The Card Counting blog
Reads for players who like an edge
Card counting law and lore, poker math worth memorizing, and what the movies get wrong — written by the team behind the free trainer, with every number checked.
August 8, 2026 · 6 min readPot Odds Explained: When 16.7% Is Enough to CallPot odds are a price: divide the call by the final pot. A $25 call for a $150 final pot needs 16.7% equity. The formula, the chart, and the classic error.Read it →August 7, 2026 · 6 min readDealer hits soft 17: H17 vs S17 costs you 0.22%A dealer who hits soft 17 adds 0.22 points to the house edge. Why H17 beats S17 for the casino, how to spot it on the felt, and the plays that change.Read it →August 5, 2026 · 7 min readWhen to split in blackjack: 2 always, 2 never, 6 maybeAlways split aces and 8s. Never split 10s or 5s. The other six pairs turn on the dealer's upcard and DAS. The expected-value math behind each one.Read it →August 3, 2026 · 9 min readBlackjack insurance: a 7.4% bad bet, with one exceptionNo, don't take it — insurance costs 7.4% in a six-deck shoe and 5.9% in one deck. The only exception is a counter at a Hi-Lo true count of +3.Read it →August 1, 2026 · 6 min readGin Rummy Strategy: How to Win the Information GameGin rummy strategy as an information game: why middle cards are dangerous discards, reading pickups, knock timing math, and deadwood tips that hold up.Read it →July 30, 2026 · 5 min readEuchre Strategy: The Decisions That Actually Win GamesEuchre strategy grounded in the numbers: bower arithmetic, when to order up, why makers lead trump, and the going-alone math. Practical tips, no folklore.Read it →July 28, 2026 · 6 min readSpades Bidding Strategy: How to Bid in Spades and WinHow to bid in Spades: the trick-counting heuristics behind accurate bids, the real cost of bags, nil risk math, and drills that train your estimate.Read it →July 26, 2026 · 6 min readHearts Strategy: The Five Decisions That Win GamesHow to win at Hearts: what to pass (and the Q♠ debate), when to bleed spades, tracking what's been played, reading voids, and judging a moon attempt.Read it →July 24, 2026 · 8 min readWhat your play is worth to the casinoThe theoretical-loss formula behind every comp, the fraction casinos return, and why a card counter's rated worth is never their real worth.Read it →July 23, 2026 · 9 min readHands per hour: blackjack's real numberSpeed multiplies whatever edge is in play. Verified decisions-per-hour data, the casino EV formula, and why penetration beats bet spread.Read it →July 22, 2026 · 7 min read6:5 blackjack: what the payout really costsPaying 6-to-5 on a natural adds 1.39 points to the house edge, enough to more than triple it. The verified math, the dollar cost, and how it spread.Read it →July 21, 2026 · 9 min readThe game with no decisions out-earns blackjackOn the Las Vegas Strip in 2025, baccarat won $1.41 billion from 392 tables and blackjack $897 million from 1,034. The verified numbers behind the gap.Read it →July 20, 2026 · 9 min readWhere Las Vegas Strip money actually comes fromStrip casinos won $8.8 billion gambling in 2025 and took more from hotel rooms. An anatomy of the revenue, and where the skill games sit in it.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readCard counting for beginners: it really is just +1 and -1Learn to count cards with +1/0/-1 arithmetic: the Hi-Lo values, an honest learning curve, the classic beginner mistakes, and the Rain Man myth.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 6 min readHow to practice card counting: drills that build speedA six-stage card counting practice plan: tag flashcards, pair cancelling, the 30-second deck countdown test, distraction drills and full-shoe training.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readHi-Lo card counting chart: every value, explainedThe complete counting cards chart — which cards are +1, 0 and −1 and why — plus the card counting formula and what a cheat sheet is really for.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readRunning count vs true count: the card counting formulaThe one card counting formula — running count ÷ decks remaining — with worked examples, discard-tray estimation, and why no calculator works at a table.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 6 min read4 Card Counting Systems Compared: Which to Learn FirstHi-Lo, KO, Hi-Opt I and Omega II compared side by side — power ratings, balanced vs unbalanced, and why Hi-Lo is the count to learn first.