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Lesson 1 · Card Counting
Basic strategy plays every hand perfectly, but the casino keeps a small edge. Card counting flips it: when the remaining shoe is rich in tens and aces, blackjacks and dealer busts come more often — and the player gets paid.
You don't memorize cards. You track one number that says who the rest of the shoe favors — and bet more when it's you.
The dealer must hit 12–16; you don't. A ten-rich shoe busts the dealer more often and pays your blackjacks 3:2.
Fours, fives and sixes turn dealer stiff hands into made hands. A shoe full of small cards is the house edge at its strongest.
Counting is just arithmetic on public information — it's not cheating. Casinos may still back you off, which is why counters stay discreet.