When is it prudent to put card counting aside in favor of a more substantial method of deck “reading” to result in a higher return? Those who swear by “clumping” would say this method trumps all others every time.
And what is clumping? Well that would be the notion that high cards “clump” together, and that every few shuffles the higher cards begin to clump together in the deck. If there’s a high shuffle point, the more the cards are shuffled, the more pronounced these clumps will become until the dealer changes his or her shuffle technique.
Obviously, this technique does not work when you are playing online black jack, but when you are playing live black jack – taking a risk on when you think one of these clumps is about to hit can yield some major results. But how reliable a shuffle characteristic is clumping? Enthusiasts show conclusive evidence that it can be trusted, with the basis that clumping occurs as a result of the way cards are placed in the discard shoe after they’ve been played.
Example: most of the time, someone at the table will initially hit their hand that consists of two lower value cards, thus risking a bust. The dealer then puts the cards back into the deck. When more than one player follows this path, a clump of low value cards is created in the discard. Likewise, players will often stand when a dealt hand is high enough. Since these hands are gathered together at the end of the hand, a clump of high-value cards is created as well.
Eventually, even through shuffling, these clumps sustain themselves in the deck, and players can take advantage when they see one come up. In order for this theory to hold water, though, it greatly helps to have a full table of players, since the more high-card hands that are collected together would mean the larger the clump on the other end of the shoe.
This is actually an instance, if you’re following and relying on hitting a clump as strategy, where it does matter what the other players do. You want them following the basic blackjack strategy of their hand-held charts. If they do, it creates the scenario of high cards described above, and thus leading to the clumps. If they don’t, the cards have a higher probability of remaining randomized, and thus hurting your chances.