Techniques for Mastering True Count Conversion

To beat the casino you must have a perfect game, and part of that perfect game is mastering the true count conversion. What is the true count and how do you find it? Here are some tips so you can start training at home.
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[@johnathangrey3463]

You off by 3 cards. How dare you? Just kidding I'd say that's closer then most magic people try. Lol.

[@MondoLeStraka]

One thing I do is, say it's hard to divide by a fractional amount of decks. What you can do is divide by what the TC might be then, divide that into the RC. Does it appear that the number of decks left is that number? If not then adjust the TC to get the number of decks left.

[@spencerduffin8415]

Hey Colin, as I've began my card counting run one of the biggest struggles has been being in the dark depressing environment of a casino with bad lifestyles, being alone in that for hours. How do you maintain a good mentality?

[@Robbie-lc2tg]

Never play cards when you're tired or stressed out or intoxicated or underslept, those factors will be a negative influence and not helping you out at all, same goes out for other card or casino games, not only BlackJack in particular. Always eat a meal to prevent being stressed out to have fuel for the brain and never play with empty stomach or it will have the oposite effect when calculate or count to prevent making mistakes. Card counting is tough and not appreciated by Casino's, and it's advised to use a Blackjack chart during the game, which is allowed and provided by Casino's, but never play when the shoe is auto-card spitter, that way you never know what is coming next. Using Blackjack chart and basic strategy should help the player to reduce the advantage of the Casino dealer. Take care and Goodluck at the tables.

[@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur]

bring a friend? no friends? maybe a pet then? you could bring a leash next time you go to the casino and slap it around one of those dumb animals that play the slot machines. take your new pet wherever you go! they are a big responsibility, and you need to take care of them.. they like weed, booze, smokes, pills, talking to strangers about crazy shit, and food. watch out, some of them surely have rabies, hiv, hpv and herpies.

[@christiandeltoro5128]

Meditate

[@anthonygusman3439]

Yes it's hard work being in the casino but I personally try to keep my workout in or walk alot and eat healthy to try to keep my sanity

[@BrandonGredner]

What is the count is 5 and 2 decks left ? What’s the true count? 2.5 ?

[@debsisaacs]

Don't forget to point out it matters which type of cards you have at home - there are cheaper thinner cards and there are professional.. doesn't help to try with the thin ones. Also changes if you're using an online casino - to gauge their specific decks.

[@JC-ny2su]

Paid for the Blackjack Apprenticeship Course, & Its already paid for itself plus I've made $2300 on top of that, in 4 weeks lol. And Im still in "practice Mode"

[@moneymyers]

🧢

[@uniquefrm808]

@@moneymyers😂😂😂 right

[@NesteaGOk]

Hey Colin! Thank for the tips. Just had one question. Well a couple. How does deck penetration affect the deck remaining? So if penetration is 70% would you start dividing by 1.4 decks? Or at 2? Since you're not gonna see 30% of those cards I thought you would start at 1.4. You're the expert though and I love to hear your input.

[@PvPBattleMaster]

Nooooo rookie move bro you divide the amount of you play now won't you dont see.you will not see but you must start with the full amount of decks

[@ottismymann]

Deck penetration is irrelevant in this application. Probabilities are always calculated based on known information. The more relevant information you have at your disposal, the more precisely you can calculate probabilities. Since you don’t know which cards are actually cutoff, it won’t have any effect.

[@explicit90]

so the deck penetration doesn't matter?

[@ottismymann]

@@explicit90 To the original question, no.

[@benjaminstottlemyre4623]

Colin Jones,in a 6 deck game and tou know they cut off a deck before play do you take that into consideration or always go by the discard tray?

[@sebastiandierks7919]

Hey Colin (or any other AP with more experience than me😀), I have a question on rounding and flooring during TC conversion. There are two processes of rounding involved: rounding the number of remaining decks (let's say to the nearest integer for simplicity) to find the denominator and rounding the quotient (RC/decks) to get an integer for the TC. The second step is explained in the video, you always round down (floor the quotient), i.e. with 3 decks remaining a RC of 8 gives a TC of 2 and a RC of -1 gives a TC of -1. But what about the other rounding process? Let's say the RC is 8 again. If there are 1.9 decks in the discard tray in a 6 deck shoe game, there are 4.1 decks left to play. Do you really round that up to 5 decks left or rather down to 4 decks left? In the video, you said something like "there aren't 2 decks in the discard tray yet, so you still divide by 5". Don't you want to get closest to the true TC, in this case 8/4.1=1.95, to choose betting size and playing deviations? If you work with 4 decks remaining, you would get 8/4=2, and with 5 decks remaining, you get 8/5=1 (after flooring), but the estimated 2 is closer to the true TC, so 4 decks remaining is the better estimate. In this case you would take a little more risk as the true TC is not yet exactly 2, but if you bet like you still hadn't the advantage (as a TC of 1) you may also lose some of the advantage/some EV. Basically, what I'm asking is: isn't it overly conservative to both floor the number of decks in the discard tray (=round up the number of remaining decks) and also floor the true count, as you are constantly underestimating the true TC? Also: what do you do if there are 4.5 decks in the discard tray/1.5 decks left, at a RC of say 6. Using half deck estimates you'd find a true TC of 4, but you can get estimates of 3 and 6, depending whether you round the number of remaining decks up to 2 or down to 1. So the way one rounds the denominator has huge influence on the playing decision. (In this example, you could argue that's why you should learn how to divide by half decks in the second half of the shoe, but I could then construct the question in a way that I ask whether to round your quarter decks up or down. The difference would be smaller, not TC= 3 or 6 like above, but the question is still there.)

