Illegal Card Counting?

Illegal card counting is a phrase you often hear cropping up in conversations, but the fact is that card counting is not in fact illegal. That said, casinos hate the idea of players using this technique, and so most traditional establishments keep a keen lookout for anyone they think is counting cards so that they can promptly ban them from playing blackjack at all.

If a player chooses to count cards in order to get a one percent plus advantage over the casino, he can expect a pit bull (boss) to approach him and pleasantly say, “We appreciate your patronage but we’re going to ask you to stop playing blackjack here. Feel free to play any of the other table games we offer.” Of course, most of the other tables games in the casino have a house advantage higher than the interest rate most of us pay on our Visa card, so the player isn’t likely to be too thrilled with this offer.

Fortunately for players, not all casinos bar counters. Some, by law, cannot run you off. Instead, they impose tougher blackjack rules, multi-deck games and limit deck penetration to keep the skilled counter at bay. Though many in the industry believe that the casino has every right to back off proficient players, the relatively minuscule amounts they lose to card counters are trivial compared with the money they make from the uninformed mass of poor players, not to mention bad counters.

So, illegal card counting doesn’t exist, but card counting is rarely welcomed by casinos. If you can get away with it and you are good at it, you can gain an edge over the house and make money. Just remember that one day the house will identify you as a card counter and most likely bar you from playing blackjack there again.

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