• Can You Count Cards In Online Blackjack Games
• Can You Count Cards In Online Blackjack Online
• Easiest Card Counting Systems
• Blackjack How To Count Cards
• Can You Count Cards In Online Blackjack Multiplayer

If you’re interested in trying your hand at Blackjack, you can join us and choose from a wide variety of Blackjack games, including Classic Blackjack, Atlantic City Blackjack, and Blackjack 5 Hands. You can also get up to speed on the rules of Blackjack online, and learn to play a flawless strategy in every hand with Perfect Blackjack. The reasons are: In machine blackjack the cards are shuffled after each round (or almost). In Live dealer games you can count cards but the deck penetration is too low. Usually it referred that you need 70% and higher while in online casinos it’s usually around 50% and lower.

Card counting stands as one of the most debated topics in the world of blackjack. If you can pull it off, it can turn you from a loser to a winner when playing blackjack in casinos. But we’re here to talk about whether or not the tactic of card counting works in an online blackjack scenario.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been taking a deep dive into the world of online blackjack. With most of the world’s casinos taking a break during the pandemic, it’s the perfect time to do so. Hopefully, you’ve been following along and have been learning just how enjoyable and lucrative online blackjack can be.

We’ve talked at length about the strategy that you must learn to become an expert player. In other words, you have to know when it’s the right time to hit, stay, double, split and so on, depending on what you have and what the dealer has. This is the foundation for basic online blackjack strategy.

Whenever you hear someone talking about advanced blackjack strategy, however, they are usually talking about the tactic known as card counting. If you don’t know too much about card counting, you might have a somewhat murky idea of what card counting is about, one filled with smoky casinos and sneaky players trying to pull something off while a pit boss watches with a stern look.

Card Counting: Frowned Upon but Not Illegal

In actuality, there is nothing illegal about card counting. Casinos do have it within their discretion to discourage it and, in some cases, stop a player from using it by banning them from the action. But it’s not like you can get sent to jail for it.

Savvy card counters playing casino blackjack can not only get away with it, but they can add a few points to their payback percentage. It can turn the house edge around and actually give the advantage to the player. But we’re here to talk about card counting in terms of online blackjack, as far as whether or not it can help you out enough to make it worth the effort.

Online blackjack is played in the same manner as casino blackjack in terms of the player’s options and the dealer’s options, with the exception of a few slight rules variations here and there depending on the website. But the way that the game takes place makes a great difference, especially when it comes to card counting. And that’s what we’re here to explore.

In the following article, we’ll strive to answer the question of whether card counting at online blackjack is doable and/or effective. We’ll explain how it works and the different methods of utilizing. Most important, we’ll tell you how online blackjack changes the card counting game.

How Card Counting Works

The basic concept behind card counting is that the odds for blackjack change as cards are played and, for a while, out of commission. What happens is that the balance of power shifts, ever so slightly, as certain cards come and go. If a player can keep track of those changes, they should be able to take advantage of it.

It’s important to understand that there is no single method of card counting which is accepted by all. Different experts in the field of blackjack tout different strategies by which players can gain an advantage. But the concept of keeping track of what’s gone by is essentially the same.

No matter what card-counting system you’re using, however, it’s likely that the same principle is behind it. When there more tens and aces still alive to be played, the advantage goes to the player. And when there are less, the advantage goes to the dealer.

It really is that simple in the grand scheme of things. Each specific card counting system will then veer off from that in its own unique way as it purports to give the player more of an edge than any other.

You can find systems of card counting that are relatively simple, and others that include enough rules to make your head spin. In general, the more thorough the system is in terms of specifics, the higher it will raise your chances of winning if you can administer it correctly.

Sample Card Counting In Practice

The way that many card counting systems work is by assigning a point total to each card in the deck. As you play hands of blackjack, you have to try to keep a running tally of the cards played based on these point totals.

Keep in mind that you should be doing this all while still making the correct blackjack pays based on basic strategy, at least until the card counting tells you to change that strategy up. Card counting is certainly not for novices. You should be someone who already knows basic strategy like the back of your hand, or else you’re likely to get it wrong as you’re trying to add and subtract in your head.