[@bensanterre9478]

I would love to see a deeper dive into this question as well, I have wondered the same things. There doesn't seem to be a definitive answer, but rather options. It seems running different scenarios on a simulator might be the only way to get an idea of the effect each decision has on your ev. At least that's the impression I've gotten from a lack of definitive answers.

[@IcyWithItBTD]

Obviously the more refined you can be in your TC conversion the better…it’s just to save you from fatigue & losing the count

[@jmagicd9831]

The deviation charts BJA has have lower index values than some other sources I’ve seen, and I think that may be to account for us always rounding down. So if a certain deviation is exactly breakeven at true 2, then we use it on two, but it’s profitable because we rounded down so the deck is a bit better than true 2.

[@m.shalako6824]

I played professionally for 16 years and true count conversion is a waste of time and energy. You can play far longer without fatigue and errors using an unbalanced count like KO. You can make up any mathematical differences by just increasing your spread or wonging out more often. You can also improve KOs performance in early parts of the shoe with some easy adjustments. Ken Uston himself switched to his SS unbalanced count in the mid 1980s. That should tell you that true count was dead long ago.

[@cameronlynch2194]

What do you do when you have 2.7 decks left or something?

[@OCHOCINCO98]

6:00 guess im bout to printout 4th grade division worksheets😂

[@KipIngram]

Holy cow - is division by whole numbers REALLY that hard for a lot of people? I keep running into this on channel after channel and it's just baffling to me. It's just the times table "undone."

[@dannythemedic]

OMG you gotta really love blackjack to go through all this effort and training to play it!

[@maximusfrank2835]

Or really love making money

[@SuperEuclidean]

I find that multiplication is easier to do in my head, so, i just memorize the fractions 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, and 1/8 as a percent and multiply the running count by that percent. Also has the added benefit of a little more precision in the true count.

[@benjamindoody3462]

can you give an example of that please..very i trigued as i much prefer multiplication

[@SuperEuclidean]

@@benjamindoody3462 so let's say that the running count is -7 and there are 5 decks remaining (purposefully chose these numbers because 7/5 is somewhat difficult to do in your head, especially in a casino environment when there are a lot of distractions). Now, we know that the true count is the RC/decks-remaining(DR) = -7/5 which is the same as saying -7 x 1/5 or... -7 x 0.2 = -1.4. also, i tend to look at the RC/DR somewhat holistically, so i don't have to do any multiplication at all. for example, let's say that the running count is 15 and the number of decks remaining is 4. 15/4 is hard to do in your head, and 15 x .25 (from our previous method), isn't much easier, but i do know that 16/4 is exactly 4 and is pretty darn close to 15/4, and since 15 is less than 16, 15/4 will be less than 4, so i know that the true count is a shade under +4 (and in fact it is exactly 3.75).

[@iDarkDemise]

Example please

[@SuperEuclidean]

@@iDarkDemise i think i might have replied on the main thread instead of @benjamindoody's comment, so copy/paste... @benjamindoody3462 so let's say that the running count is -7 and there are 5 decks remaining (purposefully chose these numbers because 7/5 is somewhat difficult to do in your head, especially in a casino environment when there are a lot of distractions). Now, we know that the true count is the RC/decks-remaining(DR) = -7/5 which is the same as saying -7 x 1/5 or... -7 x 0.2 = -1.4. also, i tend to look at the RC/DR somewhat holistically, so i don't have to do any multiplication at all. for example, let's say that the running count is 15 and the number of decks remaining is 4. 15/4 is hard to do in your head, and 15 x .25 (from our previous method), isn't much easier, but i do know that 16/4 is exactly 4 and is pretty darn close to 15/4, and since 15 is less than 16, 15/4 will be less than 4, so i know that the true count is a shade under +4 (and in fact it is exactly 3.75).

[@SuperEuclidean]

@@benjamindoody3462 @benjamindoody3462 so let's say that the running count is -7 and there are 5 decks remaining (purposefully chose these numbers because 7/5 is somewhat difficult to do in your head, especially in a casino environment when there are a lot of distractions). Now, we know that the true count is the RC/decks-remaining(DR) = -7/5 which is the same as saying -7 x 1/5 or... -7 x 0.2 = -1.4. also, i tend to look at the RC/DR somewhat holistically, so i don't have to do any multiplication at all. for example, let's say that the running count is 15 and the number of decks remaining is 4. 15/4 is hard to do in your head, and 15 x .25 (from our previous method), isn't much easier, but i do know that 16/4 is exactly 4 and is pretty darn close to 15/4, and since 15 is less than 16, 15/4 will be less than 4, so i know that the true count is a shade under +4 (and in fact it is exactly 3.75).

