Hi Jos,

Good thinking, and absolutely correct. The blackjack dealer MUST play their hand(s) according to a fixed, non-breakable set of static rules (which CAN vary between houses and between tables inside each house) which are stated at EACH table in EACH house. The Gaming Control Commission monitors this *VERY* carefully -- any house that messes with this risks losing their license permanently.

As an aside, the "fixed dealer play rules" also apply to the game of Pai Gow Poker (also known as "Asian poker") played in most Vegas houses; however, this is a *very* different game than blackjack and does not require or support card counting, since the deck is shuffled between each hand.

Card counting can be useful either individually or in a "team". However, you observe correctly that teams tend to gross higher winning percentages than individuals.


>Hi Evan, I think it might be worth mentioning for non-gamblers reading this thread (that includes me) that the dealer must draw under 16 and the players can choose not to. This rule combined with an guestimate of what cards are still in the deck can help a player(s) decide whether to draw or not in the hope of busting the dealers hand. and that card counting becomes more useful in a group of players working together.
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>>Mike,
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>>My statement was that the *effect* is predictable and calculable. I said NOTHING about being able to determine exact cards or sequences thereof. What CAN be predicted and calculated is the current advantage of one side over the other, on a percentage basis. In your example below, the house holds a very slightly higher advantage over their basic 0.50% based on the cards you specify.
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>>Without going into too much detail -- a player, keeping track of what cards have been removed from the deck, can (with practice) determine whether it is advantageous to play and bet more or less agressively based on that information. IT IS NOT EASY -- if it was, everyone would be winning; casinos would then adjust the rules to their favor and remove the advantage.
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>>In fact, at its largest, the best blackjack advantage a player can realize at any one given instant regardless of the cards remaining is about 3 percent over the house. The best advantage the house can have is about 8 percent over the player (these numbers vary WIDELY based on specific house rules, the number of players at the table, how deep the cut card is placed, the number of decks in the shoe, the cards removed from the deck, and several other minor factors).
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