21 Beaten (card counting explained)

Warning: Before reading you must have a basic understanding of how to play Blackjack.  Not how to count cards, not basic strategy, but how to play the game.

In the book “Bringing Down the House,” and the movie “21″ a card counting team takes Las Vegas for millions. In this article you will learn why Blackjack is beatable, the basic hi/lo card counting system (used by the MIT team), and practice drills to hone the skill.

First, Blackjack can be beaten because the game has a past and a future.  How does it have a past, and future… simple.  The cards that were dealt affect the cards going to be dealt.  To beat the game the player must master basic strategy, a card counting system, and know both these so well they can hold a conversation with anyone.  Sounds complicated and hard, but anyone with patience and practice can achieve this.

Second, the hi/lo card counting system.  The easiest of all the card counting systems, but still gives the player an advantage is the hi/lo system.  Harvey Dubner, later refined by Julian Braun, and Stanford Wong had introduced a way to track high cards from low cards.  In Blackjack the house (casino) has an advantage when the deck is rich in low cards, but the player has an advantage if the deck is rich in high cards.

How the hi/lo system is done:

1. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are worth +1
2. 7, 8, 9 are worth 0
3. 10, face cards, aces are worth -1
4. As you play Blackjack keep a running count of all the cards that have been dealt.
5. Bet higher when the count is positive.  Make sure in higher deck games to have the count higher before risking money.  For lower deck games the count can be smaller for more money.
6. Running count using the hi/lo system while playing.  Keeping a running count is what a player does while playing.
7. True count is taking your running count and dividing the count by the number of decks left.

• For example: One Deck
• Player one has King, Four (equals hard fourteen) Running count: 0
• Player two has Three, Nine (equals hard twelve) Running count:: +1
• Player three has Ace, 10 (equals natural twenty-one… BLACKJACK!) Running count: -1
• Player four has Two, Five (equals hard seven) Running count: +1
• You have Five, Six (equals hard eleven) Running count: +3
• Dealer shows Five (bust card for the dealer) Running count: +4
• Player one stays(stands) according to basic strategy.
• Player two stays(stands) according to basic strategy.
• Player three gets paid 2:1
• Player four hits and gets a Six (equals hard thirteen) Running count: +5
• Player four stays(stands) according to basic strategy.
• You would double down and you get a nine (equals hard twenty) Running count: +6
• Dealer shows down card and has a two (equals hard seven) Running count: +7
• Dealer hits and gets a Ten (equals hard seventeen) Running count: +6
• Dealer must stay(stand) because the table rules are dealer stands on seventeen.
• Next hand you would bet the maximum with a running count at +6, and true count at +4.26 or +4 for simpler reasons.

To practice the hi/lo system take a deck face down and flip one card over at a time.  Use the running count, and go through the whole deck assigning cards with a value.  The deck WILL end with the running count at zero.  Do this until you can do the whole deck in under thirty seconds.  It is strongly recommended to master basic strategy first.  Go to www.blackjackinfo.com to get basic strategy charts for any type of Blackjack game.

Winner winner chicken dinner.

Oobleck

Oobleck is a liquid which when pressure is applied turns into a dancing solid.  This experiment can be made at home in five seconds tops.  First lets look at how to make it, use it, and why oobleck does what it does.

What you need:

1. Cornstarch 2 cups
2. Water 1 cup

• just make sure your cornstarch is double what you have for water.

Experiment Time!:

1. Stir ingredients together.
2. Pour out onto a flat surface, and spread evenly.
3. Place hands over top of oobleck palm down.
4. Arch fingers in with palm still face towards oobleck.
5. Press fingers into oobleck until you hit the flat surface.
6. To make liquid appear to be solid and dance press fingers into oobleck, and out rapidly (fast) with pressure.

Explanation:

The word oobleck originated from Dr. Seuss in his book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”  Oobleck is known as green precipitation in the book.  Oobleck is known as bloop in the United Kingdom.  Oobleck demonstrates the dilatant property of non-Newtonian fluids.  Dilatant is the thickening of a fluid with pressure.  Non-Newtonian fluids is a fluid in which the flow changes with the pressure.

Enjoy.