Advantage Play Techniques Explained: Card Counting, Edge Sorting, and Legal Methods to Beat the Casino

What Is Advantage Play?

Advantage play refers to legal techniques that give players a mathematical edge over the casino. Unlike cheating—which involves deception, manipulation, or illegal devices—advantage play uses skill, observation, and mathematical analysis to exploit weaknesses in casino games or procedures.

According to research from the University of Nevada Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research, advantage play exists in a legal gray zone: completely legal for players to attempt, yet casinos have the right to exclude anyone they suspect of being too skilled.

Card Counting: The Most Famous Advantage Play Technique

Card counting is the most well-known advantage play method, popularized by Edward Thorp's 1962 groundbreaking book "Beat the Dealer" and later dramatized in movies like "21" and "Rain Man." It exploits a fundamental vulnerability in blackjack: the fact that the composition of remaining cards affects the odds.

Why Card Counting Works

In blackjack, high cards (10, J, Q, K, A) favor the player while low cards (2-6) favor the dealer. When the remaining deck is rich in high cards:

• Blackjacks become more common (paying 3:2)
• Dealer busts more often (must hit to 17)
• Double downs are more effective (higher chance of good cards)
• Insurance becomes profitable when deck is very rich in 10s

The house edge in standard blackjack with basic strategy is about 0.5%. Card counting can swing this to a 0.5-1.5% player advantage when conditions are favorable.

How Card Counting Systems Work

All counting systems assign point values to cards and track a "running count" as cards are dealt:

The Mathematics of Counting Edge

Each +1 in the true count shifts the edge approximately 0.5% toward the player:

The Blackjack Apprenticeship, a leading advantage play training organization, estimates that professional counters maintain an average edge of 1-1.5% when accounting for cover play, heat, and non-ideal conditions.

Shuffle Tracking: An Advanced Extension of Counting

Shuffle tracking takes card counting to another level by following clumps of high or low cards through the shuffle. While counting tracks overall deck composition, shuffle tracking identifies specifically where advantageous cards are located.

How Shuffle Tracking Works

During play, a tracker identifies "slugs"—groups of high or low cards—and mentally notes where they land in the discard tray. By understanding the casino's shuffle procedure, they can predict approximately where these slugs will appear in the new shoe.

Shuffle tracking is far more difficult than counting but can provide larger edges (2-3%+) when conditions align. The technique was extensively studied by Arnold Snyder and documented in his work through the Blackjack Forum.

Edge Sorting: Exploiting Manufacturing Defects

Edge sorting exploits asymmetrical patterns on card backs—a manufacturing defect that allows players to identify card values by their orientation. This technique gained worldwide attention through Phil Ivey's high-profile cases.

The Phil Ivey Cases

In 2012, professional poker player Phil Ivey won approximately $9.6 million at Borgata in Atlantic City and £7.7 million at Crockfords in London playing baccarat. His technique:

Courts ultimately ruled against Ivey. In the UK, the UK Supreme Court found that while edge sorting itself wasn't cheating, Ivey's requests to rotate cards constituted "cheating" under the Gambling Act 2005 because it involved positive deception.

Why Edge Sorting Is Nearly Impossible Today

After the Ivey cases, casinos implemented countermeasures:

• Cards rotated randomly before new shoes
• Automatic shufflers that randomize orientation
• Stricter card manufacturing standards
• Awareness training for dealers
• Refusal of special requests from high rollers

Hole Carding: Seeing the Dealer's Down Card

Hole carding involves legally glimpsing the dealer's face-down card due to sloppy dealing procedures. When successful, it provides one of the largest edges in advantage play—sometimes 6-13% depending on the game.

How Hole Carding Works

Dealers are trained to protect their hole card, but mistakes happen. Hole carders position themselves to catch glimpses during:

• The deal: Some dealers briefly expose cards while sliding them
• Peek for blackjack: Using the hole card reader device can cause exposure
• Card movement: Lifting or shifting the down card

Legal Status of Hole Carding

Hole carding occupies an interesting legal position:

• Generally legal: Using your eyes to observe information is not a crime
• No device usage: Mirrors, phones, or cameras would be illegal
• Passive observation: You cannot manipulate the dealer or use confederates
• Casino's fault: Courts have ruled that dealer error is the casino's responsibility

However, casinos will immediately ban suspected hole carders and may share their information across properties.

