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BLACKJACK CARD COUNTING

Altering Your Play With the Count

Once you know basic strategy very well and once you can count all the cards played without difficulty, you are ready for the next step, altering your play with the count. Although your advantage over the house will increase using play variations, it is not essential to make money, and is not advised if you are still learning to count.

In certain cases, knowledge as to the cards remaining make it favourable to change your normal play. As an example, you would hit stiffs less often when more high cards remain and more often when more low cards remain. Again, the calculations have been made for you and the results are included in tables below. The table numbers are called strike numbers. You should deviate from your normal play whenever the true count equals or exceeds the strike number.

Unless you have a photographic memory, I would suggest learning the most common play variations and forget about the others. The large numbers as well as the variations of the split strategy will rarely be used in casino play. The most important number is sixteen against a ten, which is a play that you will face often. The strike number of zero means that you stand if the true count equals or exceeds the strike value. The most important play variations are highlighted in the table. Of course, if you want to progress past a weekend player then you should know them all.

Play Variations - Multiple Deck

double after split
dealer stands on soft 17

Deviate from basic strategy if the count per deck equals or exceeds the matrix numbers. HIT / STAND DECISIONS
Your Hand		Dealer's Card
	.	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
	16	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	0	.
	15	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	+4	.
	14	-4	-5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	13	-1	-2	-3	-5	-5	.	.	.	.	.
	12	+3	+1	0	-2	-1	.	.	.	.	.

DOUBLE DOWN DECISIONS
Your Hand		Dealer's Card
	.	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
	11	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	-5	+1
	10	.	.	.	.	.	.	-5	-2	+3	+4
	9	+1	-1	-3	-5	.	+4	.	.	.	.
	8	.	.	.	+4	+2	.	.	.	.	.

	A,9	.	.	.	+5	+5	.	.	.	.	.
	A,8	.	+4	+3	+1	+1	.	.	.	.	.
	A,7	0	-2	-4	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	A,6	+1	-3	-5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	A,5	.	+3	-2	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	A,4	.	.	0	-5	.	.	.	.	.	.
	A,3	.	.	+3	-2	-5	.	.	.	.	.
	A,2	.	.	+4	+1	-2	.	.	.	.	.

PAIR SPLIT DECISIONS
Your Hand		Dealer's Card
	.	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	X	A
	A,A	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	-3
	X,X	.	.	.	+5	+5	.	.	.	.	.
	9,9	-3	-4	-5	.	.	+2	.	.	.	+3
	8,8	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	7,7	.	.	.	.	.	.	+4	.	.	.
	6,6	-2	-4	-5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	5,5	.	.	.	.	.	.	-5	-2	+3	+4
	4,4	.	.	+3	-1	-4	.	.	.	.	.
	3,3	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
	2,2	-4	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Insurance: +3

Numbers generated with Blackjack Count Analyzer

Altering Play with Count - Single Deck

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