Shuffle tracking is a strategic tool that can be used in blackjack to help adjust the blackjack card count. While counting cards in blackjack helps a player reduce or eliminate the house edge, one cannot simply resume the card count at the end of the shoe. With card counting, the count changes as cards are revealed. At the end of the shoe, the cards are reshuffled into the shoe. Consequently, there are no cards displayed at the beginning of the shoe. Thus, the count has to be reset at zero. However, when shuffle tracking, a player can place a premium on the card count or discount the card count by visually following cards in the shoe during the shuffle.

When shuffle tracking in optimal conditions, the card count is high or low at the end of the shoe. When the count is extremely high, it suggests that the cards that were not drawn from the shoe are mostly high cards. If the count is extremely low, it suggests that the majority of the cards that were not drawn are low cards. To implement shuffle tracking into the card count, a player simply follows the cards that were not displayed from the blackjack shoe when the dealer begins his shuffle. If you are able to follow the unused cards successfully, you have a good idea as to where these cards are going into the shoe and can adjust the card count accordingly.

For example, suppose you are using the KO count method. At the end of the shoe, your count is -6. This means that the cards that were not displayed consist mostly of lower cards. As the dealer shuffles the cards and begins building the shoe, follow the cards that were not used from the previous blackjack shoe. Pay attention to the dealer’s shuffle as well as the cut. If the cards you were following end up in the front of the shoe, you can start your card count in the negative. In the event these cards are in the middle or the end of the shoe, begin your count at zero, and adjust your count negative as you approach the middle or the end of the deck. Alternatively, you can even start your count out positive and drop it significantly as you approach the area of the shoe that you were tracking, as Shuffle Tracking is a means by which to adjust your card count from one shoe to the next.