Perhaps, one of the most important and famous points about the game of Blackjack is the card counting strategy. And in particular, the problem of legality of card counting.

Card-counting when used wisely can be a very strong tool in beating the casino and may lead to major loss for the gambling house. That is why casinos do everything they can in order to stop and prevent card-counting. One of the most popular ways to eliminate card-counting is to use multiple decks of cards that are dealt from a blackjack shoe (special box that shuffles the cards all the times).

According to almost all US jurisdictions, card counting as a strategy is legal. However, casinos are a private property and the owners preserve the right to ban particular players that were suspected in card-counting. This is the reason why players are advised to conceal the fact they are counting cards and not to show it in any way.

There are also special systems applied to detect card-counters. Each casino hall has special “pit bosses” that use the video surveillance, computer analysis, psychologies and detectives from various agencies to tell card-counters from other players. In addition, there is a special database that contains photos of playes caught in card-counting which makes detecting card-counters much easier.

Furthermore, casinos apply shuffling systems that track the cards in the deck, count player’s edge and write down all the bets to see whether there is a regularity. This system takes track of all the errors made while the player Doubles Down or Splits and plays according to the count in the deck.