There is no possible way to card to count when you are playing Blackjack online. This is because of the Random Number Generators (RNG) that the casino use to make sure that all games produce fair results as well as to ensure the card shuffling algorithm cannot be hacked. The RNG means that those cards are in the constant shuffle when you are playing any type of card game at an online casino.
RNGs are basically a set of strings of code that contains the virtual deck of cards. On a land-based game of Blackjack the cards sit there on the table – now try to imagine that same deck of cards continuously shuffling on the table. The only time it stops shuffling is for a brief split second, which is when your card(s) is/are dealt to you.
It works like this. The dealer begins by dealing cards on the table. You get your first cards, the deck continues to shuffle, the next card is dealt, the deck continues to shuffle, and so on. This means you will never be able to know what card is coming next. This technology also means that even if someone did hack the RNG’s code, that person still would not be able to figure out what the next card is.
Why do RNGs make card counting impossible online?
Card counting in Blackjack was designed around the fact that back in the day casinos did not shuffle the deck of cards. Not shuffling the deck is the original rules of Blackjack.
Obviously, once the online casinos cottoned on to the fact that card counters were exploiting this using mathematical genius, the only way the casino could conquer it was to order that the cars be shuffled – casinos also started to add more decks, which is why you hear of 2, 3 or 4 deck Blackjack games.
To card count, the counter must know what is called the ‘True Count’. This tells the player when there are considerably more high cards in the deck versus low cards. The higher the count, the more chance the player will win. Having many high cards in the deck means that there is more chance of the dealer busting out. The dealer is likely going to be dealt high cards and usually must hit on 16 or above – denoted as stand on 17.
In order for this to work, cards are assigned a value: (2 to 6 = +1), (7 to 9 = 0), (10, J, Q, K, A = -0). With the lower numbers adding to the True Count all the time, the higher the True Count, the less low cards there are in the deck. Getting the True Count means keeping a ‘Running Count’ from every hand played. The card counter must record every card on the table during a hand and use the above value to subtract or minus high and low cards to reach the running count for that hand.
Next, the running count is added or subtracted to or from the True Count. Once the True Count is high, the player will begin to increase his/her bets because now the odds of winning are in the player’s (card counter) favour. It is also worth noting that the player must always be playing Blackjack’s basic strategy for this work!
Now although there is a lot more to card counting and RNGs than we can fit into a short article, one of the main points you can take away from this is that the only way for the True Count to stay accurate is if the dealer does not shuffle the cards. Online casino’s RNGs are continuously shuffling, making it impossible to count cards playing online casino games.
We would like to thank http://www.goldclub888.com for contributing the information used in this article! Their explanation was brilliant and clears up some unanswered questions we often see in forums in regards to card counting at online casinos. Bottom line is – card counting cannot be done playing online.