[@Trone2]

Not just division but also your times tables.

[@goatgamer001]

So we should round towards zero?

[@chriscarlone527]

I like to wait for the table to go through a few hands before I start glancing over at the discard tray. I also don't use the discard tray alone to gauge the decks remaining. I also estimate how many decks are left to be dealt in the shoe by glancing at the shoe itself, then compare my estimations between the discard tray and the shoe to see if I'm right. That has helped me estimate decks remaining by half decks in many instances.

[@jaepiano]

Do you take deck penetration into account when converting?

[@svisabel2796]

right? especially if they are cutting 2 decks off

[@jaepiano]

@@svisabel2796 I found the answer somewhere else. You do not take the penetration into account. Whatever the total number of decks is, that’s where you start.

[@allieboy181]

@@jaepiano hi beginner learner here. When exactly do you the true count conversion? Like after how many cards are dealt, do you check and do the conversion? Can’t find this answer anywhere lol

[@carlossalas711]

how does deck penetration affects the numbers of decks left? some casinos where I play cut the shoe like 1 and a half decks

[@izzate7]

Are casino cards thicker than other cards? My Bicycle decks don't look as THICC.

[@bobsmith-mv9kl]

Hey colin, I was wondering if you just use whole numbers when counting decks or do you divide it further. Lets say its a 6 deck game, running count is +9, and you estimate that there is 2 1/2 decks in discard. Would you divide 9 by 4 or 3.5. If you just use whole numbers are you concerned about the decimal point? So in my example if you divided by 4, would you just say the true count is 2 or 2.25.

[@trappoker]

If you can do decimals accurately then it gives you better idea of the true count from 2.25 to 2.75

[@rsandhu02]

I'm surprised casinos still let you see how many cards have been played

[@SLCmedia07]

You can look into the discard tray and see how many decks are left.

[@bluest1524]

@@ed_h_1508 What does that mean?

[@basi21]

@@bluest1524 it's literally the name of the guy writing an even more stupid comment

[@strangeth5116]

It’s for the convenience of the dealer if it’s put anywhere else it slows down the game, and so the cameras can keep a eye of the delt cards

[@TripDadLife]

More and more casinos are using CSMs (continuous shuffle machines). Card counting will be a thing of the past soon enough. This guy's teachings will be as obsolete as the Blockbuster card in my wallet. He'll have to find a new job. How successful is this guy if he has to charge to be part of his club and sell you a product?

[@rvaughan1523]

Hi Collin! Again, another great video! Loving your book too btw, I’m on the last 50 pages! I’m from Oregon and I’ve played at the Spirit Mountain Casino and I found it odd when they use 8 deck discard trays for a 6 deck shoe. Have you ever seen that sort of thing? The rules were horrible and deck penetration was 2+ decks! I’ll never play there again, but was curious on your take on that. Thanks again for always putting our quality things! Blessings to you!

[@morgankane961]

Exactly, and who knows what else casinos might use? A discard tray measured for 7 decks perhaps, to confuse counters? Thats why you shouldnt focuse too much on the empty space from the top of the pack to the roof I guess..

[@dbloiterer]

The slot they have in their shoe tends to cut off 1.25 decks, with some variance due to how a dealer packs the shoe. I know a couple dealers who consistently give about 1.1 decks cutoff there. I've yet to ever see them ever cutoff 1 5.

[@hersheyskwertz9315]

Was playing at a Harrah’s location and had to deal with an 8 deck discard tray on a 6 deck shoe… thankfully the game hovered -1 to +1 for like 3-4 hours. Finally decided I had enough with this rude dealer and moved on to “crush” their double deck for 5 hours 😂.

[@jacoblarsen6227]

How do you feel about unbalanced counts Arnold Snyder's red seven with Tru edge conversion? Starting at -12 for 6 deck or 0 counting to 12 and when you hit 12 it would be 0 with a .5% advantage. When the running count goes above zero divide by 2x the number of decks to get the Tru edge + the .5% at the pivot point and making bets off your advantage 1%2%3% and Max bet at 4% with the deviations he recommends similar to the illustrious 18. This is what I'm comfortable and fast with is there any reason to switch? Also great videos your doing a service to us all

[@lilforrestpimpinhard]

Jacob Larsen I had the same question. I use the level 3 KISS system. It calls for just a running count. No true count conversion. It has been stated that is only lacks a .02% difference from HI/LO. Would Blackjack apprenticeship approve?

[@Karen_Marie]

I only recently started card counting and I not only dream about counting, I can't look at numbers in everyday life without "counting them" unconsciously. Has this happened to anyone else? Will it go away eventually? The dreaming especially is tiresome as I often feel stressed in my dreams that I've lost track of the count.

[@ionalien]

One thing that could mess you up, is at some casinos the shoe does not take up the entire discard tray, there might be half a deck or more empty space.

[@allieboy181]

But when do you do the true count conversion. After how many decks?

