Blackjack players, like other casino game players such as Roulette, Poker, Bingo, Slot Games etc, try to find ways to lower the house advantage.  This is the purpose of playing according to the basic strategy. Some players go further than that and count cards.  Card counting doesn’t meaning counting every card, especially when the game is played with six or eight decks.  But there are various techniques that allow the player to keep track of high and low cards so they have an idea of whether the deck is favorable to the player or not.  A deck is considered favorable to the player when it contains many face cards.  This means the players has paid attention to the fact that mostly low cards have been played. With informal card counting, the player is basically paying attention to what cards have and haven’t been played. The player may notice that the last several hands have had few ten value cards.  He may want to increase his wager on the next handle, figuring that the high cards will start showing and the next hand will be favorable to the player.

This method is not really card counting.  It is just watching when the cards seem to be low or high.  The player is basically figuring when a few cards in the deck will be favorable and basing his wagering on that. Paying attention to the cards is something that every player should do.  The player is not really card counting but he is gaining a little advantage by trying to figure out when the round will be favorable to the player.