For example, imagine that there’s a hypothetical system that says that every ten through ace is worth negative-1 and every two through six is worth one. All other cards (sevens through nines) have a value of zero. Imagine that a sample hand turns out this way in terms of the cards received by every player:

• Player 1: Ten, Four, Eight
• Player 2: Six, Four, Eight, Two
• Player 3: Jack, Six, Seven
• Dealer: Queen, Five, Nine

In this hand, players 1 and 3 busted, while player 2 ended up with 20 and subsequently ended up winning the hand when the dealer busted. But all of that is immaterial to your card counting concerns. Here is what the hands look like in card counting terms:

• Hand 1: -1, +1, 0
• Hand 2: +1, +1, zero, +1
• Hand 3: -1, +1, zero
• Dealer: -1, +1, zero

Add all of those totals up and you come away with a total of +3. Positive totals are always good for the player. Negative are good for the dealer.

Most advanced card counting systems also require you to take into account how many decks are being used at the table and how many you’ve gone through. The more cards that are still in the dealer’s shoe waiting to be played, the less the advantage either way of a small positive or negative in your running tally. That’s why many card counting systems also include a division aspect to the calculations.

In any regard, the gist is that once your tally rises above a certain threshold on the positive side, you have the advantage. And once it drops below a certain number on the negative side, the advantage goes to the dealer.

How to Benefit From Card Counting

You know now how card counting works and the general logic behind it. But how can you put that practice into use to help you win at blackjack? Well, there are two ways to do it.

Can You Count Cards In Online Blackjack Games

Adjusting Your Bets

This is probably the easier of the two methods as it doesn’t require you to remember as much. But it carries a bit more risk in terms of you getting found out.

If the card counting tally gets above a certain number, it might make sense for you to raise the size of your bet. In that way, you can take advantage when the cards should be in your favor.

By contrast, if the edge swings to the dealer, you might consider lowering your bets. You can cut your losses until the tally starts to even out more and the edge starts to swing back to you.

Even though adjusting your wager is the easier way to practice card counting, it also rouses more suspicions from casinos. A sudden boost from the amount that you normally bet can be a dead giveaway to a dealer or pit boss that you’re card counting.

If you’re playing online blackjack with an automatic dealer (more on that in a bit), there’s less of a chance of you being nabbed for this because of the lack of direct human oversight. But if an online gambling site looks back after the fact and sees betting patterns that seem pretty blatant, you could still be held accountable.

The bottom line is that you should try to be subtle if your card counting and adjusting your bets as a result. Don’t try to get too greedy about it.

Adjusting Your Strategy

The good news is that you have less chance of being caught by using card counting in this way. But it is much more difficult, because you have to essentially switch up your strategic plays every time your tally moves into another threshold.

When the tally is in your favor as a player, there are a number of ways it can affect your strategy. You might find yourself aggressively splitting and doubling on hands you wouldn’t otherwise. Meanwhile, insurance, which isn’t a good pay in basic strategy, can indeed me a smart move if there are a lot of 10s in the deck.

Once the tally moves over to the dealer’s side, you might start to get a little bit more conservative about doubling and splitting. All the low cards in the deck could mean that you end up coming up short of where you want when you make those plays. A low tally could mean occasionally hitting on hands where you might normally stand, since you’d be less likely to bust.

It all depends on the situation. And it also depends on the specific card counting strategy that you’re following. But you have to realize that adjusting your strategy as you are card counting is an involved method and not something you should try to pull off if you’re a novice.

You can get away with this much more easily than if you were adjusting the bets. A different play here or there won’t raise too many red flags. But you have to be aware that this kind of effort should only be made if you can call yourself a blackjack expert.

The Edge In Casino Blackjack Card Counting

By most accounts, the best card counters can add, at most, two percentage points to their total. What does that mean?

Most basic blackjack strategies will bring you to a payback percentage somewhere in the area of 99.5. There is still a house edge in this scenario, albeit a small one. The small house edge is why so many discerning gamblers choose blackjack.

