Plus-Minus Count

Basic Strategy, demonstrated in the previous section, is helpful in minimizing the house advantage. Unfortunately, the key word in that last sentence is minimize, not eliminate. The strategy demonstrates the player's best response to a given situation, though in many cases, the house still stands a better chance of winning than do the players. This is only natural, as the casino would have no interest in supplying a game in which players would tend to win in the long run.

Even perfectly following Basic Strategy, a player's expected income at the end of the night will be negative. This is because Basic Strategy does not take into account what cards remain in the deck after a given hand. It is not hard to see why so many gamblers, throughout history, have tried to develop systems for various games that allow them to negate or reverse the house's advantage. In Blackjack, the most commonly known system is the Plus-Minus Count.

Instructions

Each and every card dealt in a given hand is to be designated with a numerical value.

Assign a value of +1 to cards reading 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Assign a value of 0 to cards reading 7, 8, and 9.

Assign a value of -1 to cards reading 10, J, Q, K, A.

Rules of Blackjack | Basic Strategy | Plus-Minus Count | Updating Probability Charts