BJ / DEEP CUT / CARD COUNTING

Apologies in advance if I am repeating an often-asked-question. Casinos are making one cut the deck(s) deeper and deeper ; hence more and more cards are not in play. Is it still possible for card-counters to still win  

Most one deck games I see these days are one hand and done on a full table.  So I'd say no in one deck.  If you like playing six deck and counting for 2 hours until you might get in a really good count, you might be able to win.  

It's still possible to win, with the right conditions. A shallow cut makes you wait longer for a favorable count and makes that situation last for a shorter time when it does occur.

  In multi deck games, if one is able to track a group rich in high cards in the discard pile, track the group during the shuffle and cut to the group with the cut card, then one has a better chance to win, IMHO. The single (one) deck game @ El Cortez only deals out 18-20 cards before reshuffleing. I asked a dealer why only that amount and they said it was the policy. For more current blackjack info you can go to --  https://vegasadvantage.com/las-vegas-blackjack/

"Shuffle tracking" is only possible if the dealer shuffles inadequately. Even then, you may have to sit there for quite a while before a favorable situation comes up--at which point, they will change dealers. And if you're not the one given the cut card...

   This statement by you is another lie -""Shuffle tracking" is only possible if the dealer shuffles inadequately.". Blackjack players track clumps all the time, especially in multideck shoes. Dealers shuffle in a predictable manner and observing them allows one to track the cards as they are shuffled. Every good blackjack player knows this. Most casinos have a preferred way they have their dealers shuffle, which is easy to track. No matter who cuts the cards, one is still able to know where the clump of high cards is located and they bet accordingly. When they know that the forthcoming clump is predominately low cards, they bet the minimun. When they note that the high card clumps will be dealt, they increase their bets. This is common knowledge and is done routinely by better blackjack players. It is apparent that you do not know how to play winning blackjack -if you did you would quit posting erroneous information.

Then with your infinite wisdom and boundless knowledge, why aren't you in Vegas, destroying the casinos instead of bleating on an internet forum?

There are thousands and thousands of people out there who think they can beat blackjack and other casino games. The one who actually can do so are a tiny, tiny fraction of that. The others sell books and now and then, post on social media where they insult people who express skepticism and call them liars.

What good is ":knowing" about a clump of high cards if a proper shuffle destroys it? What good is "knowing" about a clump of high cards if it winds up behind the cut card? These are considerations that are never addressed by those who flog "systems" such as shuffle tracking.

Guys, I know very little about blackjack, although I did count a teeny bit 35 years ago. Here's my question -- I follow a couple of alleged card counters who work in LV. They don't really mention anything in the way of shuffle tracking these days. Do people still try to employ it? I almost never hear anything about it.

I am actually curious and would like to know. Is it a real thing today, or this primarily "AP-poser" blather boosting the we-still-win bullshit?

Shuffle tracking was old news when the Pyramids were built. OK, I exaggerate slightly. The reality is that it was an exploitable strategy, about twenty years ago, under certain limited conditions. Thus, some people did make money at it for a while. But it's easily defeated, with the simplest method being thorough shuffling. In fact, one tenet of "how to shuffle," back to the days when blackjack and other card games were played with stone tablets, is that no significant portion of the deck should be left unshuffled. Modern shoe-shuffling methods are taught so that no "clump," as the shuffle trackers put it, remains intact.

I hasten to add that I know all this because while I dealt primarily single and double deck, I was trained on shoes as well, as a large part of what they taught us was a thorough and methodical shuffle. Spent many tedious hours on it, in fact.

Good old-fashioned card counting still works, though shallow cuts (in shoes) have made 1-8 or even 1-10 spreads necessary if you want to make any money, and those attract more heat than ever. And another problem that didn't exist before--since most of the games in Vegas now are unplayable 6:5 shit, those few playable games that remain are watched like a hawk. Used to be you could waltz up to any table in Vegas, spread 1-4, and make money. Now, you need to be hugely bankrolled and an expert at subterfuge.

"Used to be you could waltz up to any table in Vegas, spread 1 - 4, and make money."

Absolutely true. And tons of single and double deck.