When you add two points to that, you bring your percentage into the neighborhood of 100 or 101. Suddenly, you’re looking at a situation where you have removed the house edge. You can conceivably hope to make a profit over the long term playing blackjack, which is extremely rare in the world of casino gambling.

Of course, that assumes that you’re doing it correctly. Making mistakes based on incorrect card counting will not only remove any edge you want to gain, but it could even lower the payback percentage you could expect from basic strategy. For that reason, card counting, even in a casino setting, is only for the most hard-core players, those who play the game on a regular basis.

If you’re a casual player hitting a table now and again, the effort that it would take to learn card counting on an expert level would be a bit of a waste of time. After all, short-term players will end up with results that will be greatly affected by luck. In fact, luck will be far more impactful than any slight edge gained from card counting.

Is Card Counting Possible With Online Blackjack?

We’ve shown you how card counting works in theory. But the question that we need to ask is whether it works the same way when you play online blackjack.

To answer it, you have to understand how online blackjack works. When you play in a casino, you have a dealer dealing the cards from a shoe which contains up to eight decks. Online blackjack also uses eight decks on many occasions, but, with the exception of live-dealer games (which we’ll get to), everything is simulated.

You don’t actually receive physical cards; you just see simulations of cards on the screen. These cards come from software in the machine that operates on the same basis as a random number generator. Because of this software, you won’t be able to find any patterns in the cards that you receive from hand to hand.

But what’s more important, in terms of thinking about card counting, is the fact that the decks being used are reshuffled after every single hand. In other words, the cards that are played in one hand go right back in the deck (or decks, as the case may be) for the next deal. And because of the random number generator software, the chances of receiving those cards are the same whether you’ve received them ten hands in a row or haven’t seen them in hours.

Well, it pretty much eliminates any possibility of doing it. Every hand, your count would have to reset to zero, just as it would at the point that a reshuffle takes place in the casino.

The big difference is that the reshuffle in the casino might take place after you’ve played through six or seven decks. As a result, the information that you’ve gleaned from card counting is indeed mathematically relevant. You can use to make the adjustments we talked about above.

Yet when a reshuffle happens every deal, there is no useful information. Even if you were to play an online blackjack hand where nothing but 2s showed up on the screen, which would normally give a big edge to the player going forward, there is actually no advantage to be gained in the next hand. Your tally would go right back to zero.

The bottom line is that there is absolutely no advantage to card counting when playing online blackjack with an automatic dealer. But, as we said above, there are games you can find live dealers. Let’s look at card counting now as it pertains to those live-dealer games.

Card Counting With Live-Dealer Online Blackjack

How do live-dealer online blackjack games work? Well, there is an actual dealer who works for the gambling site that deals out the cards from a shoe as if you were playing at a casino table. This dealer is on a camera so that you can see their actions on your screen, whether it’s a computer, tablet, phone or any other connected device.

As the cards they deal appear on camera, you then make the choice about whether to hit, stand, or whatever by clicking on the appropriate icons on your screen. This will also be the way you make bets at the start of the hand as well.

The key to this process, in terms of card counting, is that there is no reshuffle after every deal. As a result, you can indeed get a running tally going, since cards that have been used in previous hands will be out of play until a shuffle occurs.

That little tweak puts card counting back on the map for online blackjack players. But, before you get too excited, there is a little bit of a difference.

Gambling websites understand that they are at a disadvantage to stop card counting in a lot of cases because they can’t see the players. If you didn’t want to count the cards in your head, you could have a pen and paper nearby and do the tallying in that manner when playing online. Chances are you could be much more accurate than you could be in a casino.

In the same manner, it’s also less likely that any actions would be taken against counters. The fact that the player isn’t in the same room as those administering the game make it improbable for a crackdown.

For those reasons, live-dealer online blackjack games will often cut down on the number of hands that are played before a reshuffle takes place. This cuts into the effectiveness of card counting.

Why? Well, as you go deeper into a blackjack shoe with six or eight decks, it means there are less cards to be played. And it also makes the card counting that you’ve done to that point much more accurate.

As a matter of fact, in terms of accuracy and success, the rate for card counting should technically increase with every hand that is played. In the early hands, it will be more statistically unstable. But as you get closer to exhausting the decks, your card counting should really give you an idea of what’s remaining and allow you to take advantage.

