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Counting Cards at Internet Casinos

Contrary to what most people think, not all Blackjack games at online casinos shuffle the cards after every round of play, consequently the cards can be counted much like you would do in a brick-and-mortar casino. However, the casino owners aren't stupid, so you're not going to find great penetration (the percentage of the decks that are dealt out before the shuffle) at any of them, but playing online is a good way to practice your counting skills and, if the game has favorable rules, you can probably reduce the casino's edge to zero or even get a tiny edge. Many of the casinos that offer these games also have cash rebate programs, so if that is combined with a game where you have a small long-term edge, you might be in that coveted situation that I always read about in e-mails: "Earn $$$ at Home! Be Your Own Boss!" Unfortunately, nobody is going to get rich by counting cards at Internet casinos, but it probably won't be long before we all start getting e-mails that promises we can.

Internet Blackjack

Several years ago, I did a series of articles on playing Blackjack at Internet casinos and you'll find it archived on this page under the title, "Internet Gambling Report". When you're finished reading this, you might want to take a look at it (links at the bottom of the page), but I'll be updating most of what's presented in that series right here because we both know how much things can change on the 'Net in just a few years.

First, before you ask, every Internet casino I'm aware of that has a single-deck game shuffles the cards after every round of play. As far as I know, all of the games that offer penetration are dealt from two or more decks. Like I said, these guys aren't stupid. But some of them do have a "sporting" attitude toward the game, so they try to replicate the brick-and-mortar casino experience as closely as possible and that means dealing into the decks before a shuffle.

Here's a list of some casinos to consider. The information was current on the date at the top of this page, so if you're reading this much later than that, be sure to verify what's presented here before you begin betting the farm.

Casinos That Offer "Countable" Blackjack

Global Player Casino - This is an outstanding operation that has been an advertiser with us for several years and in that time, we have never heard from a reader who has not been paid when they won. All of Global Player Casino's four- and six-deck Blackjack games offer some penetration before the cards are shuffled and this works in both the play-money and real-money mode. Penetration varies, on a random basis, from 35% to 55% or more and you'll know a shuffle has occurred when the discard tray is emptied. This will happen after the hand you're playing has been completed, so you won't be caught with a big bet out, and then get a shuffle before your cards are dealt. The software they use requires a download, but it's definitely worth it. Seven different Blackjack games are available, but not all deal into the decks. The Atlantic City game is my recommendation as the best one for counters to play and you may bet up to 5 "boxes" at a time.

If you'd like to give Global Player Casino a look, click here: http://www.global-player.com/

Stanley Acropolis Casino - Owned by the Stanley Leisure Group, a major British bookmaking firm (it's legal over there), this casino offers just one Blackjack game, which is dealt from six decks. But the rules are pretty good (S17, DOA2, DAS) and they deal at least 102 cards of the 312 in the shoe before shuffling. The shuffle is shown by a message that comes up and it happens only after you've completed your play for that round. While this casino has never advertised with us, we have yet to hear from anyone who hasn't been paid after winning there.

You can get there by clicking here: http://www.stanleyacropolis.com/

Cryptologic Casinos - This isn't the name of a casino, but the type of software that a lot of good casinos use. They have "multi-player" tables where you can play Blackjack with others and those are the games that deal into the decks before shuffling. Their single-player tables do not offer this. They have an eight-deck game and approximately two decks are dealt before the shuffle. The software uses a virtual dealer, so you'll know just when the shuffle occurs. The rules are pretty good: S17, DOA2 and DAS.

Some of the casinos worth trying are Intercasino (http://www.intercasino.com/), Sands of the Caribbean (http://www.thesands.com/) and William Hill Casino (http://www.williamhillcasino.com/), among others.

Counting Techniques

If you use a counting system that requires a True Count adjustment, playing at Internet casinos is going to present some problems, because you can't "eyeball" the discard tray to calculate how many decks remain in the shoe. There are two ways around that. The easiest is to use an unbalanced counting system like KO or Red 7, which don't require adjustments for True Count. The only problem is that these counts are at their most accurate when you are getting far more penetration than what most of the games listed above offer.

But, in order to use the Hi/Lo count or a balanced count like it, you'll have to not only "count" the cards, but also count how many have been played. I'm not suggesting for a minute that you have to keep track of two counts in your head; the "running" count and the number of cards played, because I suspect that you'll be doing this from home and I would also suspect that you don't have "pit critters" located there, so you may use whatever devices you have available to keep track of things. For example, paper and a pencil works well, as does one of those hand-clicker things (I believe it's called a "hand tally counter"…Ed.), a calculator will do the job, as will another computer. What? Use a computer to count the cards, figure the True Count with incredible accuracy, maybe tell you how much to bet and other stuff like that? Sure. I've heard from readers who use Microsoft's Excel to keep track of those things and, believe it or not, there's a software program called "Card Counter" which you can buy that will do it all for you. I reviewed that program and you'll find my comments on it in the "Internet Gambling Report" that is archived at the bottom of this page.

There are a lot of ways to win at the Blackjack games found at Internet casinos, and what I've shown you above is just one of them. But, while I guarantee you won't get rich from this, I'm willing to bet (and I'm not a gambler!) that you'll have some fun trying.

I'll see you here next time.