Chicago Sun-Times: Basic strategy a safer blackjack bet for most than card counting

Q. I'm puzzled by your avoidance of a whole area of gambling that would increase the pleasure and reduce the cost to every one of your readers -- card counting in blackjack. With a little bit of research and practice, any player can improve their game to the point where they reduce your 2 percent recommendation to a break-even situation or even pocket a few bucks.

You proclaim you're on the side of the gambler, yet you avoid this obvious area of enhancement. Why is that? It seems that you defend the casinos' ridiculous position that card counting is somehow cheating! Now, I can sympathize with a casino's crackdown on someone who is palming cards or chips, but card counting seems to me to be a skill that only takes advantage of information that is offered by the casino to every player who sits at the table.

Pete H.

A. True, Pete, there are some in the gaming industry who believe the casino has every right to back off proficient players. But I am not one of them. Certainly, the minuscule amounts lost to card counters are trivial compared to the money made from the uninformed masses of poor players and bad counters. What's more, I don't believe using your brain counting should be prohibited. The casino, of course, would prefer you to check your brain at the front door.

So though counting is not technically illegal, what the casino can, and will, do is take simple measures to combat counters by putting more decks on the game, burying more cards on the shuffle, stopping mid-entry shoe betting, having the dealer shuffle halfway through the deck and, when all else fails, it can legally bar the counter from playing by backing him off the game.

And where it is permissible to count down the deck, the casino can impose tougher blackjack rules, multideck games and limit deck penetration to keep the skilled counter at bay. Compare this, Pete, to playing perfect basic strategy. Using this legal system against the house will reduce the casino advantage to much lower than the 2 percent you mentioned in your inquiry, more like 0.15 percent against a single deck, .35 percent on a double deck, and .58 percent with a six-deck shoe. To a large extent, that is why I recommend using basic strategy. You get to avoid all the cat-and-mouse games you have to play against the casino.

But since you asked, here are some card-counting basics for those interested. Card counters, theoretically, have an inherent advantage of between .5 and 1.5 percent against the casino, accomplished by tracking the changing imbalance of big to little cards in a diminishing deck. When the cards remaining favor the player, you bet more money. When they favor the dealer, you bet less. Big cards (10s, Aces) favor the player; small cards (2-6) favor the dealer.

The simplest count to learn is a one-level count, also known as the Hi-Lo counting system. It assigns the following count values to each card:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (small cards): +1

7, 8, 9 (neutral cards): 0

10, J, Q, K, Ace (big cards): -1

To use the Hi-Lo method, you need to add and subtract the above counting values for every card exposed on the blackjack table. By mentally keeping an updated running count from one hand to the next, you vary your bets according to the positive/negative value of the upcoming hand.

For example, you have played a bit and now the deck is half gone - - 26 cards remaining. You've been counting, and the current imbalance figure that you have been quietly tracking lies plus-7 to the player. If the dealer has to hit his next hand, the remaining 26- card deck is short seven of the cards he needs to rely on. But let 's say the dealer catches his hand with two small cards, and the count goes to plus-9 with 24 cards remaining. Most card counters would bet big bucks on the next hand.

As illustrated above, all the counter does is vary bets up or down, from one hand to the next, guided by the constantly updated imbalance figure, which predicts whether the next hand favors the counter or the dealer.

Is it easy to count? Yeah, with a little practice it is. But the bottom line is the casino is not going to be too keen with blackjack players who know how to beat the house. It much prefers players who wing it, who use no strategy at all. So is the additional 1 percent edge you get counting worth the effort vs. using a strategy card?

Without prejudice, I'll let each player decide.

Mark Pilarski is a syndicated gaming writer. Send e-mails to: pilarski@markpilarski.com.