By cutting back on the number of hands played before the reshuffle, live-dealer online blackjack keeps any edge in card counting limited by keeping the game in the early stages when the information isn’t as reliable. Most live-dealer online blackjack games won’t even go much further than halfway through a shoe before the reshuffle.

We mentioned above that a superb card counter might be able to squeeze two percentage points, or $2 for every $100 bet, out of a casino blackjack table through their efforts. But with a live-dealer online blackjack game, you might not be able to get anything more than a half a percentage point.

The effort it would take to gain such a small advantage would seem to be ill-advised. You would be better off taking the time to look for top gambling websites offering the best bonuses for gamblers. Doing that might give you more of an advantage than you could possibly hope to get from card counting in an online blackjack session.

Conclusion

We hope that you now have a handle on what it takes to count cards and why it might not be worth it when you’re playing online blackjack at top gambling websites. If you are playing online, it’s best to stick to basic strategy and learn it as well as you can. From there, taking advantage of online bonuses can put you in the neighborhood of 100 percent payback percentage, which isn’t bad at all when compared to other gambling options.

Free blackjack is an ideal way to hone your strategy and familiarize yourself with one of the world’s most popular and accessible card games. Though the current legal landscape in the US makes it difficult for everyone to find online blackjack, free games offer an intuitive and accessible alternative.

Blackjack is beloved by gamblers worldwide because it’s simple to learn but difficult to master. Of the many games available at land-based and online casinos, blackjack has one of the lowest house edges. Players enjoy blackjack thanks to its accessibility, strategic bent, and high win potential.

While it’s not always easy to find online sites that have blackjack with real money prizes, free blackjack is available anywhere with an internet connection. Plus, it’s completely safe and legal.

Top Free Blackjack Games Online

Blackjack with friends and single-player blackjack are both free and easy to learn. Here’s an overview of each game. You can play both right here on our site.

Single Player Online Blackjack

Single-player blackjack is especially good for beginners because it allows you to play up to three hands at once. You can get a sense of the cadence of the game and learn quickly because each of your hands plays differently.

Playing Single Player Blackjack

Start by placing a wager. In this free game, you start with $1,000 in chips, but it doesn’t really matter because the currency has no value. Also, if you run out of fake “funds” you can simply refresh the page and start over. You can bet up to $100 in chips per hand.

Once you’ve placed your bets, click “deal” and the hands will appear on the screen, including the dealer’s face-up card. From there, you’ll select your action for each individual hand. Your options are: hit, stand, double, split, and surrender. The computer will automatically blur certain options out if they’re not available for that specific hand. Choose what you’d like to do for each hand (and review our strategy page if you need a refresher on the basic actions available in blackjack).

The virtual dealer will then take an action and each hand will be resolved as a win for the player, a push, or a win for the dealer. You can then choose to place a new bet or repeat your last one.

Our recommendation: there’s nothing actually at stake when you play free blackjack, so always play all three hands to keep things interesting! And since the chips don’t matter, maximize your bet so you can feel the full impact of a winning hand.

Free Blackjack Online With Friends

Playing Blackjack With Friends

This game features quick and easy online blackjack for free, but it adds the benefit of playing with other people. You can invite friends to play, or start a game with random tablemates.

To start a hand on the Free Blackjack App, click on an unlocked city. All players start at Reno. Next, click on the chip denominations at the bottom of the table to place your bet. Once your desired bet is displayed, click the bet button to the right.

Two cards are then dealt to the player(s) and dealer. The dealer will only show one of his cards. If the dealer’s face-up card is an ace, it will ask if the player would like insurance. Insurance pays 2-1 if the dealer has a blackjack. The dealer will then peek to see if he has a blackjack. The dealer will also look with a ten-value card showing, but will not offer insurance. If the dealer has blackjack, the hand is over. The player will push with a blackjack and all other hands lose.

This version of blackjack offers a little more player agency than a single-player game. The stand, hit, surrender, split, and double down options illuminate when they’re available, so you must carefully select which option is best based on your hand, the other players’ hands, and the dealer’s face-up card.

