Advanced blackjack strategies go beyond basic strategy. They try to use information about the cards still to come, or about the dealer's hidden card, to shift the odds in your favour. Most of them were built for land-based tables with physical shoes, and many do not work in RNG mobile blackjack, which shuffles the deck before every hand. This guide explains each technique, where it can still apply on a phone (mostly at live dealer tables) and the casino rules you need to know.
None of these methods guarantees a win. Blackjack still involves luck, the casino keeps an edge over players who make mistakes, and some casinos restrict players who use these techniques. Read the rules of your casino before you try any of them.
Card counting
Card counting tracks the balance of high and low cards left in the shoe. When more high cards remain, the player has a better chance of blackjack and the dealer is more likely to bust, so you raise your bets. When more low cards remain, you bet less. The method goes back to the mathematician Edward Thorp in the early 1960s.
The Hi-Lo system
Hi-Lo is the most common and simplest counting system:
- Cards 2 to 6: +1
- Cards 7 to 9: 0
- 10s, face cards and aces: −1
- Keep a running count by adding the value of each card as it is dealt.
- Work out the true count by dividing the running count by the number of decks left in the shoe.
- Raise your bets and play more aggressively when the true count is high. Bet the minimum when it is low or negative.
Card counting on mobile
Counting does not work in RNG mobile blackjack, because the software shuffles the cards after every hand and the count resets each round. It can work at live dealer tables that deal from a shoe. Keeping track of cards is not illegal, but casinos can limit or close the accounts of players they suspect of counting, so check the casino's terms first.
Shuffle tracking
Shuffle tracking follows a cluster of cards through the shuffle. If you know where a group of high cards ended up in the new shoe, you can estimate when it will be dealt and bet more just before it arrives.
- Watch the shuffle closely.
- Pick out a cluster of cards worth tracking, usually a run of high cards.
- Estimate where that cluster sits after the shuffle and bet accordingly as it comes up.
On a phone, live tables let you play many hands per hour, and you can follow the game privately. The drawbacks are bigger: RNG games shuffle invisibly, live studios use different shuffle methods and often automatic shufflers, and the camera does not always show the shuffle. Shuffle tracking needs a lot of skill, concentration and practice, and it rarely works on mobile.
Hole carding
Hole carding means getting a look at the dealer's face-down card (the hole card) before you decide how to play. It is only possible in a few situations: when a dealer accidentally exposes the card, or when the game rules show it to you, as in Double Exposure blackjack.
At a land-based table, hole carding relies on dealer errors such as flashing the card while checking for blackjack. In online play, it would rely on a video slip at a live table or a software fault. Neither is something you can plan for.
Hole carding is not illegal in itself, but casinos can refuse service to players who try it, and deliberately exploiting a software error can break a casino's terms. Treat it as a bonus when it happens, not as a strategy.
Playing by hand composition
Basic strategy looks at your hand total. Composition-dependent play also looks at which cards make up that total, and it starts from knowing how hard hands, soft hands and pairs behave:
- Split a pair of 8s. Together they make a hard 16, one of the weakest totals in the game. Two hands starting from 8 do better.
- Split a pair of aces. Two hands starting from an ace each have a strong chance of reaching 21.
- Stand on soft 18 when the dealer shows 2, 7 or 8. Against a dealer 3 to 6, basic strategy doubles where the rules allow, and against a 9, 10 or ace it hits.
Practise these plays with a blackjack strategy chart before you try composition-dependent changes. Some apps include a strategy trainer or calculator that tells you the right move for each hand, which is useful on a phone because you can check a decision without leaving the game.
Wonging
Wonging is named after Stanford Wong, author of Professional Blackjack. You watch a table and keep the count without playing, join only when the count is in your favour and leave when it turns against you.
The idea is the same in every blackjack variant. It limits the hands you play in bad conditions and puts your money on the table when the count is good. It needs a solid grasp of counting and the discipline to leave.
Wonging does not work in RNG mobile blackjack, because each hand is dealt from a freshly shuffled deck. At live tables you can watch a game on your phone before joining, but many live tables restrict mid-shoe entry or have no free seats, and casinos watch for the pattern.
How to add advanced strategies to your game
- Learn basic strategy first. It gives the best decision for every hand against the dealer's upcard and is the base every advanced method builds on. Our guide to blackjack strategies for beginners covers it.
- Study one technique at a time. Understand how it works, where it applies and what it costs before you use it.
- Add techniques gradually. Once basic strategy is automatic, add one advanced method and get comfortable with it before you try another.
- Practise for free. Use demo or practice modes in mobile blackjack games and apps, and keep a strategy chart to hand while you learn.
- Move to real money carefully. When you are ready, pick a mobile casino from our rankings and a blackjack variant whose rules suit your approach.
Know the casino's rules on counting and similar techniques, because breaking them can get you barred from games. Advanced methods also need a bankroll big enough to ride out losing streaks, plus patience and discipline. Set limits before you play and use the tools on our responsible gaming page.
