How Do Online Casinos Prevent Card Counting in Blackjack?
If you’re playing blackjack, you want to give yourself the best edge possible over the casino, leading many people to turn to card counting. Card counting in blackjack is really quite simple as all you have to do is keep track of whether there are more high or low cards in the deck. But, with the world in chaos and most land-based casinos shut down, many people are starting to ask – does card counting work at online casinos?
There are mixed answers out there, but in the interest of the masses, we’re going to dish out industry secrets and give you the inside scoop as to whether card counting works in online blackjack.
There are Measures in Place
As many of you already know, card counting isn’t actually illegal – it’s just frowned upon by casinos. While it’s very easy for online casinos to detect and ban you from live blackjack streams, it doesn’t happen very often thanks to the measures in place to prevent card counting from working. A number of live blackjack streams use continuous shuffling machines. These constantly shuffle the cards and add the burnt cards back into the pack. This makes it impossible for card counting to work in on these decks.
Watch for the Cut
When cards are shuffled in online blackjack, the dedicated shuffler will place the cut card wherever he or she feels like. If the company running the live stream suspects there are card counters at the table, they will ask the shuffler to place the cut card earlier on in the shoe. For card counting to work in an 8-deck shoe – a typical shoe size for online blackjack – you need to be about 6 or 7 decks for card counting to work. Unfortunately for card counters, the live stream operators know this and the shufflers are trained to place the cut card in a position before 6 decks are played.
There you have it. In short, the answer is no. It’s not possible to count cards at an online casino. There are too many measures in place to prevent it from being an issue. If somehow you manage to make it work, we would love to hear from you. So, if you’re missing out on your card counting action, perhaps you should get yourself a pack of cards and play with other people in your house for toilet paper!