When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack

The only way to increase your expectation is to use a 1-10 unit bet spread, which is sure to get you kicked out of any casino eventually. Still, as long as you can get away with a 1-10 unit spread, you can play with an edge of about 0.57%, or about three and a half times greater than with a 1-5 unit spread. As a player you want to capitalize on a good run of cards and this strategy has some merits. Start with a 2 unit bet. If you win you reduce the bet to one unit. If you win that bet you increase to 3 units. Once the dealer wins you go back to your original 2 unit bet. A run of 10 hands could look like this: Wager Result +/-2 W +2; 1 W +3; 2 W +5. I personally think a 1-3-2-6 positive progression is a solid weapon for your blackjack attack. To start off you bet one unit. If it loses you stay at one unit, but when it wins you increase your bet after the initial win to three units. If that bet loses you return to one unit, and if it wins you drop to two units. The way you win at blackjack is by playing according to perfect strategy and grinding out wins. If you are lucky enough to be dealt a 20, there is absolutely no reason you should split up your 10s. But that doesn’t stop some gamblers from trying to take advantage of their luck. The only hand that can beat a 20 is a 21, obviously.

Blackjack is a popular casino-banked game that can utilize anywhere between one and eight decks of cards. The cards are typically not reshuffled after every round of play which renders the game susceptible to advantage play techniques such as card counting.

This method enables skilled players to track the ratio of high to low cards, which gives them an accurate idea of what their odds of winning a given round are. It is a mathematically proven fact that in blackjack, the excess of high cards that remain to be played tips the odds in favor of the player. And vice versa, the excess of low cards shifts the advantage in favor of the house.

1. Bonus
   ⋆80 Free Spins
2. Bonus
   $300
3. $500
   $600

Card counting first gained notoriety in the early 1960s after the publication of Edward Thorp’s bestseller Beat the Dealer. The book became an overnight success and scared casino operators into changing the rules of the game in an attempt to prevent players from beating it through counting. One of the first things they did was increase the number of decks in play. Little did they know this was nothing but a small bump in the road for card counters who continue to crush the game of 21 to this day.

Is It Possible to Count Multiple Decks in Blackjack?

Card counting is veiled in myths and misconceptions, which result largely from the way this advanced method is portrayed in media and movies. Passed from one generation to the next, these misconceptions prevent many people from learning how to become profitable blackjack players.

The infamous scene from the Academy Award-winning motion picture Rain Man serves as a classic example. When the autistic character of Dustin Hoffman crushes the blackjack tables at Caesars Palace through counting, one of the members of the casino’s surveillance team exclaims no person in the world could possibly “count into a six-deck shoe”.

Luckily for card counters worldwide, there is not even an ounce of truth in this statement. Card counting can be just as effective in shoe games as it is in single-deck blackjack. It simply requires a slightly different approach.

Either way, the betting session starts with players keeping track of each dealt card that appears on the table. Each card is assigned a count value which depends on the counting system one uses. The most popular system in use is the Hi-Lo where the Kings, Jacks, Queens, 10s, and Aces have a count value of -1, the small cards 2 through 6 have a count value of +1, and the neutral cards 7, 8 and 9 are counted as 0.

Counting Multiple Decks in Blackjack Additional TipsKeeping track of each dealt card helps the player establish their running count which gives them an accurate enough idea about the composition of the remaining deck. This running count should be maintained throughout the entire course of the game until the dealer shuffles again.

The player uses the knowledge of the ratio of high to low cards to determine their edge and sizes their bets in proportion to this edge. So for example, if cards K, 10, 2, 8, and 6 appear during the first round, you end up with a running count of 0 because the high and low cards cancel themselves out. The 7 is neutral and as such, has no effect on the running count. The odds have not yet swung in your favor so you should not increase the size of your next bet.

However, maintaining a running count alone is not enough to accurately determine your advantage when multiple decks are in play. A high positive count of +5 after the first round of play gives a single-deck player a considerable advantage over the house which, in turn, justifies a significant bet increase on the next round.

This is not the case with a positive count of +5 when one plays against six decks. The edge it gives you is less significant because more than five and a half decks are still in play. In order to arrive at an accurate estimate of their edge, multiple-deck players must convert the current running count into a true count per deck.