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readSpeed Count Blackjack: The 1-Hour Count, Honestly RatedSpeed Count is blackjack's easiest counting system — no division, no negatives, learnable in an hour. The honest math: it keeps 1/3 to 1/2 of Hi-Lo's power.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readCard counting simulator: the two tools people meanA card counting simulator is two different tools — EV software that runs millions of hands, and practice simulators that train your count. Which do you need?Read it →July 16, 2026 · 6 min readBet spreads: the math a card counting calculator runsWhy flat-betting a count wins nothing, the 0.5% per true count rule, and what a blackjack card counting bet spread calculator actually computes.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readCounting Cards in Bridge: The Skill Every Defender NeedsCounting cards in bridge is mandatory technique, not advantage play — counting suits to 13 and the three standard bridge signals every defender reads.Read it →July 16, 2026 · 5 min readSpanish 21 Card Counting: The Shoe With No TensSpanish 21 card counting explained: what removing every 10 from a 48-card deck does to Hi-Lo, and why our trainer starts the running count at −4 per deck.Read it →July 13, 2026 · 5 min readIs Card Counting Illegal? No — But There Are 3 CatchesNo — counting cards in your head is legal in every US state. But casinos can still ban you, and counting with a device is a felony. The full legal picture.Read it →July 12, 2026 · 4 min readWhat Rain Man Gets Wrong About Card CountingRain Man made counting look like a savant superpower. The real skill is one running number anyone can learn. Here is what the movies get wrong.Read it →July 11, 2026 · 5 min readSeven poker numbers worth memorizingAA vs KK is 82/18. A flush draw is 9 outs. The rule of 2 and 4 turns outs into equity at the table. Seven numbers that do most of poker's math for you.Read it →July 10, 2026 · 5 min readThe Movie 21 vs the Real MIT Blackjack Team: What's TrueNo professor, no basement beating — but the spotters, code words and six-figure weekends were real. What the movie 21 kept from the true MIT team story.Read it →July 8, 2026 · 5 min readHow Edward Thorp's Beat the Dealer Invented Card CountingEd Thorp proved blackjack beatable on an IBM 704, published Beat the Dealer in 1962, then took the same edge to Wall Street. Card counting's true origin.Read it →July 6, 2026 · 5 min readThe man who beat blackjack with a computer in his shoeKeith Taft built wearable blackjack computers in the 1970s — toe switches, LED glasses — and his gadgets are why device-aided counting is a felony.Read it →July 4, 2026 · 6 min readPhil Ivey Edge Sorting: Why the £7.7M Win Was 'Cheating'Phil Ivey won £7.7M at baccarat without touching a card — and two courts still called it cheating. How edge sorting works and where the legal line sits.Read it →July 2, 2026 · 5 min readHouse Edge Explained: From 0.28% to 15%, Game by GameHouse edge is the cut the casino keeps of each bet: 5.26% roulette, 1.41% craps, 0.28% blackjack — and the two kinds of games where skill still pays.Read it →July 1, 2026 · 4 min readStu Ungar: The Gin Rummy Player Nobody Would PlayThe greatest card talent ever got so good at gin that the action vanished. What made Stu Ungar unbeatable — and why those exact skills are trainable.Read it →June 30, 2026 · 5 min readThe gambler's fallacy — and the one game where it's trueRoulette wheels have no memory, but a blackjack shoe does. The 1913 Monte Carlo streak, why no number is ever due, and why counting isn't a fallacy.Read it →June 28, 2026 · 5 min readHow casinos actually spot card countersThe bet-spread tell, the eye in the sky, shared databases from the Griffin Book to facial recognition, and the ladder of countermeasures that follows.Read it →June 26, 2026 · 4 min readThe Joker Was Invented for EuchreThe joker was born in 1860s America as an extra euchre trump called the best bower. The documented history, and why the bower system still trips players up.Read it →June 24, 2026 · 4 min readWhy Buffett and Gates Are Obsessed With BridgeWarren Buffett plays bridge eight hours a week with a world champion. Bill Gates is his regular partner. What they see in the game, and how to train it.Read it →June 22, 2026 · 5 min readCard counting isn't just blackjack: one skill, seven gamesComposition tracking, pure recall, void inference, outs arithmetic — the four trainable skills hiding under 'card counting', mapped across eight games.Read it →