Counting cards is this cheating at blackjack?

Counting cards has been a topic of discussion through the ages, the big question is can this be construed as cheating? As a blackjack player we ask ourselves a series of questions to try and determine this answer.

Is one making use of any device, electrical or mechanically in nature which would be deemed illegal since it gives the player an unfair advantage at the table?
As a blackjack player are you personally interfering in anyway shape or form with the dealer at the table whether it be in real or virtual?
Are you making use of any third person(s) to use as a distraction to the dealer, to give oneself an unfair advantage at the blackjack table?

So far all our answers break down to the unified result of "no".

So what is counting cards? And what do we need to perform this task?

Well most players interpret card counting as an additional blackjack strategy, some card mathematicians consider counting cards as skillful use of information that is legally and openly available to the player, so it cannot be deemed unlawful.

Here is an example of counting cards:

Please refer ensure you are comfortable with the fundamental blackjack rules.

This particular counting cards system calculates the odds of a 10-value card (obviously including picture card) being drawn based only on the cards still in the deck.

One of the basic counting card system's assigns a value to certain cards in the deck:

Playing cards in the range of 2 through 6 inclusive are given a value of +1.
The playing cards of tens, jacks, queens, kings and Aces are given a value of -1.
And the remaining cards in the deck which are 7, 8, and 9 are valued at zero.

The blackjack player views the cards being played (and subsequently thrown away or "discarded" for want of a better term), the player can then commence to total these values together. For the sake of simplicity we will begin counting from value zero, this "running total" fluctuates between a negative and positive value.

Please review the example below:

If the first hand dealt from a deck we have a four (+1), a eight (0), a queen (-1), an jack (-1), a king (-1), and an ace (-1), the running total so far is -3. Please review the mathematical procedure again if you did not get it the first time, to ensure your grasp the rudimentary principle.

The higher the running count, the more low-value cards have gone into the discard tray. That means there is a higher percentage of high-value cards( i.e. 9, 10's and picture cards still remaining in the deck. So why is this important?

Remember how the basic blackjack strategy is based on the assumption that the next card will be a 10-value card. If you know that there is a greater percentage of 10-value cards in the deck than usual, it means that you have a clearer blackjack strategy to enable you to bet more strategically in your favor.

Once you know there are higher value cards in ratio to lower value cards in the remaining card deck, a smart "counting cards player" will bet the table minimum when the deck is fresh. When the running total hits a desirable level, such as +4 or higher, the savvy blackjack player then makes a much larger bet or starts doubling down aggressively. The higher the running total count, the larger the bet placed. The counting card player uses these mathematical odds to make a couple of big wins while the deck is still in their favor. If the count drops below zero or the deck is shuffled, the player returns to the minimum bet.

What conditions do we need for this counting cards strategy to be effective?

This counting cards system calculates the odds of a card having a value of 10 being drawn based only on the cards still in the deck. It does no take in effect for the cards that the dealer has discarded. And the dealer deals with the remaining deck. The strategy is still accounting for the cards that have been discarded. Ace and a Ten will discuss other techniques later, so please check back.