Casino Definition: Negative Deck
There are quite a few gambling-related terms and phrases that are regularly used in the public domain. These when taken literally sound absurd or even silly, but have meanings for those in the know. One such term is the focus of this article. It is used during card games and is called a Negative Deck.
Negative Deck refers to a deck that has been thoroughly analyzed by card counters and found to have a negative value. That is, the advantage in such a deck of cards lies with the dealer/house instead of the player.
When such cards are encountered, savvy players counter by betting as low as possible. This low betting strategy continues until the deck count changes and the odds of success are once again firmly in the court of players.
All About The Negative Deck
All casino games come with a house edge. This ensures that casino operators turn a profit in the long run and motivate the setting up of gambling enterprises. However, most gamblers have a pathological hatred for the house edge wherever it might be and do their utmost to either eliminate it all together through the use of strategies or lessen its effects.
One such strategy that involves reducing the potency of the house edge has to do with card counting. This trick is performed during card games and involves keeping a running count of all the cards that are dealt from a deck. The remaining cards and their odds of appearance are then analyzed and wagers made based on this.
Thus, a card counting practitioner might after a while that the time might be ripe for high-value cards to show up. He/she, therefore, start wagering large amounts. This can either pay off spectacularly or practically bankrupt players.
Card counting is usually performed by giving specific values to all the cards in a deck. These values are then either added to or subtracted as various cards show up during gameplay. Usually, the deck value begins at zero or -4 depending on the card counting system being used and dynamically changes from positive to negative values as gameplay proceeds.
How To Play Negative Decks?
A negative deck has a negative value that is unfavourable to the player. When a deck is negative, the wise course would be to be restrained and avoid making wild or hefty bets. This temporary state of affairs lasts till the deck is judged to be positive, at which point players can resume wagering.
A negative deck is detected through card counting methods and is a temporary state of affairs when the deck favours the house or the casino rather than the player. When this is noticed, players should lower their wagers and adopt a conservative gameplay modem till the odds once again swing back in their favour.