[@balkinolmadjose3601]

I think card counting cannot be use in online casino , because they add margin card in the middle so the whole card cannot be use to play from the shoe , Just want to ask if this is also work in online casino?

[@gabe98100]

Idk if you have a video on this. But I’ve been playing blackjack for fun since I was 18 and am 23 now, I’ve learnt the game and I’m taking it real serious now and I’ve had a couple of great outings where I consistently turn $200-$600 into $2000 (this is by pressing on hands that I win) and I try to card count but never to the point where I know when to press big. I also play match the dealer a lot which I know is bad but I tend to only bet $15-25 sometimes $10 when I am low or don’t wanna impact my bank roll. I really think I have a future in card counting since I already play perfect strategy. My issue is not being able to walk away from the table with max profits I was up $1600 today and lost $800 of it before I walked away. I wanna know when is a good time to leave or take a break and move to a diff table

[@jmagicd9831]

There’s plenty of videos about this. You talk like a gambler and not a counter. Counters play for the long haul and don’t really worry about individual sessions. If you really want to count, you should think in terms of expected value, not actual value.

[@blacklion8173]

I had that issue for the longest, & the way I solved it is by tracking my pattern! As soon as I start playing I look at what time I started playing & take break every hour or so, and see where I am at profit wise! So what I figured was if I play more than 6 hours, I tend to give back my profit! So my cutoff play hour is 6 hours max. For whatever reasons I tend to lose and give back after 6 hours of play! Hope this helps..

[@emmanuelvacakis4463]

Surrender was not allowed and double down on 10 and 11 only with dealer hitting soft 17. Those were typical Northern Nevada rules and there were no multiple deck games at that times. Some casinos offered 25-1 for a 21 consisting of A123456. 5-1 for 777 and 5-1 for blackjack with AJ suites in spades. These were not side bets. They were in effect for every hand. So A123456 paid 25-1 on your original wager. I also played for a short time against double on any 2 cards and after splitting with dealer standing on soft 17. And also splitting and respliitting Aces drawing as many cards as you like to each Ace. Times have changed. You could play with almost no heat.

[@timothyalvis6654]

I have a question unrelated to the video, but I couldn't find a good video to post it on. Is there any data online about how often the dealer will bust with different cards at different counts? A casino no too far from me allows you to bet that the dealer will bust whenever the dealer has a 2-6 showing. You are allowed to bet anything from $5 up to what you have as your main blackjack bet. I'm looking for data to say whether or not this could long term profitable at different counts. I've seen a lot of data about how often the dealer busts without knowing the count, but I can't find any data on counting and them busting. Thank you for your time!

[@laughlikecharlie9040]

Sounds like a sleezy house rule bet they made up.. knowing that’s not traditional and kind of random it sounds like playing the field in craps.. I wouldn’t do it.

[@timothyalvis6654]

@@laughlikecharlie9040 Well, in the book Professional Blackjack, Wong explores a very similar bet that is long term profitable. Of course, the bet he talks about is slightly different, so I can't use that as a guide. There are a few side bets that do become long term profitable depending on the count. I remember from a BJA video the Lucky Lady side bet in the northwest (apparently a bet that you'll make a 20 on the first two cards) becomes long term profitable at +6 1/2. I think this side bet has the potential to be profitable, but I'm not 100% sure. I guess I just need to figure out how to run a simulation and see for myself!

[@moiabanda]

That sounds really interesting and I for sure can see that you can turn it to your advantage. The dealer busts more often when the count is high, and since you can bet when the dealer already has a low card showing, then the odds are very favourable. Would you mind telling me what casino that is? I am 19, and I don’t play professionally yet and won’t in anytime soon, since I am in uni, but who knows how my life will play out.

[@timothyalvis6654]

@@moiabanda It's a casino in the middle of Iowa.

[@iDarkDemise]

I get confused if your count is in the negatives . Say your count is -4 and 3 decks remaining?

[@squeakob]

WHEN DO U START DA TRU COUNT….IS IT AFTER ERY HAND?

[@dwightlooi]

DON'T EVER DO DIVISION when doing True Count conversions whether it's Hi-Lo or whatever balanced count you are practicing. Why? Because it's so much more natural to do multiplication! Do you remember grade 1 multiplication for 1 through 7? How about 2 through 4, given that 1 is a no-brainer (nobody plays down to the last deck anyway) and counts with 5 to 7 decks remaining is typically not actionable. -- Instead of asking what is 13 divided by 2, 3 or 4, you can simply say 2 x 6 = 12, 3 x 4 = 12 and 4 x 3 = 12. Instead of asking what is 18 divided by 2, 3 or 4 simply say 2 x 9 = 18, 3 x 6 = 18 and 4 x 4 = 16. It should be 2nd nature that you won't go over, but if you do just go back down one. and that's your True Count. -- When you are doing long division you are really doing multiplication incrementally to find the quotient without going over anyway. So don;t bother with thinking about division to begin with. Just start the thought process by making multiplying the deck remaining without going over. End of story.

