Does Card Counting Work in Canadian Casinos?
Nowadays, you don’t have to squeeze into a fancy suit or dress to play blackjack in Canada. This is also possible in a baggy jogging suit – at least if you play in one of the numerous non GamStop casinos that offer the card game.
Can You Count Cards at Non GamStop Casinos?
Whether it is possible to gain an advantage by counting cards at non GamStop casinos depends on a number of factors. If you play the virtual version, you don’t even need to start counting cards. As a rule, the entire stack is reshuffled before each round. The pure computer game is therefore excluded.
However, many casinos also offer so-called live casinos, in which real dealers deal with real cards in front of a camera. As long as the dealer’s card slide does not reshuffle mechanically after each round, or at least the chances of counting success are reduced with a cutting card, card counting can in principle, be used. Here you also have the great advantage that you can easily take notes on your computer, use calculators or other tools. And no bouncer will beat you up in a dark back alley because I just can’t get caught.
Should You Be a Professional Card Counter at Non GamStop Casinos or Not?!
One thing that certainly speaks in favour of card counting is that it is quite intelligent to gain a legal advantage in casinos not on GamStop. The method is purely mathematical, corresponds to the rules of probability calculation, is legal and, given the right conditions, is justified. The success stories of the MIT blackjack team, for example, or Tommy Hyland, prove that the various methods work in principle.
But there are also good reasons to give up card counting. So the chances of getting “rich” by counting blackjack cards are rather low. Although hi-lo increases the chances of making high bets in the right place, blackjack is still a game of chance, and the probability of losing is never zero, but at most slightly lower than without card counting. If you work in a team, the chances are also better due to the distribution of the (also financial) risk.
If you only play for fun, the calculations and forced concentration on all cards will spoil the fun.
If you still want to shift your luck in your favour, you have to be really good at what you do. He should know all, really all, of the rules of blackjack inside out. Counting cards must have become a regular habit with no telltale lip or finger movements. That takes a lot of practice. In the real casino there is also a lot of distraction from music, many other people, people who talk to you while you add even numbers in your head and much more. Anyone who then stares at the cards gives themselves away – and since counting cards is not really desirable, the hoped-for success is then gone.
The overall successful teams have also been caught more often. So if you don’t want to be constantly looking for a new non GamStop casino, you should probably do without card counting. Many casinos are now networked with each other. Some belong to large operator chains. High-resolution photos from the surveillance camera of card counters caught are then exchanged so that the potential house ban does not only have to apply in one casino.
Counting Cards in the Cinema – Famous Player Stories to Watch
Blackjack appears more often in Canadian movies – and not just in “gambling” flicks. Sophisticated people in suits or evening dresses at the blackjack table are often depicted in agent films a la James Bond and other films (but the actors may also play baccarat, which is similar to blackjack).
“21” from 2008 is specifically about counting cards in blackjack. The real story of the MIT blackjack team from 1979 is adapted. The members of this team used the Hi-Lo method.
In “Rain Man” with Dustin Hoffmann from 1988 and in “Hangover” from 2009, on the other hand, there is a person with an (autistic) insular gift who can actually count cards without a mathematical system – what can be used, bets bet cleverly and achieve high profits.
How Does the Hi-Lo Method of Blackjack Card Counting Work at Non GamStop Casinos?
The method is comparatively simple. The cards are divided into three categories:
- Low cards, which are 2,3,4,5 and 6
- Neutral cards, which are 7,8 and 9
- High cards, which are 10, jack, queen, and king Ace.
Low cards get a count of +1 (plus one), neutrals get a count of 0, and high cards get a count of -1 (minus one). If all the cards in a deck are added up, the value is 0.
Now the player who wants to count cards in blackjack has to calculate the corresponding value for each card played, starting with the first card played from a whole deck.
For example, if a two, a seven, an ace, and a five were dealt, he would count from zero: plus one (for the two), zero, minus one (the ace), and plus one (for the five). So after those four cards, the total is plus one.
After a few rounds, a meaningful value is obtained. If it is positive, it means that the balance is skewed in favour of the higher cards. More low cards have already been played, and the likelihood of highs coming is greater. If the value is negative, the opposite is the case – low cards are more likely to be played now. The more positive the value, the better. Incidentally, this method was developed by a US mathematician in 1962, the then mathematics professor Edward O. Thorp.
The True Count
The value determined with the Hi-Lo method described above should be modified with the so-called True Count. To do this, the count obtained is divided by the number of decks still in the shoe. For example, if 104 cards have been played, four decks of 52 cards each must be left. If the count so far is about plus 8, the true count is 8 divided by 4 equals plus 2. The more decks that are played, the more meaningful the value.