Practicing Your Card Counting
Card counting in blackjack is a highly profitable skill that anyone can master. Although it looks difficult and rather dazzling in the movies, it is still a basic technique that requires one to be able to remember the weights of certain cards. This part of card counting is not the difficult aspect of the skill. Actually applying the weights, remembering the count whilst the cards are being dealt by the dealer whilst applying basic strategy is the difficult part.
Even if you know the counts of the cards back to front, you might have trouble observing the ten cards that are dealt out, running the numbers in your head to adjust the count and then still know when to hit, fold and bet. The most important part of learning the skill is practicing looking at the cards, counting and applying the count without it looking so obvious! Making it obvious will invite the security of the casino around to ask you to leave, if they are in a good mood.
Spend two to three hours a day just going through decks of cards and working on the count. The counts of any counting system always end up in a zero if the counting is correct. Start with one deck of cards and increase the speed of the counting. You may find that at the beginning, counting out loud is necessary so that you remain focused, but as time goes by, you can just look at the cards and know what you are doing. Working with more decks of cards will then allow you to process through larger sessions and a more realistic setting. Working with a partner will also help immensely since the partner can notice any leaks and obvious signs of card counting.
Card counting is a highly profitable skill, but without the necessary pratice, it is difficult to master.