[@allieboy181]

I literally came to this realization yesterday and I figured this out too. Way easier. Especially if you multiply using fingers. If your Answer goes over the running count then go back one for the answer, just like you said. So yea definitely Better than learning division!

[@todo2703]

Where is the Android APP😭

[@I_got_the_keys]

There is one already.look it up.

[@todo2703]

@@I_got_the_keys I didn't find it. I searched for BlackJack Apprenticeship, or am I wrong with that?

[@vt_near]

What you want is Black Jack All-In-One. It's free for basic strategy and like 10 bucks for the card counting. It'll teach you everything you need to know on the intellectual side.

[@filmsfromthepoor]

I thought casinos shuffle the shoe when it's half way through

[@MarkOz]

Yea please say more about that

[@ouroskrakling9741]

They usually shuffle at 4 decks done. It lowers your advantage from 1.5 to 0.5 , if they shuffle before, don’t play cause u won’t have an odd advantage at all

[@qwerty52676]

This feels like a stupid question and I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but why does card counting work? On a good count isn't the dealer still getting the same high card rate that you are?

[@RodinatorCom]

With card counting, you can deviate your play/betting style. Betting: You increase bet size when game is in your favor. Play style: You deviate from basic strategy, take the 12 vs 2 example, with count 3 or below, you will make more money in the long run if you always hit, but you will make more money above count 3 if you always stand.

[@iamanoob9747]

The dealer has to take a card under 16 you don’t

[@eyalkogman120]

hey what abut machine that shafel the cards? today all casino use machine the deales just pot the card in the machine. so i can i know want the true count? i mean the deller dont witing until he finish all 6 dek ,he just the take one deck or some cards he have and pot it in the machine.

[@guibox3]

1/4 deck left for double deck blackjack? I wish! Where I go they pretty much cut the deck at a 55/45% split. Doesn't matter if there are three players or just one. Really sucks.

[@ouroskrakling9741]

It’s logic... they are not here to pay winners but to crush loosers

[@sabay9310]

Well how can u find out how many decks there is in total or remaining if the casinos deck holders aren’t clear like yours but steel instead?

[@ouroskrakling9741]

You don’t play there...

[@jdaz5462]

I wouldn't go by empty space in the discard tray. There are different size discard trays. Look at the cards and estimate. It's not hard.

[@bensanterre9478]

I bought an eight deck tray that can hold nine decks. My local casino uses six decks and they fit snuggly into the tray, another local casino deals six decks but uses an eight deck tray. So yeah, definitely confusing to use the empty space.

[@101CBR600RR]

Do they need to make the discard tray visible to the player ?

[@shoryu87]

They don't. And understandably so😢

[@jasonlillard4089]

What if they play with a single deck or not even half a deck because I play with those electronic machines and every 2-3 rounds the cards in the discard tray go back into the machine... should I just consider the RUNNING count only?

[@algo5372]

That means they are using a continuous shuffle machine (CSM) and you should stand up and never sit back down. They are not possible to count.

[@williamgonzalez1528]

Your book is amazing! I never really read books but I'm on the last few chapters of yours!

[@mattovies3048]

Can you send it to me :)

[@muasboy]

U don’t know how fast I clicked on this video haha. Was waiting so long for a new upload I actually ran into an odd scenario. I was playing a double deck. After the dealer placed the penetration card, he took about 10 cards from the bottom of the deck and placed them in the discard tray, then burned a card, then began to pitch How does the 10 cards he Placed in the tray affect my deck estimation? For example, since there are 10 cards in the discard tray already, After he deals 42 cards. Do I treat it like a full deck has been dealt? Or do I treat it like 42 cards dealt I’m asking. Cause I do half deck estimation, and those 10 cards gets me to half-deck fast. Sorry, if it’s not clear, I’m also a paid BJA member. I can email u more if u like.

[@Blackjackapprenticeship]

That would make the deck penetration 10 cards worse. Just imagine those 10 cards are behind the cut card.

[@muasboy]

Blackjack Apprenticeship Thank you. For clearing things up. BTW, ur book is great!!!

[@mikewhite735]

Blackjack Apprenticeship you can think of those cards as behind the cut card, but you also have to remember your estimate of the decks played and likewise decks left will be off by about 1/4 deck.

[@SOLINAKIAS]

@@Blackjackapprenticeship those 10 cards was behind the cut card,so u mentally clear them from the discard tray

[@MindKontrolleProject]

If a casino goes to CSM ppl will go elsewhere. If all casino's commit to CSM's ppl will play a different game. Maybe bingo? 😜

[@ThePeterDislikeShow]

dividing by 4.5 is doubling and then dividing by 9.

[@LilHeiferGaming]

Hahahah a little embarrassed off by 3 cards. Thats pretty amazing to me

[@ee7966]

Use a tape measure. Ask the dealer. Can I take a quick measurement. I need to make sure my running count is correct before u continue dealing next round Lol

[@4Thessia]

Or just use an unbalanced count.

[@huckleberryfinn8795]

Its not as accurate.

