Biggest blackjack myths

Myth 1: I need to be a genius to count cards
Rain Man was a great movie, but I think it helped perpetuate one of the great myths of blackjack…to count cards you need to be a mathematical genius; have a photographic memory; have the Savant-like mental powers of Raymond Babbit; or some combination of all of these skills.

NOT TRUE.  Counting cards is at least in principle a very simple thing to do and while there are a number of different methodologies many simply involve having to add and subtract the number 1 and keep a running count.  There’s no requirement to remember every card dealt.  There’s no requirement to compute all cards remaining in the pack.  A mathematically challenged child could do it with practice and patience.

Of course in practice, counting gets tricky because you do have to pay attention despite all the distractions of the casino.  Cute waitresses here, chatty players there, flashing lights and load noises everywhere.  And of course you can’t  LOOK like you’re counting because casinos aren’t really too fond of advantage players…which leads us on to myth number 2…
Myth 2: Counting cards is illegal
While casinos probably wish the converse was true, counting cards is perfectly legal, and neither legislation nor case law makes it a prosecutable offence.  And this position has been tested before the courts on more than one occasion.

Back in 1979, around the time many of the Blackjack Hall of Fame players were plundering casinos for millions with their counting strategies, an advantage player named Ken Uston , sick of being ejected from casinos for winning too much, sued the Resorts International Hotel in Atlantic City.  The New Jersey Supreme Court held that no casino had the right to bar players purely on the basis that they could count cards and play the game of blackjack astutely.

More recently James Grosjean, another blackjack Hall-of-Famer, managed to successfully sue Caesar’s Palace, Imperial Palace and feared casino security consultants Griffin Investigations in separate lawsuits that that reaffirmed the above view.
Myth 3: Other players’ sub-optimal plays effect your returns
I see this one played out on blackjack tables all the time.  A player is playing strict basic strategy, or some kind of strategy they think is optimal, and another player at the table is making very loose plays.  Mr Basic Strategy is rolling his eyes and complaining every time Mr Loose Play does something like sit on his 15 when the dealer’s up card is a picture. This of course is only exacerbated when Mr Basic Strategy, who hits his 14 and busts to 24 maintains that if Mr Loose was playing properly he should have taken the bust instead.

True of course…for that particular scenario.  But it is just as likely that Mr Loose’s sub-optimal plays can help you.  It has been mathematically demonstrated that the way other players on your table play the game DOES NOT impact the effectiveness of your playing strategy in the long run.

So whether you at your local casino, or playing live blackjack on the Internet ease-up on all those Mr Looses at your table and just be happy you’re not the one handing cash over to the casino at the rate of knots that they are.