I'm no poker expert (not even that good at it really ) but I'm pretty sure counting cards is an extremely difficult system. I'm also pretty sure it involves memorising which cards come out of the deck then figuring out the chances of what the next cards might be and decide whether to fold or bet with the hand you have. I assume it would take a very long time to get right.
basically just remember which cards have been played, calculate odds etc. also try to remember the order of the cards from the previous round and guestimate which cards were dealt to whom. all I know is when I played texas hold em at grad night I started with 200chips and ended with over 4000(then I got tired of it and left, no money was involved)
Remember there are 52 cards in a deck, ace through king (or two through ace, varying on the game you play) and remember which card has been played on the table (which is available to everyone in texas hold 'em), and when the cards are played by friends, if you catch a glimpse of their hand, take those out of the virtual deck in your head. Your percentage to get a certain card you need is based on the remaining cards in the deck. Its not terribly difficult, and its not all this huge difficult string of math you have to remember, it becomes just like making fractions into decimals and vice versa in your head after your used to it.
basicaly you have to be really good at maths and have a very good memory. proffesianl card counters will have a camera on there persons, link up to a team of people who are constantly writing down and calculating the odds, its all about working out the percentage, theres a good example of working out percentages on james bond, casino royal. if you get caught card counting in a casino be prepard to have a good beatin! and a life time ban from most the casinos
i know its extremely difficult to count cards in hold em...but blackjack isn't as hard. Theres a very basic way to assign numbers to cards. like 2-6 is +1 ; 7-9 is 0 ; 10-K is -1 (i forget what Ace is). But basically you add up the numbers for every card you see... so you if you see a Jack, King, 7, and 2...the total number would be +1 ...the higher the number the better chance the dealer will bust and the better chance you have of winning. It gets a lot more in depth than that but thats the basic idea
Card counting is illegal. As soon as you start winning: (1) you're being watched (2) your name/face doesn't just become known to one casino, it becomes known to all casinos (3) you run a fine line between keeping your skin and losing it. Meaning, Semyon and his team went through death threats, being beaten up all kinds of bad, being handcuffed in the notorious back rooms of casinos, being held at gun-point...the list goes on. You are simply not allowed to win in Vegas. If you do, you become a hunted man. The hypocrisy of Vegas casinos in terms of the institution they've established makes me vomit. In my opinion, play poker. Buy the book, Super System and Super System 2 - Doyle Brunson Ace on the River - Barry Greenstein NLHE: Theory and Practice - Sklansky Theory of Poker - Sklansky Poker wisdom of a champion - Brunson Little Green Book - Phil Gordon Deuce on the river - Paul Kemsley Psychology of Poker - Alan N. Schoonmaker Those are just the few ones that are a must read. They will teach you tips and basic knowledge of how to succeed in poker. In poker, you don't card count, it's literally impossible, there's no amount of mathematics formulas that will help you out, it's all about raising, betting, calling, folding, reading opponents, positioning, etc... Don't try to cheat the system because you will always be -EV then. Some online sites that I recommend would be www.pokerinside.com www.cardplayers.com www.liquidpoker.net www.twoplustwo.com www.pokerinsider.com Good Luck at the tables if you are going to play.
