You may have heard of the wonders of deck penetration and how it can be used to improve your edge against the casino when playing blackjack. However, with so many strategies and buzzwords flying around the casinos, you may not have had chance to investigate this method fully. So, will learning deck penetration help your game? And if so, how do you get started?
Deck penetration is obviously easier with blackjack games that use a single deck, as there are only 52 cards to consider. However, the majority of casinos offer six or eight deck blackjack games, where it is more difficult to apply. Deck penetration is meant to give players an increased edge. It is used to inform players what cards are left in the deck so that they can use this information to help inform their decisions.
However, deck penetration will not give any further assistance to the regular blackjack player. Regular players are advised to stick to basic blackjack strategy to achieve the best possible results. The reason behind this is that it only a useful technique for players who can count cards. Card counters can memorise the cards that have been used, and use this totheir advantage.
When it comes to online blackjack, the deck penetration system is completely flawed. Card counting is not possible online as all operators use a random number generator (RNG) for their results. This means the results always remain random and so they can not be tracked. No pattern can be formulated, even with the single deck versions that are on offer.
Deck penetration, therefore, is only successful for card counters in a live blackjack environment, and even then it is a limited strategic tool. If you want to up your game then the place to start is with basic strategy. You should master and memorise basic blackjack strategy to lessen mistakes and use this alongside strict time and money management strategies to improve your chances of winning.
