shuffle Tracking

Shuffle tracking is an advanced blackjack strategy. The idea is to identify a group of favorable cards and track them through the shuffle.

When they are going to be dealt back out, you raise your bets to take advantage of a greater chance to get a blackjack and win.

When you have a better chance than normal to receive high cards (mostly 10 value cards and aces), you have a better chance to get totals of 20 and natural blackjacks. Because blackjacks pay three-to-two instead of one-to-one, when your chance of receiving one goes up, it reduces the house edge.

If you can successfully identify slugs or groups of cards with a high percentage of aces, face cards, and tens, you can play with an edge over the house.

Shuffle tracking is hard, and in some games, it’s impossible. Games that use automatic shuffling machines or continuous shuffling machines can’t be tracked. But if you play where the discards are, you should try to start tracking parts of the deck through the shuffle.

When you see a group of high cards placed into the discard tray, remember where they are located and then try to watch what happens to them as they go through a shuffle. The first several times you try to do this, you’re probably going to struggle.

But with practice and experience, you might be able to learn how to do it with enough accuracy to get an edge.

The best way to practice is to do it at home. Get a few decks of cards, take a section of 10 to 12 cards, mark the edges of these cards with a marker so you can see them in the deck, and then see what happens to them as you shuffle.

Different casinos have different shuffling techniques, so watch how the dealers shuffle at the casino where you usually play and try to replicate the procedure.

As you practice, you can learn where the marked cards tend to end up after they get shuffled. Each dealer is a little bit different, so your results won’t be perfect, but they don’t have to be perfect for you to get an edge.

You can also track small groups of aces. Any hand that has an ace is more profitable than other hands, so if you can identify when an ace is coming, you can raise your bet.

You can try to track aces through the shuffle, or you can remember the order and suit of several aces as they get placed in the discard tray. After the shuffle, when you see the first ace come out, you can make a prediction on when the next will be dealt.

Here’s an example:

If you’re playing a two-deck game and see the ace of clubs, ace of diamonds, ace of diamonds, and ace of clubs all go into the discard tray close together, when the first ace of clubs comes out after the shuffle, the two aces of diamonds should be soon to follow. These should be followed by the other ace of clubs.

Just like normal shuffle tracking, this isn’t an exact science. But with experience, you can improve your predictive abilities. You can practice ace tracking at home the same way you would practice shuffle tracking.

Mark the edge of all of the aces in the deck, put a few of them together, and see where they end up when shuffled.

4 – Hole Card Play

Just like shuffle tracking, hole card play is an advanced strategy, and only a few players are able to do it.

Can You Make A Living Playing Blackjack Without Counting Cards At A

Even though casinos train their dealers to deal so that you can’t see their card, some dealers are sloppy and will slightly flash their hole card value, which can help you if you know where and when to look for it.

When choosing a seat at the table, the best ones for spotting hole cards will be the seats directly in front of the dealer or to the opposite side of the hand they deal with. The closer your eyes are to the surface of the table, the better the chance to see the cards.

Use discretion, however, because most casinos are aware that hole card players exist, and if they think you’re trying to do it, they can change dealers, correct the dealer’s procedure, or make you stop playing.

You should start watching how every dealer places their down card to identify the ones that flash the value. Some dealers flash every card, and some just flash one from time to time. The only way to find sloppy dealers is to watch them on every deal.

You can practice reading hole cards at home by having someone deal in a sloppy way. Make sure they deal at the same speed as the dealers in the casino. You need to train your eyes and brain to read the card in a split second.

Many hole carders simply catch if the card is a face card or not. Even with this little bit of extra information, you can improve your playing decisions to the point where you can turn a profit.

Hole card play isn’t easy, and not everyone can do it. But if you can find sloppy dealers and read some of the cards, it can push the small house edge over the line to where you have a small edge.

5 – Get Someone Else to Count

Can You Make A Living Playing Blackjack Without Counting Cards Free

One of the best ways to beat blackjack without counting is to get someone else to count. You can even get a group of players to count different tables at the same time. If you don’t want to learn how to count or don’t think you can, you can build a team.

Find one or more people who can count cards or who can learn how to count, and have them start playing at the beginning of a shoe and making table minimum bets. When the shoe reaches a point where the count is positive enough to raise the bet, they secretly signal you to join the table.

Your counter or counters always stay with minimum bets, and you always sit down and make larger bets. This way the counter is never identified as a card counter by the casino, and you always make bets with a positive shoe. The counter also needs to secretly signal you when the count for the shoe goes bad, so you can stop playing.

You can set this up like a true team where everyone puts in an equal amount for the team bankroll and receives an equal share of the profits. The other option is to hire the counters, provide their bankroll, and pay them a flat fee to count.

Both options require a level of trust, so you want to find reliable people who you don’t have to worry about stealing or making mistakes.

You only need one counter to make this work, but if you have two or more, they can count at different tables. This increases the amount of time you get to play with a high count. With only one counter, they might need to play through three or four shoes before finding a good count.

If you have three or four counters, you might be able to jump from table to table and end up playing most of the time you’re in the casino.

When you form and work with a team, you should never be seen together at the casino. Never enter or leave together and never talk while anywhere on the casino property. Most casinos have surveillance cameras everywhere, and you don’t want the casino to be able to connect any team members.

And even if you plan everything carefully and never get caught, you still need to play in different casinos. The longer your team plays in the same place, the higher the likelihood that the casino will realize that something is going on.

Conclusion

You can learn how to beat blackjack without counting cards, but it’s challenging. You should start by doing things to make the house edge as low as possible. Using perfect basic strategy and finding games with favorable rules is where you begin.

Then you need to learn how to use one of the other strategies on this page. Shuffle tracking and hole card play are two ways you can get an edge, but neither works all of the time. Your final option is to find someone else to count cards for you.

Now that you know how to beat blackjack without counting, you’re ready to get started!