The Card Counting

Free card counting practice for every game with an edge. Blackjack, Spanish 21, Hearts, Poker, Spades, Euchre, Bridge & Gin Rummy. No download needed. 🎴

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

This is the drill: the shoe deals, you keep the count, it checks you at random. 2–6 = +1, 7–9 = 0, 10–A = −1.

Free, in the browser: https://t.co/iUz1rmjlB2

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #42 🂡
You: A♥ 7♣ (soft 18)
Dealer shows: 9♦
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Eighteen isn't a made hand. It just dresses like one.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

STAND.
Hitting 12 busts ~31% of the time on the spot, and the hands you do make still lose to any dealer 17 — you're paying to fix a hand that isn't broken.
A dealer 4 breaks ~40% of the time, so standing collects that bust for free; the edge is only about a third of a cent per dollar, but free is free.
0 votes on this one. Nobody wanted their name on it, which is probably the most honest answer the timeline has ever given me.
Drill it until it's boring: https://t.co/ihtWqy5iFx

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #41 🂡
You: 8♠ 4♦ (12)
Dealer shows: 4♥
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Twelve feels unfinished. The four is counting on that.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

STAND.
18 already beats the dealer's most likely finish of 17, so splitting spends a second bet to break up a winner.
Nines split against 2-6 and 8-9 because 18 isn't good enough there; against a 7 it is - that's the whole exception.
100% of you stood. The crowd gets paid today.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #40 🂡
You: 9♠ 9♥ (18)
Dealer shows: 7♦
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Nines split against almost everything. Almost.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

DOUBLE.
Soft 14 can't bust on one card, so against a 5 the second unit is close to free — you're pressing a hand that can only improve.
The 5 busts ~42% of the time, so most of the profit comes from her breaking, not from your total; standing collects the same pots at half the size.
50% of you stood. That's a donation with extra steps.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #39 🂡
You: A♦ 3♣ (soft 14)
Dealer shows: 5♠
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Fourteen doesn't look like a doubling hand. That's the trick.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

DOUBLE.
Soft 19 wins on its own, but a dealer 6 busts ~42% and hitting soft 17 only makes her hand worse, so the money is in the extra unit, not the extra safety.
A-8 literally cannot bust on one card, so you're buying that bet risk-free; standing wins the same hand for half the payout.
0 votes, which is the one wrong answer that's free. The next one won't be.
Drill it until it's boring: https://t.co/ihtWqy5iFx

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #38 🂡
You: A♥ 8♠ (19)
Dealer shows: 6♦
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Nineteen feels finished. It isn't.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

STAND.
13 v 2 busts ~39% if you draw, and you're not drawing to a winner — you're drawing to 17 at best. The deuce is the dealer's weakest up card.
Standing cashes in her ~35% bust rate for free; hitting pays for the same outcome, and doubling pays for it twice.
0% of you stood. 50% hit, 50% doubled a hard 13 — that one isn't a play, it's a tip.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #37 🂡
You: 9♣ 4♦ (13)
Dealer shows: 2♥
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Weak card, weak hand. Somebody has to blink first.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

DOUBLE.
Basic strategy hits this because at a neutral count a second unit on a hard 10 against a ten-value card barely breaks even.
At TC +4 the shoe is stuffed with tens: your 10 makes 20 far more often and the dealer stiffs more often, so the extra unit finally gets paid.
0 votes on this one. The crowd folded before the shoe did.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #36 🂡
Advanced — you're counting, TC is +4.
You: 6♥ 4♠ (10)
Dealer shows: 10♦
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

At zero this hand is easy. At +4 it stops being easy.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

HIT.
15 v 10 is a loser either way — standing gives up about 58 cents on the dollar, hitting about 54. You're not picking a winner, you're picking the smaller loss.
A dealer 10 busts barely one hand in five, so standing pays full price for a bust that rarely shows up; hitting at least lets a 4, 5 or 6 rescue you.
Zero votes, so zero donations — the most profitable day this crowd has ever had.
Drill it until it's boring: https://t.co/ihtWqy5iFx

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #35 🂡
You: 9♣ 6♦ (15)
Dealer shows: 10♠
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

No surrender means no exit. Pick the cheapest way to be wrong.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

STAND.
Splitting tens trades the second-best hand in the game for two hands that start at 10 — you're giving up ~85% equity to chase a maybe.
The 6 busts about 42% of the time, and the other 58% she still has to beat a 20. Almost nothing does.
100% of you stood. One vote, zero donations — statistically the finest crowd this poll has ever had.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #34 🂡
You: 10♦ 10♠ (20)
Dealer shows: 6♥
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

A weak dealer makes people greedy. Greed has a price.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

HIT.
Splitting 3s only pays when the dealer is weak enough to bust into two hands — an 8 busts about a quarter of the time, so you'd just be funding two bad hands instead of one.
Hard 6 can't bust, so hitting is free: you take cards until you have something that can actually beat a dealer 18.
Zero votes yesterday. Nobody wrong, nobody right, nobody paid — the only push this account has ever produced.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #33 🂡
You: 3♠ 3♦ (6)
Dealer shows: 8♣
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Splitting feels like action. Action isn't edge.

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

DOUBLE.
Standing on soft 17 is the trap: 17 is the total dealers beat most often, and a hand that can't bust has no reason to stop drawing.
A dealer 4 busts ~40% of the time, so you want MORE money out there, not less — hitting keeps you alive, doubling gets paid.
100% of you doubled. One voter, correct, and apparently the only person awake.
Drill it until it's boring: https://t.co/ihtWqy5iFx

[The Card Counting @TheCardCounting]

Daily Hand #32 🂡
You: A♥ 6♣ (soft 17)
Dealer shows: 4♦
(6 decks · dealer hits soft 17 · double any 2 · DAS · no surrender)
What's the play?

Seventeen isn't a made hand. It's a rumor.