The basis of all card counting techniques is to focus on examining which cards in are currently in play and which are still in the shoe. It doesn’t matter how many decks a table used, because card counting can still increase your statistical odds against the house. Multiple decks do, of course, decrease the rapidity of expectation of keeping a running count, but the same principles apply regardless.
However, not all counting has to be done by sight. One more subtle way of keeping a running count is via the dealer’s voice. Many casinos will train their dealers to mention the value of the cards as they’re played on the blackjack table as a kind of auditory confirmation of what each player’s hand is.
This helps the card counter in a number of ways. Probably the most important way is that he can appear, at least to the pit bosses and the casino cameras, to be relatively uninterested in the happenings of the table. In truth, a card counter would be keeping a careful count of everything that’s said at every moment in the game. But by being attentive to the power of sound, by being aware of what is being said and when, a card counter can effectively dupe the house by feigning ignorance of the game. Now, it needs to be said that once a card counter starts raking in tidy sums of cash, the casino will take notice. But it’s free play before then, and aim here would be to stay at the table for as long as possible before being asked to leave.
Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs in their book, Knock-Out Blackjack: The East Card-Counting System Ever Devised, suggest that the best way to make use of counting by sound is to first be intentional about locating a dealer who is specific about playing like this. More: they suggest finding a dealer who announces each player’s total after the first two cards and then again after each and every hit for each and every player. After ascertaining the value of the first count dealt to all players, they suggest that the player intentionally direct his attention away from the game. “Look for a cocktail waitress,” they say, “chat while facing the pit boss”, all the while “mentally keeping track of the count based on the dealer’s announcements.”
While it takes some time to mentally adjust your brain to counting according to the dealer’s pronouncements it can, in fact, provide the perfect foil to pit bosses who tend to be excessively prudent about latching onto and subsequently prohibiting a casino’s most costly players.
One of the most important principles, though, of both counting by sight and counting by sound is to avoid that overly stern expression that casinos associate with the face of a counter. Pit bosses are well attuned to spotting players who have a visage of concentration and focus. Do your best to seem relaxed, to be enjoying the game, to be playing randomly. Be amicable, and never ever appear overly confident or proficient in your efforts.
