Just what is card counting and why is it so potentially effective in the game of casino blackjack? Well firstly let us dispel one simple myth about card counting. What you are not doing is remembering every single card that has even been dealt. To do so would require fantastic memory skills that are very rare. To card count requires nothing more than to assign a numerical figure to each card and then to keep a running count of the total. So you are keeping a numerical total of all of the cards that have been dealt rather than remembering every single card.

The reason why card counting is important for best casino bonuses is to do with the effect that certain cards have on thecasino house edge when they have been dealt and thus removed from the deck. Most beginners will be aware that any natural/blackjack is paid at odds of 3/2. In fact if you were to remove these 3/2 pay offs for blackjack then the game would be almost unbeatable. In order to get these 3/2 pay offs then you must have a hand that contains a ten value card along with an ace.

So it then stands to reason that tens and aces have a lot of value to the player and it is advantageous to the player that there are as many tens and aces left to be dealt as possible. With a basic level one type systems like the HI-LO then tens and aces are counted as -1. Then we have almost neutral cards like sevens, eights and nines that have almost no effect with regards their removal which are counted as zero. The remaining cards six down to deuce are counted as +1.

At first these totals may be confusing to the novice because if tens and aces are so good for the player then why are they given a minus figure? Well the answer to that is simple and you have to remember that we are counting cards that have been dealt out. So any card that has been dealt out cannot be dealt to us at some future point in time. It is no use knowing that the two previous decks were rich in high cards and aces because what that means is that the remaining decks are now rich in low cards which do not favour us.

So that should help to explain why tens and aces are awarded a -1 total in the HI-LO counting system because it counts cards that are seen and not to be dealt. There are also other types of counting systems that have ace side counts for the simple reason that if you remove all of the aces from the remaining decks then you are removing your ability to make a natural and that removes a large part of your edge. Usually the aces are evenly distributed throughout the decks but they can bunch together leaving the player with potentially barren patches in the shoe.