Play With Friends

To invite friends to play with you, click one of the icons with the silhouette of a person and a “+” symbol. You can share your invite link directly with a friend by copying and pasting it. You can also invite friends via Twitter, Facebook, and email.

If you’re planning a trip to a land-based casino or a state with legal online casinos, free blackjack with friends is a great way to brush up on strategy and core gameplay before you play at a table for real money.

Free Blackjack Game Features

Multiplayer Blackjack – Play our free online blackjack games with others, just join a table and you will be connected to a multiplayer blackjack table. You can invite friends to play by clicking on an empty seat and you will be given the choice to copy a link or share via Twitter, Facebook, or email. If you would like to play single player blackjack, go into settings (top right button) and click multiplayer off.

Card Count – We don’t re-shuffle after each hand, instead we use virtual decks allowing players to card count. Reno & Philadelphia deal eight decks. San Diego and Denver are six decks. Chicago and New Orleans are two decks. Our final two tables: Atlantic City and Las Vegas offer single-deck blackjack. The house edge for blackjack drops as decks are removed from the game.

Las Vegas Blackjack Rules – Our 21 blackjack game offers the same rules found in Las Vegas and other casinos around the world. Blackjack pays 3-2. Players can double down on any two cards. Double down after splitting is permitted. Surrender is available. Blackjack dealer hits soft 17.

Earn Blackjack Badges – While playing blackjack you can complete challenges to earn badges, below is a list of our badges and what you need to do to complete them:

• Split 5 – Win all hands in a split five-time
• Double Down 5 – Win five double down hands
• Natural Blackjack – Win 10 natural dealt blackjack
• Split Aces – Win both hands after splitting aces
• 21 on 5 – Receive a hand total of 21 on five cards
• Blackjack 50 – Dealt 50 blackjacks
• Heating Up – Awarded after winning at least five hands in a row
• Wow it’s Hot – Awarded after winning at least 10 hands in a row
• You are on Fire – Awarded after winning at least 15 hands in a row
• Is this real life? – Awarded after winning at least 20 hands in a row
• Novice – 100 hands won
• Advanced – 1,000 hands won
• Semi-Pro – 5,000 hands won
• Pro – 10,000 hands won
• Average Joe – Average bet of 500 over past 50 hands
• Up & Coming – Average bet of 5,000 over past 50 hands
• Getting Serious – Average bet of 10,000 over past 50 hands
• High Roller – Average bet of 50,000 over past 50 hands
• #Baller – Average bet of 100,000 over past 50 hands
• Chance on 20 – Hit on 20, receive an ace, and not push

Best Sweepstakes Gaming Sites In The US

Outside of free blackjack games, sweepstakes casinos are one of the simplest ways to enjoy blackjack online. Players in states without legal online casinos can access sweepstakes sites and enjoy numerous casino games, including blackjack. Right now, Washington is the only state that doesn’t allow sweepstakes gaming.

At sweepstakes casinos, players purchase in-game currency that they can use to play casino games. The in-game currency has no real value. However, there’s a second currency called sweeps coins (or sweeps cash) that you earn either through a mail-in offer (which allows these sites to operate legally as sweepstakes) or by purchasing regular in-game currency. Play with sweeps coins, and you can redeem your winnings for cash prizes.

Sweepstakes casinos are a great middle-ground between free blackjack and real money online blackjack. You pay for in-game currency and you have a chance at cash prizes. The mail-in offer for free sweeps coins can be beneficial to players looking to win some of those cash prizes, too. You won’t win as much as you could on a real money blackjack game, but many consider sweepstakes casinos to be the next best thing.

Sweepstakes Casino Frontrunners

If you search for a sweepstakes casino, chances are you’ll find Chumba and LuckyLand as the two top results. And this is for good reason. Both are easy to use, and sign-up only takes a few minutes. Plus, once you join a sweepstakes casino, you’ll get some free in-game currency to kickstart your experience with the site.

Benefits Of Playing Free Blackjack Online

Players enjoy free blackjack for countless reasons. If you’re looking to hone your strategy or learn the game, free blackjack always has something to offer.