[@pamagee2011]

Your training app calculates true count like a computer, not like a human. It seems to be doing some rounding, but it’s not anything I could do easily with head math. Myself I truncate, so Rc 7 / 4 decks = 1. The app seems to calculate that as 1.7 rounded up to 2. Not sure what is more correct but I’d want to be on the low side.

[@brianc7791]

The certain tabletop microbiologically depend because drill consequently tame toward a yummy puma. conscious, ratty wound

[@kwillk]

If you only get 4 decks of deck penetration because of the cut card, do you divide by 4 for true count because the other 2 decks are not in play ??

[@chriscarlone527]

No, because we are still pulling from an 8 deck shoe. When the cut card is reached, you'll notice that if players have to take a hit, typically the dealer will have to reach behind the cut card to compensate for the remainder of the turn until all players are finished with their hands. If there are 8 decks in there, and assuming all cards are present and accounted for, the shoe final count would come to zero, but because we are using 8 decks and stopping about 6 or 6 and a half decks in, we are often left with a running count and a true count that is either high or low.

[@hersheyskwertz9315]

No. You’ll get crushed.

[@cristianmicu]

i loved math all my school years, and the division tables up to 10 are nothing for me.. but i know there are people out there who cringe when they even think at numbers...

[@Than_31]

Bro I don’t even gamble, don’t think I ever will be rich enough to, not even old enough to, but counting cards seems so fun and I’m trying to learn it for like no purpose at all

[@hamsaprotection5311]

You don’t need to know conversion if you can tell how many decks are already used. Here is a simple solution. If you can tell how many decks are remaining...then all you need to count are high cards. 4 decks into a 6deck game, card counting 0 would be 80 high cards. Any number below 80 means there are that many high cards left above 0. You don’t have to be a true card counter if you just count high cards and remember 20 high cards are in each deck. So if you only counted 45 high cards 4 decks in, you know your high card heavy in the remainder cards not played yet. You can even divide the two numbers and get a percentage.

[@rjdodgerz2776]

Ohhh....so you start raising your your bets when the last deck is left depending on the count.

[@tonopdebank6718]

So your count must always be 100% accurate, but a 15% rounding error when converting is totally fine. I don't get that.

[@bugtypetrainer2714]

p sure your talking about when he almost had a 3 when he did 17\6and rounded it down to 2? its b.c you cant have 2.6787879778787878 face cards in the deck and its easier and safer to round down

[@bensanterre9478]

I agree, I wish someone would address this. All I hear is you have to be perfectly accurate with the count and perfectly accurate with your deck estimation, but then the rounding of the decks left before dividing and the rounding to the whole number after dividing seem to negate some of that precision.

[@bensanterre9478]

I agree, I wish someone would address this. All I hear is you have to be perfectly accurate with the count and perfectly accurate with your deck estimation, but then the rounding of the decks left before dividing and the rounding to the whole number after dividing seems to negate some of that precision.

[@bensanterre9478]

I agree, I wish someone would address this. All I hear is you have to be perfectly accurate with the count and perfectly accurate with your deck estimation, but then the rounding of the decks left before dividing and the rounding to the whole number after dividing seems to negate some of that precision.

[@InfoAction_]

Why isn’t the true count rounded to the closest integer? Wouldn’t rounding make it a more accurate representation?

[@nicknanas623]

you got to round up your numbers better 24÷5 does not give 4, it's 4.8 so it's a true 5 and not a true 4

[@shart_with_force6686]

Rounding down is safer though. So depending on how fast and loose you want to be with your money… either is good.

[@barakoniner1644]

Is it me or is this that video he put out a year ago

[@Blackjackapprenticeship]

I haven't done a practice tips for the true count before.

[@nikolange8461]

In the casino I go to, a maximum of one deck is used and then added back to the other decks. Does that mean in the end that card counting doesn't work there?

[@neatstuff1988]

Would it make sense to bet instead of one unit for each true count 2 units. So for a true count of 3 you would bet instead of 3 bet 6.

[@navrenfuller2484]

My issue is is that my casino I go to immediately dumps the cards into the table, there is no discard tray to help

[@andrebeetge2691]

what about the cards in the shoe behind the dis card, some cut shoe deep ?

[@pedrosepulveda7061]

When is the app coming to android? I just changed my iPhone to Huawei and the only thing that made my decision hard was your app, it has helped a lot

[@Blackjackapprenticeship]

It's going to be a while. Software development always takes time, and we're just getting started. Sorry.

[@standyshavrdu4189]

How do you know, how many decks do they use at the table ? Cuz its kinda sus to just ask...

[@NetworkerWorking]

It’s not sus . It’s not a secret they will happily tell you . I’m sure normal players have asked this you acting strange about it is sus to them

[@RedRebel8]

OK... 6 deck shoe has 312 cards. 120 high cards and 120 low cards. Could you just count the number of high cards coming out. Or vice Versa. Like there has to be an easier way than that hi lo system.

[@allieboy181]

Hi-low IS easy lol, but if you wanna an easier system look up the KO system, no true count conversion, just counting. Almost as efficient but quite as accurate

[@anthonyvogel9328]

You forget to tell them about the deck that get cut off when the Shuffle happens

[@pionosphere]

Is this what they mean by "Big Deck Energy?"

