Side count of aces

<< Back

Side count of aces

By John Patrick

The most powerful card in the deck is the ace – cause it can be used as one or eleven. Secretly, everyone hopes for the ace to pop up in their hands, and rightfully so.

Put an ace in every hand you play during a session of Blackjack and it would be odds on that you'd win money that day.

OK, so if it's such a powerful card, why not keep a running count on just how many aces are left in the shoe. There are two different methods for counting aces, to coincide with the number of players at a table:

a) Full table of seven players,
b) Two or three players at a table.

Start with a full table of seven players, plus the dealer.
To complete a hand of Blackjack it takes an average of 31/2 cards per hand. With a full table, you have eight hands being dealt, giving you approximately 28 cards being used. That's a half deck.
Since a half deck constitutes 26 cards, you are safe to figure that in that particular hand you should have seen two aces pop up.
In two hands there should have been four aces coming out of that shoe - because there are four aces in a deck and two hands will give you approximately a full deck being used - when seven players are in action.

Las Vegas USA Casino features over 90 casino games online. Play Blackjack and Video Poker, table and card games, Slots and more. Download it today and receive a $500 welcome bonus!

I'm looking to see when that shoe shows an imbalance of aces, either from the plus or minus side. So when I play at a full table, or back count from a standing position, it is very easy to keep a side count of aces.
Take a handful of red and white chips that act as your counter. When a hand is started, place a red 'chip to the side to indicate a half deck. Each time an ace shows, add a white chip. If the laws of probability fall as they should, there would be two white chips for every red one.

Suppose three hands are dealt, giving you 3 red chips off to the side. And suppose in those three hands only 2 aces showed (2 white chips). There should have been six aces.
That means there are four extra aces banging around in that shoe. Your chances of getting Blackjack has increased because of those extra aces. So has your chances of using an ace to double down or to split.

In other words, the chances of getting more money against the dealer has taken a turn in your favor. The Money Management article covers my betting increases in this situation, so I won't go into that right now. But you can see how good it is to know when there are extra aces in that shoe.

OK, now go to the other side of the coin. Three hands are dealt, cause you have three red chips in that pile. Six white chips should be there.

But alas and alack, there are I I white ones in that group. That means five extra aces slid out of that shoe. I'd like to slide off my stool
The chances of getting aces has declined, along with your chances of getting Blackjack. Also your double down opportunities with ace/two, ace/three, ace/four, etc.

Naturally the betting on subsequent hands will decrease and this'll be banged around later, but dwell on these situations for a second. Who the heck wants to play at a game where the chances to get powerful hands has been so curtailed?
Counting aces is an easy thing to do and the information has a dual purpose:

1)    You know when your chances of getting an ace has increased,
2)    You know when your fighting a shoe with a
        shortage of those aces.

Give a look. You're sitting in a six deck game and your running count has reached 16, indicating the shoe is poor in tens. Your side count of aces indicates a negative 5, based on the decks that have been used and there are only two playable decks left in the shoe. Hey, baby, even Daffy Duck would realize he's in hot water. Options are to bet the smallest amount possible or leave that table. Do you have the guts to leave that table with the odds stacked very, very high against you??? I wonder…

Share This Blog |

Trackback URL |

[ Back ]