Running Count to True Count Conversion

When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Real Money

The conversion of the running count into a true count is not as scary as it sounds but more importantly, it does not require you to be a savant like Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man. The true count denotes the density of high or low cards per deck. You arrive at an accurate true count after you divide the running count by the number of undealt decks.

Just to give you an example, suppose you are playing blackjack with eight decks and have reached a running count of +8 while there are four undealt decks in the shoe. In this case, the true count is equal to +8/4 = +2. If the running count is negative, say -8, so will be the true count (in this case -8/4= -2).

It is obvious those who play shoe games should also learn to accurately determine the number of undealt decks. You use the discard tray positioned at the dealer’s right side for this purpose. The discard tray enables the dealer to stack the dealt cards neatly so that they are clearly visible to everyone at the table. Deck estimation requires a lot of practice but once you master it, you only have to subtract the number of the remaining decks from the total number of decks the game started with.

A Tip on Practicing Accurate Deck Estimation

Counting into multiple decks of cards is not rocket science but it still requires a good amount of discipline and persistence if you insist on accuracy. Once you master maintaining an accurate running count, you need to practice your deck estimation. One approach recommended by blackjack experts is to purchase a discard tray and fifteen standard packs of cards.

You should divide the packs into five separate stacks where the first stack contains a single deck, the second stack contains two decks, the third contains three decks and so on. You can label each stack so you know how many decks are in there. You put any one group of cards on the table, inspect it closely for some time and try to determine the number of decks in contains.

Try to do it without looking at the labels. Then you place the groups of cards, one at a time, in the discard tray and practice deck estimation by inspecting the height of each stack. It sounds more difficult than it really is. You will be surprised how accurate you can get when you put in enough practice.

The Card Counter’s Advantage in Multiple-Deck Blackjack

It is mathematically established that each one-unit increase in the true count yields a half-a-percent increase in the player’s advantage. The conclusion we can draw is that a person playing a six-deck game where the house edge is roughly half a percent has no advantage whatsoever at a true count of +1.

Respectively, you gain an advantage of half a percent when you arrive at a true count of +2. The players’ edge increases proportionately to the true count so you get 1% advantage on a true count of +3, a 1.5% on a true count of +4, a 2% advantage with a true count of +5, and so on.

The bigger your edge gets, the higher the amounts you should wager. The majority of experienced blackjack players choose to size their bets according to a betting technique known as the Kelly Criterion. This approach enables them to maximize their profits and reduce the risk of losing their bankrolls at the same time. The edge players manage to get in blackjack is not all that substantial so one should not expose large portions of their bankroll to risk during any given round of play.

Adjusting Your Bet Size in Multiple-Deck Games

Card counters gain an edge in blackjack by sizing their bets proportionately to the count. They increase their wagers when they have the edge and bet the table minimum or nothing at all when the casino has the edge. This sizing on the basis of true count is called spreading your bets. When choosing a bet spread, players should ask themselves two questions – “What bet spread is required to beat a given multiple-deck game?” and “What bet spread will allow me to play and count cards undetected?”.

Casinos are no strangers to how blackjack works and their employees are well-trained to detect card counters. If you spread your bets too aggressively, you stand higher chances of being detected and backed off, even though counting cards itself is not deemed an illegal practice. Some blackjack experts recommend using a 1-12 bet spread for shoe games where six and eight decks are in play.

Adjusting Your Bet Size in Multiple-Deck Games Additional TipsAssuming you play at a table where the minimum is $5, you should start the session by betting 1 unit, or $5, when the count is negative, 0 or +1. You continue flat betting $5 until the true count escalates to +2, at which point you increase your bet to 2 base units, i.e. you bet $10 on the next hand.

When Do You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack

When you arrive at a true count of +3, you wager 4 base units, or $20. The shoe continues to grow hot and you reach a true count of +4 which calls for a bet increase to 8 units, or $40. After the true count reaches +5 or higher, you bet in increments of 12 units, or $60.

This betting ramp is considered ideal for multiple-deck games. Whether or not you get labeled as a card counter largely depends on the tolerance level of the casino you are playing at. Smaller establishments are more likely to back you off so you might want to choose a more conservative spread in this case.

Varying Your Playing Decisions with the Help of the True Count

When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Winnings

More experienced counters further increase their advantage by varying their playing decisions according to the true count. These departures from basic strategy on the basis of true count are known as indices. They are very important because when the true count increases (or decreases) significantly, the recommended basic strategy moves are no longer optimal.