[@tomderby2812]

Fucking love these videos Colin. Keep up the good work 👍

[@jacobkasim7346]

Are these prices for the apprentice program in US dollars

[@emmanuelvacakis4463]

It also depends on how your deviation chart is structured. I played against a single deck and divided by 1 at the half and divided by 2 at the top and multiplied by 2 at 3/4 through.

[@emmanuelvacakis4463]

Interesting. I noticed the 4’s, 5’s, and 6’s and played 15 and 16 against a 9 or 10 accordingly. I would still play those hands against a 7,8, and Ace according to the deviation chart because of the greater possibility of helping your hand. I played mainly against a single deck. But I liked the 4 deck shoe at the MGM before the casino fire because I could find dealers with excellent deck penetration.

[@depress25]

Dear Colin, there is always a question on my mind.. I do play black jack in live casino but just wondering how do you count cards where you don't play all the decks fully? For example, I play 8 decks BJ. I notice normally the red card or known as cutting card always appear somewhere 4 to 4,1/2 decks have played and that shows it will be the last game of the shoe. The balance 4 more decks won't be played and dealer will reshuffle the whole shoe again. What if all the rich high cards are left at the remaining decks? Even your count is positively high at 4 decks you played earlier on but when the time you wanted to bet big, the cutting card appears. So i can't continue on to bet big as all the high cards are left behind. Also another thing what is the true count value consider high and it is good to bet big? True count 3? 4? or 5 and above? Until today, i still unable to figure out is card counting really works? Some even able to guess what is the next card going to appear. That is really mind blowing.

[@BoleDaPole]

you bet 1 unit less than the true count. So if you're betting 10 dollars and the true count is +1, you continue betting 10 dollars. If it jumps to +3, you bet 2 units of 20 dollars. ( 3-1=2) With a true count of +5 you'd want to bet 4 units.

[@walkertalker3232]

Why are there two extra high cards and how does he get to the 10?

[@plastic2oil]

Just buy 15 decks and stack them on groups of 1/2/3/4/5. Much easier

[@Shawnybravo42]

What do you do when you have any number of decks and a percentage of a deck. say deck and a half or 1.25 decks 1.66 or 1.75. etc . Do you round up or down? Say only 40 cards have been dealt. Do you still consider there to be 6 decks left or 5?

[@Shawnybravo42]

I ask because in the video you pulled out maybe half a deck and said let's take 33 and decided by 6 even though obviously there's about 5.5 decks left. And also you said 17/6 is a true count of 2 even though it's one digit from being a true count of three and is closer to round up then down? Thank you so much for your videos. I have mastered counting and strategy. I now just need to pick up the details of true count and bet spreads.

[@Shawnybravo42]

Lol I asked this question before watching the rest of the video lmao whoops

[@aidenanderson3591]

I completely understand how the simple math works, but how do you not divide by 2 when there is 1 deck remaining? Doesn’t that make 2 (or a little less than 2) total?

[@danielnations4880]

How do you figure out the count mid shoe....if you sit down at a deck say half way gone

[@bensanterre9478]

Well, you can't count the cards that have already been dealt, so it would be as though the dealer cut off half the deck with the cut card, you would have to include the discarded cards to divide by to get your true count, but not include any newly discarded cards since sitting down. It's not a favorable situation and you're better off waiting for a new shoe.

[@mattp8287]

How do you know how many decks they are playing with like 6 or 8?

[@WhiteBoyIL]

Typically they’re 6 decks and you can tell when they shuffle. Just estimate in your head. A lot of places will say 8 decks on the sign that says blackjack

[@richardcerritelli9657]

Hi Colin personally I think it's more important to see how far the casinos willing to let you do your betting spread more so than true Count conversion and the rules of the game as well however if you have a tough game with bad rules and no deck penetration then the true count is more important if you have a 6 and 8 that game obviously with a perfect true Count system you'll have far less betting opportunities with a perfect true count system when you're system finally calls for a big bet they're shuffling the deck with lack of penetration games it's very frustrating that's my point why it's good to have a game with deep penetration which I know it's very difficult to do these days.

[@donaldthe1801]

Colin, your the best but, how about if casino does not show burn or card when dealers change. Should you just fugitabotit

[@Blackjackapprenticeship]

I have a video on that... it really doesn't matter... just a couple cards of information.

[@davegillis5115]

Have you done a video to remind your viewers, in a shoe game, dealer usually cuts two decks out before racking his cards?

[@LarfleezeOrangestein]

It doesnt matter if he does that *before* you start counting. The reason why is certain cards are missing the count will just got too the more extreme of what is missing and you can use that too bet even more or a lot less than usual.

[@geraldmcclaren2026]

I understand the running count divided by the true count. If my running count is +9 and Vegas is using a six deck shoe, I noticed that three decks are in the tray, so three more decks are left. I divide 9 into 3, which gives me a 3. Do I continue counting from +3 or + 9 for my True Count? I'm confused on what number to use after the division. Do I continue counting from +9 or +3?

