Math Honor Society Essay
Statistics is a major component of card counting. To be successful with card counting, one must use statistics to determine the probability of winning. This is proven true by the MIT blackjack team. The team counts cards at casinos and uses statistics to increase its odds of beating the house. Statistics correlates to card counting as proven by the MIT blackjack team.
In order to understand the correlation, one must first understand statistics. Statistics is a branch of math focused on collecting and interpreting many forms of data (anonymous). In statistics, the data accumulated is used to draw conclusions (Davidian and Louis). Statistics is used in many real life situations today, including card counting.
Card counting is a strategy utilized to determine if a hand will yield a probable advantage to either the player or the dealer (anonymous). It is a complex system that has many levels of difficulty. However, the high-low system is the most rudimentary and simplest used in blackjack (Mezrech, 40). The high-low system, or basic card counting system, is when a positive, a negative, and a zero point value are assigned to each card value available (anonymous). Low cards increase the count while high cards do the opposite and decrease the count (anonymous). The reasoning behind this is that as low cards are removed from the deck, the percentage of high cards left in the deck increases and the opposite occurs for the high cards. The effect that each card has is referred to as the effect of removal because it has an effect on the advantage a player has over the house once removed (anonymous). This system of card counting was used by the MIT blackjack team to beat the system.
MIT used basic high-low card counting with its own additions and interpretations to have an edge over the house. The MIT students advanced the basic system by dividing the work. Unlike the basic system where one person did it all, the counting and betting, MIT’s system had three people. The
In order to understand the correlation, one must first understand statistics. Statistics is a branch of math focused on collecting and interpreting many forms of data (anonymous). In statistics, the data accumulated is used to draw conclusions (Davidian and Louis). Statistics is used in many real life situations today, including card counting.
Card counting is a strategy utilized to determine if a hand will yield a probable advantage to either the player or the dealer (anonymous). It is a complex system that has many levels of difficulty. However, the high-low system is the most rudimentary and simplest used in blackjack (Mezrech, 40). The high-low system, or basic card counting system, is when a positive, a negative, and a zero point value are assigned to each card value available (anonymous). Low cards increase the count while high cards do the opposite and decrease the count (anonymous). The reasoning behind this is that as low cards are removed from the deck, the percentage of high cards left in the deck increases and the opposite occurs for the high cards. The effect that each card has is referred to as the effect of removal because it has an effect on the advantage a player has over the house once removed (anonymous). This system of card counting was used by the MIT blackjack team to beat the system.
MIT used basic high-low card counting with its own additions and interpretations to have an edge over the house. The MIT students advanced the basic system by dividing the work. Unlike the basic system where one person did it all, the counting and betting, MIT’s system had three people. The