Accessibility

Sure, you can’t win any real money when you play blackjack for free. But that removes a plethora of limitations that are usually placed on online blackjack games. There’s nothing at stake, so free blackjack can be played anywhere you have an internet connection.

Learn The Game

Though the rules of blackjack are fairly simple, the game is very nuanced and can take time to truly master. Free blackjack gives players an outlet to better understand the game.

Even though blackjack is a game of chance, strategy plays a key role. When should you double down? Does it make sense to split those two cards? Should I hit or stand? These are questions blackjack players constantly ask themselves. Because the game is dictated by strategic choices, playing free versions can really sharpen your instincts and teach you when to take certain actions.

Prepare For The Real Deal

Maybe you’re traveling to a state with real money online casinos. Or maybe you’re planning to visit a land-based property and take a seat at a real blackjack table. Even if you already know how to play, it’s helpful to sneak in a few hands with no risk. Free blackjack is the perfect outlet for pre-casino practice. You can refresh your gameplay with a few hands of the free game before you’re ready to bet for real.

How To Play Blackjack

Each player receives two cards face up. The dealer receives one card face down (the hole card) and another face-up. Every card has a value. Face cards are worth 10 points, Aces are either 1 or 11, and every other card is worth face value. The goal is to get 21 or to get closer to 21 than the dealer without busting (going over).

Once you receive your cards and the players before you (order is determined by table seating) have played their hands, you decide what to do. Below are the basic actions available to you, but note that some are only allowed in specific scenarios:

• Hit: Take a card in an attempt to improve the hand. A player may hit cards one at a time until the hand busts or the player decides to stand.
• Stand: Leave your hand as it is. This means that you receive no additional cards
• Split: Split is available when a pair is dealt. To split, a player must make an equal-sized bet to the original wager. If another pair is drawn, the hand may be resplit, except for aces. A max three split hands are allowed. Players may double down after splitting.
• Double Down: Double your bet and receive just one card. Once this action is taken, there are no more moves for a player. The card must be kept and the double bet must remain on the table.
• Surrender; A player that does not like the start hand in relation to the dealer’s face-up card may surrender. This is where a player gives the dealer half the original wager and folds. Not all casinos offer this option.

Every choice in blackjack has a direct impact on the game, so playing free games online is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with all possible hands and outcomes.

Playing Free Blackjack Online – Common Questions

Yes. State and federal laws surrounding online gaming specifically target games of chances with the possibility of monetary wins. For this reason, free online blackjack is completely legal. Free blackjack is a safe and simple way to get acquainted with the game.

Can You Count Cards In Online Blackjack Online

Yes. Because there’s no real money involved, all 50 states allow free online blackjack.
States have varying levels of regulation for online blackjack that involves any sort of real money. Sweepstakes casinos, where you purchase credits to play with, are legal in all states except Washington.
True real money online casinos are only live in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

The only truly free blackjack games are not tied to a specific casino. They’re accessible directly from your web browser, so you don’t even need to visit a casino website to play.
The next closest thing to free blackjack is sweepstakes casino gaming. When you sign up, you’ll receive some in-game currency for free to get you started.

Easiest Card Counting Systems

No. You can play free blackjack using the applications on this page without registering or even downloading any software. They’re playable right in your browser.

There’s no age requirement because there is no money at stake. The free blackjack games on this page are available to anyone interested in the game. However, making the move to sweepstakes or real money blackjack will require age verification. 18+ for sweepstakes sites and 21+ for real-money.

Yes. The free blackjack games on this site are playable from your browser on desktop computers, phones, and tablets. You don’t need to download an app or register; just click and start playing!

Yes. Free blackjack with friends lets you easily invite other players. You can invite friends into your game using a unique link (just copy, paste, and send), Twitter, Facebook, or email. Up to three people can play together at a time.

Blackjack How To Count Cards

Can You Count Cards In Online Blackjack Multiplayer

In some cases, yes. In free blackjack with friends, the decks aren’t reshuffled, so card-counting is possible. In other free blackjack games online, card counting is tricky or impossible because the random number generators that drive the game constantly shuffle the virtual decks.