The act of card counting itself is relatively easy. Plus one, minus one, zero… child’s play right? Wrong.
As any professional blackjack player will tell you, the difficulty isn’t counting the cards, but remembering the count. This is what separates the hacks from the pros.
Take it from me, I always used to forget the count, especially after playing for long periods of time. I would have it in my head, and by the time the dealer had paid out, the number was gone. Oops…
Sort of defeats the purpose of counting cards, don’t you think?
I will now share a trick with you that will guarantee much better success than I had starting out. The following words go along with the count, memorize them and you will never lose focus again.
+1 = Tree (one trunk)
+2 = Switch (two modes, on and off)
+3 = Stool (three legs)
+4 = Car (four wheels)
+5 = Glove (five fingers)
+6 = Gun (six rounds)
+7 = Craps (roll a seven and its craps)
+8 = Pool (the black 8 ball)
+9 = Cat (cat has nine lives)
+10 = Bowling (ten pins)
+11 = Football (eleven players on the field for each team)
+12 = Eggs (dozen eggs in a carton)
+13 = Witch (Friday 13th, unlucky 13, etc)
+14 = Ring (14k gold)
+15 = Paycheck (15th and 30th of every month)
+16 = Sweet (sweet 16)
+17 = Magazine (the magazine “Seventeen”)
+18 = Voting booth (18 to vote)
Try saying a sentence to yourself after each hand (not out loud of course or you will look like a weirdo). For instance, if you have a count of +4 you could say, “I need to get my car washed this week”. Get what I’m saying? One sentence is all you need to make it stick.
If the count is negative, the words stay the same, just keep in mind whether you are plus or minus and you’ll be just fine.
Practice, and you will see a sharp improvement in your card counting abilities. I highly recommend the Zen Count if you are looking to learn a new system as it has very high effectiveness. That being said, have fun and good luck at the tables!