[@keanuabels2988]

idk if you still need an answer but you would continue counting the cards from your running count +9 but you would place your bets according to the +3

[@geraldmcclaren2026]

@@keanuabels2988 Thanks.

[@christopherskriver1593]

Colin, what do you do when the casino uses an 8 deck discard tray on a 6 deck game?

[@1allenhartman]

How do you compensate for the cards at the end of the deck where the cut card is? There is usually a half deck or so left at the end of the shoe.

[@TripDadLife]

There's nothing to compensate for. The count remains the same regardless of if the last deck gets used or not.

[@mikir1741]

Yo that shirt is crazy

[@rhpmike]

True count conversion isn't necessarily hard, but it is something else to constantly be thinking about and you can get almost exact same efficiency with KO and even REKO will get you about 99% efficiency at 6 decks and you won't have to make true count conversions.

[@zakkwyldesdmf13]

I agree. With an unbalanced count like K-O/REKO you have to worry so little. I'd rather learn different deviations for double or six deck games than constantly converting into true count. I'd start with REKO and then add deviations slowly to your game (beginning with the top 3 - insurance, 16 vs. T, 15 vs. T).

[@davidshak8533]

Thanks for these awesome videos.

[@killer-tomat2397]

What if the casino puts the cards in a machine after every game???

[@MondoLeStraka]

Do you mean round? If so it's a CSM. No, it is not countable. However, If you just play basic strategy then play the CSM. It's slightly better than the usual shoe, DD or whatever.

[@vt_near]

You didn't really talk about a negative running count though? For example, if you have a running count of 2 with 3 decks left-- using the rounding down style of counting cards, you'd get a true count of 0. However, if you have a running count of -2, it's not actually 0 anymore. -2/3 is basically around -0.66 which rounding down gets you -1. In other words, when dealing with negative versions of running counts you do one number lower than you'd do with the normal running count. Another example is say you have a running count of -7 and only 5 decks left. A normal 7/5 would give you a true count of 1-- but with -7/5 that actually goes to -2. So you take the positive, make it negative, then subtract one. 0 is always 0 so that's easy, and one deck left of course makes it really easy.. But it's something to keep in mind.

[@Ray-jb3bd]

Colin, it's been more than a month since I ordered your book and it still hasn't arrived. What gives, man?

[@Ray-jb3bd]

Nevermind, just got the order received a few days ago. Thanks for keeping me updated, Colin.

[@ronniebravo6244]

A lot of Counting,Go All in NFL,Pick the Patriots,when their in Home or Go OVER/UNDER,just trust your HANDICAPPING..

[@alonsom254]

How often do you do true count? Like after every deck?

[@Dabby_YY]

I’m kinda new to this but I’d imagine yeah after every deck you see in the discard tray you should probably get your true count since you’re already repeating the running count In your head but as soon as you get your true count go back to running count

[@youngla1475]

My thing is so 6 deck usually the deal cut with the yellow card one deck. So wouldn’t that make it a 5 deck ?

[@TripDadLife]

No.

[@TripDadLife]

If you have 3 cups, underneath one lays the prize, you have the same odds of getting the prize even if one of the cups is randomly removed from play.

[@GoldenGate003]

done.

[@jacobkasim7346]

I love the examples

[@daleprokop1268]

Don’t they have a cut card to tell you when the current deck is finished?

[@jannisdavidzwahlen]

Not for every deck, if you see the cutting card it means they will shuffle the shoe.

[@daleprokop1268]

@@jannisdavidzwahlen ohhhh ok. Thank you

[@waledjamal3034]

what about counting numbers of cards , i use this way to know how many decks still !?

[@vt_near]

Here's how you count cards. There are 5 decks left. Remember this. You've seen 3 kings, 2 aces, a 7, an 8 two 9's, a 3, two 4's and a jack. First thing you do is ditch the numbers from 7-9. They don't matter when counting cards. Don't even register them when you see them. For every King/Ace/10 that you see, think of a counter going down one. So if you started at 0, after the 3 Kings, 2 Aces and 1 Jack, you'd be at -6. Now for every number 6 or less thinking of the counter going up one. So with 1 three, and 2 fours, you'd get +3. So with -6 and + 3.. that puts us at -3. This is called the running count. For every card you see think to yourself 'do I add a number, take away a number or leave the running count the same?'. Now to actually utilize this, you need to do some math to determine the true count. To do this you need to see how many decks are left. For our example, we have 5 decks remaining. But this could be 2 decks, 6 decks or even 3 decks. Take the running count and divide it by the number of decks. What's -3 divided by 5? Well, it's -3/5 which is not quite -1 but less than 0. Now we have to round that number. Normally when rounding, that would round up to 0. But when counting cards it's typically better to assume the lower value, since that means playing a bit safer/more cautiously rather than rounding into an aggressive stance. So you always want to round down. In this case, that puts us at -1. Meaning there is on average one less high card than there should be per deck. The higher the true count-- the more aggressively you want to bet. The lower, the less aggressively you want to bet. There are some special indexes you may want to learn, but at first you should focus on getting good at the basics.