Basic strategy
The following table shows what total you should achieve in your hand before you stop drawing to it:
DEALER SHOWS
If your hand includes an ace, the figures change as follows:
DEALER SHOWS
Those hands on which the player can “double down” should be doubled when the dealer shows:
| YOU HAVE | DOUBLE AGAINST |
| A, 7 | 3–6 |
| A, 6 | any card |
| A, 5 | 4–6 |
| A, 4 | 4–6 |
| A, 3 | 4–6 |
| A, 2 | 4–6 |
| A, A | 5, 6 (unless aces can be split) |
| 11 | any card |
| 10 | 2–9 |
| 9 | 2–6 |
Pairs should be split when the dealer shows the following:
| A, A | any card |
| 10, 10 | never |
| 9, 9 | 2–6 or 8, 9 |
| 8, 8 | any card |
| 7, 7 | 2–8 |
| 6, 6 | 2–7 |
| 5, 5 | never |
| 4, 4 | 5 |
| 3, 3 | 2–7 |
| 2, 2 | 2–7 |
Card counting
Although pro players have devised an array of complex counting systems, the basic high-low count will pay as well as most. Likewise, while it is possible to alter your strategy according to the count, this pays so little, percentage-wise, that it would take hundreds of years of play for it to be felt.
When this is taken into account, card counting is insultingly easy. The principle is simple: because of the rules casino dealers play to, high cards give an advantage to the player and low cards give an advantage to the casino. By keeping track of how many high/low cards have already been dealt, we can know how rich in high/low cards the remaining decks are. Then, when there are many high cards remaining to be dealt, we place a very large bet. At all other times, we place the minimum bet. Because all these low- or no-count minimum bets are (statistically) losing hands, the “spread,” or difference between the minimum and maximum allowable bets, is key in judging the value of a game. A large spread (e.g. 1–100) will pay much more than a small spread (e.g. 10–100). One counts as follows:
The cards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are counted as +1.
The cards 10, J, Q, K, A are counted as –1.
The cards 7, 8, 9 are not counted.
For example, the dealer deals:
J, 2, 6, A, 5, 7, 9, 2
The running count is now +2.
The running count, however, must be changed into a true count. One does this by dividing the running count by the number of half-decks remaining to be played. The game of blackjack is usually dealt from a 6-deck or 8-deck shoe: however, it will take some time for a significant running count to develop. Therefore, one is typically dividing by 5 or 2 rather than 12.
For every single point of true count, one may bet 1% of one’s bankroll. No more. This is why a large bankroll is crucial: it is not worth beginning a counting game with less than (roughly) 20,000 dollars.
Shuffle tracking
Basic shuffle tracking involves keeping track of areas of the deck which have very negative running counts (i.e. are rich in aces and tens). Then, when the cards are shuffled, one watches where those sections go. One can then bet for them as they are dealt.
Shuffle tracking is practiced by many but with little success, as it is nearly impossible to perform with accuracy.
Ace tracking
Ace tracking depends on the fact that, if the player’s first card is an ace, he/she immediately has a 52% advantage. That is, for every dollar the player bets, he/she will earn 52 cents. A player, therefore, who can predict when he will be dealt an ace, can earn money at a rate far in excess of a mere card counter.
In casinos, dealers pick up cards at the end of a hand in a predictable fashion: they sweep them up in a sort of reverse-domino effect, from right to left, each card sliding underneath its neighbor. Then they are put into a box, awaiting the shuffle when all 6 decks (for example) have been dealt.
The trick of ace tracking is to memorize the sequence of the last two cards which are slid underneath each ace. That is, if the two cards lying to the right of an ace are the Queen of Hearts and the four of Diamonds, one can memorize this and when, in the next deal, a Queen of Hearts is dealt, closely followed by a four of Diamonds, one knows an ace is likely to follow. Since the shuffle separates the cards out, and sometimes (but not very often, depending on how many times the cards are split and shuffled) entirely breaks up a sequence, the game is not exact. However, it is a higher percentage game than any counting game, and can be played with a smaller bankroll (say 10,000 dollars) for that reason.
It is generally easier to memorize sequences by assigning code names to all of the cards. For instance:
| Four of Diamonds: | FORD |
| Four of Clubs: | FUCK |
| Three of Hearts: | MOM |
| Three of Clubs: | MICK |
| Queen of Clubs: | QUACK |
| et cetera. |