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As we mentioned in our previous section it is the high valued cards that are advantageous for the player, these cards include all the Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces.
One the other side of the coin are the low valued cards which you don't want in the deck, these include the 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's and 6's.
You now need to learn and way of keeping track of the cards that have been dealt from a deck and are therefore out of the game. For his we shall use a High - Low way of
card counting.
Please be aware that you need to start the count at the beginning of a new shoe, it is pointless to start counting halfway through!
Now you need to give every card in the deck a value, this sounds difficult but nothing could be more easier. Any card that is a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 is worth plus 1, and the
7, 8 and 9 cards are worth zero. The Tens, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces are all worth minus 1.
Before the Dealer starts dealing from a new deck your count is zero. Then everytime a card is dealt you need to either add or subtract its worth from this count.
To ensure you understand this let's say the Dealer deals the following cards in order during the first game:
Your initial count is zero, then the Dealer deals a Ten, your count is now minus one (zero subtract minus one = minus one), let's say the next card is a Two, your running
total so far is minus one and as a Two card is worth plus one, your new count is zero (minus one add plus one = zero)
Just so you fully understand this count, let's give you another example. The Dealer is about to deal the first cards from a freshly shuffled shoe, your initial count is zero.
The Dealer deals a Five a Nine, a Ten, a Six, a Queen and a Jack. The count is worked out below:
Initial count is zero so you now add the value of the first card which is plus one (five card) so your new total is 1, your next card is a nine so you have
to do nothing to the total as that cards' value is zero. The next card is a Ten so you now take one from the total one, so that 1 now becomes a zero (1-1=0)
Your next card is a six which means you need to add one to the total which brings that to 1. The next card is a Queen so from the current total which is 1 we need to take one away which
means the new total is zero. Finally the next card is a Jack which means we need to take away another one from the total as it is currently 1 so the new total becomes -1.
You really do need to get into your head the value of each card, and one way of doing it is to get a deck of standard playing cards and write on each one the value of that card.
Simply write on each one either +1, -1 or 0 according to the values mentioned earlier, then deal out hand after hand and keep a running total of the count as you progress through
the pack.
Practice makes perfect and you should keep dealing card after card until you are confident that you can keep a running total of all cards dealt. Once you are happy you
can do this then read our next section on how to utilize the count to your advantage.
Card Counting - Advantage Play
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