Online live casino card counting

Getting any type of movement in a game’s house edge is critical to success, especially when we’re talking about online blackjack. As a game that sees you go head-to-head with the house, you want to give yourself a fighting chance, and the primary way to do that is to play according to a strategy, including card counting.

Many blackjack players approach the game with at least a basic understanding of counting cards, but for new players, it can seem like a daunting task. With so many cards in play, you need a good memory to recall sequences and a working knowledge of probabilities and mathematics.

In land-based casinos, card counting can work, but it’s a lot more difficult when you play online card games. Casinos have mechanisms in place that make it rather difficult, including Random Number Generators. But playing Live Casino card games might work with some strategies.

On the bright side, there are a few ways you can learn card counting strategies to improve your game and, hopefully, improve the house edge in your favour.

Counting cards is a maths-based strategy mostly used in blackjack (and some poker variants) to figure out whether or not the next hand will be to your advantage or to the dealer’s.

The whole aim of counting cards is to keep count of the high and low-value cards in an effort to minimise the house edge.

Since casino card counting allows you the chance to get an idea of the composition of the remaining cards that have not yet been dealt, you can aim to make better decisions and minimise your losses.

The process of card counting in blackjack is a strategic process whereby you keep a running count. The basic strategy involves assigning a positive, negative and zero value to every card.

The point values you assign to the cards must correlate to each card’s EOR – Effect of Removal. This is the estimated effect of removing a certain card from the game and how it could affect the house edge.

RNG stands for Random Number Generator, and it’s the heart of any licensed online casino. RNGs control online casino games, including card games. The idea is to prevent predictability and provide fair gambling for all players. During online blackjack games, for example, the RNG’s job is to generate random numbers.

As a result, it’s impossible to indulge in card counting when you play classic card games at online casinos. The RNG shuffles cards after each game, ensuring that each and every hand is dealt at random and that the outcomes are totally unpredictable, guaranteeing honesty and fair play through the games.

Since the results are completely random (RNGs don’t know the previous hand’s results), there is no predictability, and card counting attempts will fail.

Theoretically, card counting should work better when playing in a casino’s Live Casino section. That’s because you can watch the dealer shuffle and cut in real-time but at a slow enough pace that beginners can practice the different card counting strategies.

But there are rules to contend with. Most Live Casinos use continuous or automatic shufflers, and this prevents you from counting the cards since they’re always being shuffled.

In Live Casino games where a shoe is used, you’ll find that dealers cut the six to eight decks right down the middle, getting rid of half the shoe and halting any advantage you might have gained trying to count cards.

It all depends on your preferences. The card counting methods we have listed will help you get a slight advantage over the house, but you need to put in a lot of effort for only a little gain.

Plenty of players do like to count cards and they do make some money, but you need to keep things realistic. Card counting might give you a meagre one or two percent edge over the casino. What’s more, that advantage is only really based on long-term playing, whereas the results during a single session can vary drastically.

When the deck is positive, the dealer has just as much chance of getting high cards as you do.

Still, any edge you’re able to gain over the house is worth the effort that it takes to learn. We suggest trying out card games for free in demo mode or making use of online casino bonuses to practice your preferred strategies and hone your skills before you commit to wagering your own money. As always, only bet with what you can comfortably afford to lose and know when it’s time to walk away rather than chase any losses.