Once you do this you can easily estimate the decks remaining. Start by looking at the shoe and identifying the middle. There are a couple of ways to figure out the number of decks remaining in the shoe. The easiest way to do so is by estimating how many decks are left. With a little bit of practice this is not as hard as it seems. How to Determine the True Countįiguring out the true count only requires basic math skills once you have the running count and a general idea of the number of decks remaining. Just divide the running count by the number of decks still left in play. If you have a +6 after the first round of a game in a 6 deck shoe, the running count is +1 since there are still about 6 decks left. If you have a +6 when you’re halfway through that shoe, then you have 3 decks left and a +2 running count.
Therefore, you should also keep track of the numbers of deck left in play. For example, a running count of +10 is much better if there are 2 decks remaining as opposed to a shoe with 5 decks remaining. Learning how to do this will give you a more accurate picture of how many high cards remain in the blackjack shoe. The true count is very important in many methods of card counting because the card counting strategies described in these methods only present half of the picture. The other half is determining the true count.