I never really understood the secret of counting cards until I came across some tips the other day in a magazine.

Here's the general idea if you are playing black jack you start counting in your head by beginning with Zero.

As cards are flopped by everyone at the table, you assign a positive or negative value to the card.

ten's or face card each receive a negative one

any card from 2 through the number six gets a plus one.

As you go through the deck if the count goes negative then more high cards have been dealt. If the number go positive, then there are more high cards left to be dealt.

This can then help you assess your bets and the odds of brining in the cards you are looking for.

Now in Vegas if you count card, the house is going to figure it out by watching you with the eye in the sky, especially if you go at it as a newbie.

However, you can practice this playing online poker. You can go to VegasPokerPro and find a number of great online poker sites. You can check out their Freeroll or you can play some FreePoker without spending real money, its just plain fun.

VegasPokerPro has a great Poker Forum for discussions with other players and some great Poker Pro Blogs.

My personal preference for Texas hold em' is Party Poker, which you can sign up for at VegasPokerPro for free. You can find a number of other great tips and strategies at VegasPokerPro also. They have a great directory of blogs on poker in case that's not enough information as well!