Beginners Black Jack

In the world of casino gambling, blackjack is perhaps the most interesting of all the casino games and the belief that players can get an edge by card counting adds to that even more. There has been huge discussion over the years with regards to which are the best card counting systems out there.

I have my own opinions on this which doesn’t really fit in with that of the masses. In my opinion the more powerful systems while optimising blackjack strategy and win rate do suffer from several flaws. In fact I wouldn’t call them flaws as such but drawbacks are probably a better way of putting it.

In an ideal world, the more powerful blackjack systems will create more profit and you cannot argue that fact. But I feel that the true profit these days doesn’t necessarily just stem from card counting. Even the most powerful counting systems will not be able to attain much more than a 1% edge and this is assuming that the player is skilled enough not to commit too many counting errors.

You would have to be an absolute whiz kid to be able to use blackjack systems that involve ace side counts for any decent length of time. Then we have the problem of longevity with regards to how long you can play the game. I am not just talking about career length here but session length.

This is why I believe that card counting by itself is not the optimal way to play the game and it counts for very little if you get caught. When my team operated we used a combination of advantage play and card counting which is a far more destructive strategy! Even though we used shuffle tracking techniques and the fact that I had practiced this skill using actual casino conditions, this skill is very tough to execute.

Our problem was that the only person who could do it properly was me and I was the one person who the casinos knew well. But even then, successfully shuffle tracking in a live casino is tough even when you are practiced in it. So in trying to ground the entire article in reality then and not on pipe dreams, I would not recommend shuffle tracking as a strategy for the masses.

So just what is the best card counting system in the world? Well this is dependent on the user and I can only advocate the high/low system. I have used most of the top systems but for me the high/low allows you to achieve longevity of playing session due to being able to avoid fatigue levels for longer. As with online poker, simple is often best and I have always preferred simplicity over complexity if in some cases the complex option causes other types of problems.

In my opinion I would recommend the high/low not just as a starting system for novice blackjack players but also as a great system for experienced players as well who are using other strategies that take up added concentration. As for being the best system in the world…..well I don’t know about that.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
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