Card Counting: What Are the Most Frequent Mistakes?

When counting cards, people often make mistakes that could cause them an epic blackjack fail. Regardless of the morality of this technique, if you plan to do it, you need to master it to be among successful card counters. They can keep things under control and minimise the house edge in blackjack variants where card counting is possible.

Therefore, let’s take a look at some of the rookie mistakes that are common in blackjack games.

Playing With Inadequate Bankroll

Counting cards is not only maths or the power of observation. Sometimes, we have to go beyond cards and pay attention to stuff surrounding the game, such as our bankroll size and minimum bet size.

If you go with a session bankroll of £250 and want to win every single hand in a £25 minimum deposit game, that’s a rookie mistake. Make your bankroll appropriate to your betting level to minimise the risk of running out of money. In other words, all famous card counters paid attention to their bankrolls while playing blackjack games.

Playing Unbeatable Blackjack Games

Blackjack comes in different shapes and sizes, and card counters try to adapt to them. However, rules can sometimes really stand in the way of this technique. You will not be able to gain an advantage over dealer in some cases when the rules are mixed. For example, six and eight-deck games significantly lower your possibility of winning if there’s one to four-unit bet spread.

Therefore, professional card counters tried to apply the card counting technique only in types of blackjack where they can maximise its use.

Not Being Bold Enough

If you count cards, the chances are that you are going to come to certain situations that would require you to push out a big bet. The truth is – many players don’t feel comfortable doing that, as they inner “alarm” kicks in and they back down.

Making big bets when following specific blackjack strategies and card counting systems is something you should always be prepared to do. No matter how things look bad at the moment, systems are called as such because they are designed to give you an advantage. Ultimately, they are made to help you beat the dealer, so don’t let your emotions take over when making big bets.

Prolonging Blackjack Sessions

Long blackjack sessions are never a good idea for anyone who wants to employ a card counting system. First of all, regardless of how experienced you are, your concentration is going to drop at one point. That could be just a split of the second – but it will be enough to make a mistake that could not be repaired afterwards. Concentration also takes practice, but the thing is that it always goes down as time passes by in your blackjack session.

The other important reason why you should keep your sessions short and sweet is casinos do not exactly adore card counters. Although technically legal, this strategy is not allowed in casinos. Their employees can ask you to stop playing blackjack (or any other game) at any time.

The longer you play, the higher the risk of you getting caught – it’s simple as that. The main goal here is to stay as long as possible, without anyone noticing what blackjack strategy you have in your head.

Not Keeping Your Cool

Finally, if you are new to card counting, you will probably need some practice before you can “hide” your skill well. Experienced card counters usually chat with the dealer and other players, keep up with everything and count cards all along.

It’s something that takes practice and devotion. If you fail to “keep your cool,” you could become an easy target and end up your blackjack session earlier than you planned.