<P> The most common variations of card counting in blackjack are based on statistical evidence that high cards (especially aces and 10s) benefit the player more than the dealer, while the low cards, (3s, 4s, 6s, and especially 5s) help the dealer while hurting the player . A high concentration of aces and 10s in the deck increases the player's chances of hitting a natural Blackjack, which pays out 3: 2 (unless the dealer also has blackjack). Also, when the shoe has a high concentration of 10s, players have a better chance of winning when doubling . Low cards benefit the dealer, since according to blackjack rules the dealer must hit stiff hands (12 - 16 total) while the player has the option to hit or stand . Thus a dealer holding (12 - 16) will bust every time if the next card drawn is a 10, making this card essential to track when card counting . </P> <P> Contrary to the popular myth, card counters do not need unusual mental abilities to count cards, because they are not tracking and memorizing specific cards . Instead, card counters assign a point score to each card they see that estimates the value of that card, and then they track the sum of these values--a process called keeping a "running count ." The myth that counters keep track of every card was portrayed in the 1988 film Rain Man, in which the savant character Raymond Babbitt counts through six decks with ease and a casino employee erroneously comments that it is impossible to count six decks . </P> <P> Basic card counting assigns a positive, negative, or zero value to each card value available . When a card of that value is dealt, the count is adjusted by that card's counting value . Low cards increase the count as they increase the percentage of high cards in the remaining set of cards, while high cards decrease it for the opposite reason . For instance, the Hi - Lo system subtracts one for each dealt 10, Jack, Queen, King or Ace, and adds one for any value 2 - 6 . Values 7 - 9 are assigned a value of zero and therefore do not affect the count . </P> <P> The goal of a card counting system is to assign point values that roughly correlate to a card's Effect of Removal (EOR). The EOR is the actual effect of removing a given card from play, and the resulting impact on the house advantage . The player may gauge the effect of removal for all cards dealt, and assess the current house advantage of a game based on the remaining cards . As larger ratios between point values are used to create better correlation to actual EOR with the goal of increasing the efficiency of a system, such systems use more different numbers and are broken into classes depending on such as level 1, level 2, level 3, and so on, with regard to the ratio between the highest and lowest assigned point values . </P>

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