Card Counting

Back in 2003, when I was still a player, I advocated playing against the Lucky Ladies (LL) bet. Back then, there were a few great opportunities, particularly in Washington State. In early October, 2003, I stumbled on a variation of the LL concept on the tables at the Plaza casino in downtown Las Vegas.

The Upcard Luck (UL) blackjack side bet is a bit wacky to describe. Payouts are based on the dealer's up-card together with the two cards the player is dealt. In this sense, it is similar to both Lucky Lucky and 21 + 3. There would certainly be intellectual property issues if this bet made it big. Right now, though, it has very few placements.

“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”– Unknown (not Groucho Marx)

A long long time ago, in a casino far far away, there was a blackjack side bet called “Over/Under 13” (OU13). The player had the opportunity to wager that his two cards would total more than 13 (Over) or would total less than 13 (Under). A total of 13 lost for both wagers. These were even-money wagers, nothing fancy.

“The fourth way differs in that it is not a permanent way. It has no specific forms or institutions and comes and goes controlled by some particular laws of its own." – G.I. Gurdjieff

Every once in a while I like to take a step back and see where I am. Such is the case with card counting blackjack, baccarat and their respective side bets. In this article I am going to give summary statistics for every game and side bet I have analyzed for card counting in this blog. I hope this will give some perspective on the overall landscape of vulnerabilities.

Once a year, in preparation for G2E (the Global Gaming Exposition), I take a walk through a host of Las Vegas casinos. I have two primary objectives for this walk. The first is to survey the changing landscape of proprietary table games and electronic versions.  The second is to consider security and advantage play issues for these variants.

Over/Under (O/U) is a new table game that has recently been approved and is starting to get domestic placements. There has been considerable discussion on advantage play message boards about card counting this game and an associated side bet (see  this thread at wizardofvegas.com and this thread at blackjacktheforum.com).

Card counting has been around since the days of the dinosaurs (in casino years). Edward Thorp published his infamous book on card counting, "Beat the Dealer," in 1962. Since that time, hundreds of books on card counting have been written. Movies such as Rainman, "21" and The Hangover have featured card counting.

In blackjack, Basic Strategy represents the mathematically optimal series of decisions that minimizes your losses over time. It tells you when to stand, hit, double down, split, and surrender (where you forfeit half of your initial bet to the casino).