Blackjack is the only game in a casino that can actually be beaten over the long haul. But it’s not something that is mastered in a couple hours of practice. You need perfect skills, proper money management, and the right temperament to be a winning player.
I’m going to break down how to practice the first three steps needed to beat the house.
Practicing Blackjack Part I: Basic Strategy is the Foundation
A lot of people say, “”I know about 95% of basic strategy. Show me the deviations, get me to a table, show me how to bet! I’m ready to play!”
But if you are still making ANY Basic Strategy mistakes, or having to use much mental energy to make your playing decisions, then you’re in trouble! I don’t care how well you can count and how many deviations you memorize… if you make Basic Strategy mistakes, you will never have the advantage over the dealer.
If, however, for every playing decision, the correct Basic Strategy answer comes quickly, then counting, deviations, and betting will be MUCH easier.
Ok. So how do I get better at Basic Strategy quickly?
1. Recite the chart. I recommend talking through the entire chart every day, a few times a day. Start with Splits, and say “Aces always split. 10’s never split. 9’s split up thru 9, except against a 7.” etc. You should be able to effortlessly run thru the chart.
2. Use our (FREE) Basic Strategy Drill. IF you can recite the chart, it’s time to start practicing PLAYING basic strategy. Our free drill is a great way to efficiently put basic strategy into practice.
3. Practice on our iOS and Android App. If you’re an iOS person, we also have an app to drill your basic strategy (and counting, and everything else), called Card Counting Trainer Pro. Click here for iOS. Click here for Android. The bottom line is that you need to drill yourself on basic strategy decisions until you can play Basic Strategy perfectly.
4. Keep reviewing. Basic Strategy is sort of an abstract thing. So you won’t retain it if you don’t keep practicing and reviewing it. You might go 10 hours of playing blackjack without seeing some decisions. But when you DO see it, you want to know what to do instantly.
Practicing Blackjack Part II: The Running Count
If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend starting with our all-encompassing “How to Count Cards” guide.
Also, if you haven’t join our FREE Card Counting Mini-Course, you’re missing out on additional tips for counting cards faster and easier.
But, if you’re familiar with the running count and simply want some practicing tips, here’s what you should focus on.
1. Count through a deck of cards. The first step is to take a deck of cards and count through it, one at a time. If you don’t end up at zero, then you did something wrong. This will help you in creating new associations with cards, essentially “learning the language” of card counting. When you’re playing at a table, you want to see a 4 of clubs primarily as “+1”, not as a 4 of clubs. After time, you’ll start to see cards simply as +1, 0, or -1.
2. Practice with our FREE Running Count Training Drill. After you’ve begun “learning the language” of card counting, it’s time to practice counting the way it’s actually dealt at the tables. We have this free drill so you can efficiently begin practicing card counting. The goal is the same as basic strategy… begin slowly, but accurately until you can play 100 hands perfectly.
3. “Back Count” at a Casino. If you’re ready for some real-world experience, you can practice by going into a casino and standing behind the table, and just watching. DO. NOT. PLAY. You’re not ready yet. BUT, if If you can get thru an entire shoe without dropping the count, missing a card, or getting mentally fatigued, then you are one step closer to actually trying to play while counting.
Practicing Blackjack Part III: Practicing How to Get to the True Count
A lot of people begin having issues when they start dividing to convert from the running count to the true count, but if you separate the individual processes and master them, it’s not too complicated to put it all together. So here’s some tips to practice the individual process of converting from running to true count.
1. The old Fashioned Math Practice Approach. Assuming you’re practicing for a 6 deck game, get out your discard tray and 6 decks of cards. Then write the numbers 1 to 30 on scraps of paper and place them in a hat, cup, whatever. Then, starting with less than 1 deck in the discard tray, start pulling numbers out of the hat and practice dividing the number by 6 (the number of decks remaining). Do this 20 or 30 times. Then, put one full deck in the discard tray and start over, dividing by 5. Do this for every deck increment until you’re dividing by 1 deck remaining. Wash, rinse, repeat. Over and over.
2. Use our True Count Drill. This is a much more efficient way of doing the drill I describe above. Yes, you need a paid membership to our site to do this, but if you’re serious about card counting, our Membership is the best way to learn, train, and connect with a community of card counters who have taken Millions out of casinos.
3. If you want to practice throughout the day, then while you’re driving, exercising, taking a shower, whatever, just start dividing random numbers by 6, then 5, then 4, 3, 2, and 1. Before long, with these drills, you should be able to divide any running count by any true count. The goal is to be able to do so in a quick second, without having to take too much energy away from keeping the running count and making your basic strategy (and eventually deviation) decisions.
Be Aware that There’s MORE!
These drills are the first step to being an effective card counter. There’s still deviations, betting, bankroll management, avoiding heat, and a lot more.
Not only have I taken over $600,000 from casinos and co-managed a blackjack team that took nearly $4Million from casinos, but through Blackjack Apprenticeship, we’ve trained more successful card counters than anyone.
I recently received this question from a member of our website:
“hey can you explain the importance of deck penetration and if there is any change in strategy for different penetration. Thanks, love the site!”
Member, thanks for asking, because deck penetration is incredibly important. First off, I’m going to assume that we’re all mature enough to avoid the jokes pertaining to the obvious sexual innuendo regarding “penetration”.
In the world of blackjack, “penetration”, or “deck penetration”, is the amount of cards that the dealer cuts off, relative to the cards dealt out. In the first several months of card counting I gave no attention to deck penetration. I paid attention to the rules and the table minimum. That was it. Then, after reading “Burning the Tables in Las Vegas” by Ian Andersen, I realized that I should try to find games with better penetration. But it was still probably the third or fourth most important factor in my mind.
As I’ve gotten more familiar with the math of the game, and as I have spent more time with simulation software, I’ve realized that deck penetration is drastically undervalued. People think that the main ways to make more money at card counting are to bet more and to play games with better rules. Did you know that you can add much more value by finding a game with 10% better penetration than by betting 10% more on high counts. Let’s say you’re using a 1-10 bet spread. Now, on a typical game, you’d add around 10-15% to your EV by betting 10% more on all positive true counts. On that same game, if you get 10% better penetration, you’re going to add 40-60% to your EV.
And that’s not where the benefits end with improved Penetration. The fewer cards that they cut off, the more of a sure thing that game becomes. One of the reasons I don’t play games with poor penetration is because it would take so many hours to overcome variance, it’s not worth the risk. However, as the penetration gets better, the number of hours necessary to reach the “long run” becomes less and less. I typically won’t touch a six deck shoe game with more than 2 decks cut off.
So next time you head out to a casino, pay careful attention to how many cards they cut off the back of the shoe before dealing out the deck. It often varies from dealer to dealer, so stick to those dealers that offer better penetration. It’ll take fewer hours to guarantee a profit, and your $/hr will skyrocket!
Deck penetration is just ONE of the things you need to understand to beat blackjack. Start our FREE Card-Counting Mini-Course to gain the skills necessary to (legally) beat blackjack for profit…
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I recently received this question from a member of our website:
And that’s not where the benefits end with improved Penetration. The fewer cards that they cut off, the more of a sure thing that game becomes. One of the reasons I don’t play games with poor penetration is because it would take so many hours to overcome variance, it’s not worth the risk. However, as the penetration gets better, the number of hours necessary to reach the “long run” becomes less and less. I typically won’t touch a six deck shoe game with more than 2 decks cut off.