Evaluating a Blackjack Card Counting System

If you want to count cards when you are playing Blackjack that is fine but how do you go about evaluating a Card Counting System which is best for you? Blackjack Card Counting systems range in complexity and what they tell you.

The more they tell you, the more complex they are which doesn’t help you much if you are a beginner at Blackjack. What you have to do is pick something at your level. No point in having a card counting system which is only going to confuse you.

Luckily there are some parameters to card counting systems which you can use to differentiate them:

• Playing Efficiency - This element is indicative of how a card counting system adapts to changes in playing strategy.
• Betting Correlation - This number tell you how about the relationship between card point values and when the effect that is had when those cards are taken out of the shoe. This element is really useful as the number of decks in the shoe increases.

If you are new to blackjack and counting cards you should start with a more basic card counting system such the Hi-Lo card counting system. You don’t want to overload your brain with numbers before you are ready for it. It is important that at the start you don't do anything to diminish the fact that you are playing Blackjack for fun. Hi-Lo is simple while being effective and that is all you need.

In addition you may want to go to a blackjack table where they only use a few shoes. This way you won’t be stretched doing all the maths especially if you are trying to calculate the true count.

Sam Marshall - Editorial Staff