Ace Sequencing and Next Card Prediction

Ace sequencing (also called "ace tracking") involves memorizing the cards that precede aces before a shuffle, then recognizing those "key cards" to predict when an ace is coming.

The Value of Knowing an Ace

In blackjack, knowing the next card is an ace provides approximately a 50% edge on that hand. Even being right 25% of the time you think an ace is coming creates substantial profit.

This technique requires exceptional memory and works best with hand-shuffled games—increasingly rare in modern casinos.

Video Poker Advantage Play

Unlike table games, some video poker machines offer positive expected value to skilled players. This represents one of the few opportunities for advantage play without risking casino bans.

Full-Pay Video Poker

Certain pay tables, when played with perfect strategy, return over 100%:

For detailed strategy on these games, see our Video Poker Strategy and Odds Guide.

Progressive Jackpot Hunting

Video poker progressives become positive EV at certain jackpot levels. As documented by the Wizard of Odds, players track progressives across Las Vegas and only play when the meter reaches profitable levels.

For more on how progressives work, see our guide on Progressive Jackpot Mechanics.

Sports Betting Advantage Play

Unlike casino games with fixed house edges, sports betting offers opportunities for skilled bettors to find genuine value through research and analysis.

Closing Line Value (CLV)

The most reliable indicator of a winning sports bettor is consistently beating the closing line—the final odds before a game starts. According to research by betting analytics firm Pinnacle Sports, bettors who consistently beat the close are long-term winners.

Arbitrage Betting

Arbitrage exploits line differences between sportsbooks to guarantee profit regardless of outcome. For a detailed explanation, see our article on Sports Betting Arbitrage.

Why Sportsbooks Limit Winners

Unlike casinos, sportsbooks have no fixed mathematical edge—they profit only from vigorish when action is balanced. Consistently winning bettors threaten their business model, so books:

• Limit maximum bet sizes for sharp bettors
• Close accounts of profitable customers
• Offer worse lines to suspected professionals
• Delay bet acceptance to move lines first

Casino Countermeasures: How They Stop Advantage Players

Casinos invest heavily in detecting and preventing advantage play. Understanding these countermeasures reveals both the effectiveness and limitations of advantage techniques.

Detection Methods

Countermeasures Used Against Counters

• Shuffle up: Shuffling the deck whenever suspected counter increases bets
• Flat betting: Requiring the same bet on every hand
• Backoff: Politely asking player to leave blackjack tables (can still play other games)
• Trespass: Formal ban from the property
• 86 network: Sharing information with affiliated casinos for coordinated bans
• Reduced penetration: Cutting off more cards before shuffling
• Continuous shuffle machines (CSMs): Eliminate counting entirely

The Reality Check: Why Most People Fail at Advantage Play

Despite the mathematical possibilities, very few people successfully profit from advantage play. Understanding the challenges provides realistic expectations.

As our Casino Myths and Gambling Fallacies article explains, many supposed "advantage play" techniques promoted online are actually worthless—only the methods covered here have legitimate mathematical foundations.

Ethical Considerations

Advantage play raises interesting ethical questions that players should consider:

Why Casinos Don't Like This Information

You might wonder: if advantage play is so difficult and rare, why do casinos care about articles like this one?

The answer connects to the broader economics of gambling explained in our How Casinos Make Money article. Even a small percentage of skilled players creates:

• Direct losses: Even 0.01% of players beating the game costs millions annually
• Countermeasure costs: Training, technology, and surveillance are expensive
• Game changes: CSMs and reduced penetration hurt even casual players
• Perception issues: If games can be beaten, the "house always wins" narrative weakens

This is why casinos lobby for laws against advantage play (largely unsuccessfully) and invest heavily in countermeasures.