This makes sense because basic strategy takes into consideration only three cards, those in your starting hand and the upcard of the dealer. Some advantage players memorize 100+ index plays but this is hardly necessary to gain a good edge in blackjack. In fact, using only the indices listed below can significantly improve your play.

The 18 indices listed in the first table are known as the Illustrious 18 and are intended for multiple-deck blackjack games where the dealer stands on soft 17. They were developed by the renowned Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee Donald Schlesinger and help you make more accurate insurance, standing, doubling and splitting decisions. You can find more about these indices in Mr. Schlesinger’s book Blackjack Attack – Playing the Pros’ Way.

Let’s explain how you should approach this chart by giving you an example. Suppose you are dealt a hand of paired Queens against a dealer who shows a 6. This is an excellent hand to get, even more so when the dealer is in a vulnerable spot with this small upcard.

A basic strategy player should never touch this hand. It gives them an excellent total of 20 and the only way for the dealer to beat this is by drawing to 21. The chances of this happening are not significant. Quite the opposite – the dealer stands better chances of busting with a 6 than outdrawing you.

However, if you count the cards and arrive at a true count of +5 or higher, this serves as an indicator the shoe is richer in ten-value cards. This knowledge allows you to maximize your value by splitting the Queens and potentially winning two hands instead of one. That being said, the majority of professional card counters prefer to refrain from using this index for the purpose of extending their longevity.

Mr. Schlesinger also developed several indices designed to help advanced players with their surrender decisions. These are again to be found in his Blackjack Attack – Playing the Pros’ Way book and are known as the Fab 4 indices. You can see them in the table below.

One way to memorize these playing deviations is by using flash cards. But before you get there and make any attempts to count into multiple decks, you should make sure you know perfect basic strategy and can maintain an accurate running count. Messing up the running count would lead to inaccuracies in your true count, which, in turn, would render your efforts at beating the game of blackjack futile.

If you ever find yourself in the circle of lovers of this casino game, then you’ll probably learn a thing or two about all the different bets you can place. Also, you’ll most likely be exposed to different blackjack progressive betting strategies, so it won’t hurt if you know what this means. This system teaches you how and when to increase or decrease your wager. In the most general sense, there are two types of progressive betting strategies:

• Positive progression — if you were to follow this, then you’d bet more after each win. With this, players want to maximize their profit and minimize their losses.
• Negative progression — this one includes raising your wager after each losing round. It strives to lessen the effects of losses.

Now that you’re acquainted with this, we can delve deeper into the most popular systems you can follow. However, before we start, we should put a disclaimer of some sorts — no matter which strategy you use, it cannot help you determine the outcome. They can only help you plan your bets accordingly before you start playing. In the end, nothing can exert an impact on the results.

The Martingale System

One could trace the roots of the Martingale system back to 18th century France. It has withstood the test of time, as evidenced by the fact that most novice players have heard about it. The overarching strategy is the following: it’s inevitable that you’ll face losses while playing blackjack. However, at some point, you’re bound to win. So why wouldn’t you double your wager until you emerge as a victor? Of course, some experts might suggest that believing in this might be the prime example of the gambler’s fallacy, but to each their own.

When Can You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack

What’s more, you’ll notice that some blackjack players opt to adhere to this betting system. They increase their wager by 2, hoping that they’ll recover all the squandered money. In theory, this sounds appealing and seems like a plausible solution. But in practice, it comes with certain risks. Let’s say that you decide to play at a $5 table and abide by this strategy. As you might know, it’s easy to lose 8 hands in a row, so this means that, during the 9th bet, you’d actually be required to bet quite a substantial amount — $1,280.

If you’re not a high roller, then this professional blackjack betting strategy might not be the best solution.

The Oscar’s Grind

Moving onto another blackjack betting system — the Oscar’s Grind. It was created back in 1965 and mainly applied to the game of craps. Nevertheless, it started spreading to other games as well, including blackjack. It abides by the following this notion: all of your losing streaks will be countered by one winning hand. If this turns out to be true, then you’ll decrease the amount you’ve lost and get a payout, albeit a small one. However, no one can guarantee that this will happen, as the outcome is unpredictable.

