[ACG2x]

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What kind of edge can someone who count card properly has assuming decent rules.

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I believe the excellent book 'Bringing Down the House' about the MIT blackjack team said a proper count in a decent rules game can give the player a 1-2% advantage provided they play with the mixture I noted of basic strategy and bet optimization based on the count.

It might not seem like a lot but when you take this advantage over a long period of time, you will have your profit. It's virtually an identical strategy that the house uses to beat regular players. Take a small percent advantage over a prolonged period of time and the player will, on average, lose their money little by little.

This is fine by most players as they gamble expecting to lose and think of casino gaming as an "entertainment budget", the cost of having a good time no different than if they bought drinks at the bar and paid cover at a club.

Serious counters combine the count, game rules, basic strategy and bet optimization to create the same conditions against the house. Maybe one shoe the player plays perfectly and gets crushed. Maybe another he breaks even. In blackjack if you combine all the aforementioned elements and are not asked to stop playing and/or leave the casino, you are virtually guaranteed to win if you play long enough and have a big enough bankroll to handle swings.

The example used in BDTH was if you and I played a game where we flipped a coin. For every heads that came up, I paid you $1. For every tails that came up, you paid me $0.98. We can play for as long as you'd like. You'd be stupid not to play this game if given a proper bankroll as you're guaranteed to come out ahead since you have enough money to handle unlucky streaks and have a built in advantage.