Counting With Multiple Spots In Play

[Bluest]

Hey everyone. I wanted to ask you pros about counting with multiple players at a table. I am getting better at counting with the BJA iPhone training app, dealing to myself at home (2 deck or 6 deck shoe) and with my girlfriend on weekends. However, I deal two spots to myself at a time, plus the dealer. That's a total of three spots I guess, but I have not tried with like, four or five players live at a table. Isn't that a lot more difficult?

Thanks so much for any replies.

 

[johndoe]

No. You just practice enough and the counting becomes trivial. One technique that some people use is to count in pairs of cards, rather than single cards. It follows the dealing more naturally, and allows cards to "cancel" each other out often. It needs to be so easy for you that it's impossible to make a mistake.

 

[Bluest]

Okay. I always practice two at a time, so that's already done. I should just start dealing three and four spots at home then, and get used to it.

 

[MrFatCat]

If you aren't drilling single decks in your hands, it's one of the best practice routines for airplanes (since you can hold all of the cards in your hands/don't have to put cards onto the tray tables so they can fall off):

Flip over two cards at a time from a single deck, count until the stub has about 6 left, confirm your count. Repeat for flipping 3-6 at a time. Try to go as fast as you can; I think it should take under half a minute and the real reason it should be slow is the mechanics of moving the cards, not because you're having trouble keeping up counting.

 

[Bluest]

Excellent, will do. Thank you. I have also been watching live blackjack (whether or not they are legit games, not really relevant for this purpose), and as the cards come out for multiple spots, counting at casino dealer's speed.