So before you toy with the idea of using this system, you should contemplate your betting range. You’ll need to commence with a minimum bet and gradually increase it throughout the game — if you win, that is. It’s recommended you start with a wager that isn’t too high. Let’s say you decide to place $1. If you lose, then you won’t need to change the bet amount. However, if the third round turns out to be the winning one, then you should bet $2 on the following one. Another win increases the wager to $4.

Also, you should stop the moment you have a profit of 1 unit. As with the Martingale, you should use the Oscar’s blackjack betting strategy at your own risk.

The Manhattan System (2-1-2)

Some players believe in the existence of hot and cold streaks. You might even hear some of them lament that they’ve failed to make use of a hot streak. Of course, experts would assure you that this phenomenon doesn’t exist and that you should just enjoy the game itself. Well, it seems that the proponents of the blackjack betting strategy 2-1-2 side with the players on this issue and want to help them win real money.

So how does it all go down here? Well, as you might have inferred from its name, players begin by wagering two units. For instance, they can place $2. In case of a win, they don’t need to increase their bet — they actually decrease it by one unit. So the next one amounts to $1. And if this streak follows them, then they can wager $3. Each consecutive win after that, the players should increase their bet size by one unit. And if during the game, the dealer wins, then those following this system should return to their initial bet. The theory is that you should capitalize on your fortune until it starts declining.

The 1-2-3-5 Strategy

The progressive betting systems are quite prominent in blackjack. During a game, a bet could vary from one round to another — it never remains the same. There are different types of wagers here, but they all share one similarity. In other words, you’ll either increase or decrease the bet depending on whether you’re experiencing wins or losses. If you’re prevailing, then you’ll raise the amount of your wager after each hand. For instance, if you begin with $10, then you’ll put $20 during the next round.

Of course, there are different patterns that you can follow, and one of them is particularly well known — blackjack betting strategy 1-2-3-5. If you decide to try it out, then you’ll increase your wager following this pattern. However, the moment you lose, you’d go back to your initial 1 unit bet. Those who are in favor of this will try to convince you that you’ll get more money during those 5 consecutive winning rounds then you’ll ever lose in 5 losing ones. However, they fail to tell you that you can’t know when you’ll win.

The 1-3-2-6 System

Following the previous one, we would be remiss not to mention the blackjack betting strategy 1-3-2-6. Like the above-mentioned one, it’s simple to learn, and you won’t face any difficulties in implementing it. In essence, you can use it for other casino games as well, but it’s primarily popular in blackjack.

Basically, if you want to try it out, you need to opt for the initial wager. But bear in mind that this will serve as 1 unit in the sequence, so maybe choosing the lowest amount would be the best option. And once you’ve done this, you can start wagering. Naturally, if you win at blackjack, then this will lead you to increase the bet as per the sequence. And once it ends, you’ll need to go back to your starting stake. Additionally, this blackjack betting strategy differs from, say, the Martingale in the sense that you only need to keep increasing the amount if you’re successful. This way, you might recover all the lost money either in a land-based or an online casino.

Betting Strategy for Hi-Lo and Knockout Card Counting

The hi-lo and knockout card counting players have different approaches to wagering. Some say that you might increase your chances by adjusting your bets. And if you want to be successful, you should determine the true count by dividing your running one by the number of decks that are still remaining in the shoe. Then, you should wager the minimum amount when the true count is at 1, and then increase it when it is at 2. As the true count increases, so does your wager. And once it returns to 1, then you should return to your initial bet.

So before the game starts, you should select the wagering unit that you can use once you employ this blackjack betting system. Your betting unit increases as per the count. Also, always be aware of your bankroll and adjust your wager accordingly. The maximum wager, some say, should be 4 times your initial unit. Just make sure to be present in the game so that you could keep track of the count and your bankroll. Additionally, you can adopt this approach as your knockout blackjack betting strategy as well.

When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Card Game

Practice Makes Perfect

When Should You Increase Your Bet In Blackjack Poker

Now that you’re familiar with a number of strategies, you can start practicing and opting for the ones you find to work the best for you. However, always bear in mind that there are more blackjack betting systems than actual strategies. After all, they don’t predict the outcome — they just tell you how to bet.

Nevertheless, if you want, you can try out some of the blackjack card counting strategies (which even help you beat the house edge) and see how far you’ll get. Who knows, you might even become a proponent of some of them or end up disappointed. Either way — good luck!