Basic card counting assigns a positive, negative, or zero value to each card value available. When a card of that value is dealt, the count is adjusted by that card’s counting value. Low cards increase the count as they increase the percentage of high cards in the remaining shoe, while high cards decrease it for the opposite reason. For instance, the Hi-Lo system subtracts one for each dealt ten, Jack, Queen, King or Ace, and adds one for any value 2-6. Values 7-9 are assigned a value of zero and therefore do not affect the count.

The goal of a card counting system is to assign point values that roughly correlate to a card’s Effect of Removal (EOR) which is the actual effect one single card has on the house advantage of a game when removed from play so that the player may then gauge the effect of removal for all cards dealt and assess the altered house advantage of the game based on a new composition of cards. As larger ratios between point values are used to create better correlation to actual EOR with the goal of increasing the efficiency of a system, such systems use larger and larger numbers and are broken into classes such as level 1, level 2, level 3 level 4 etc., with regards to the ratio between the highest and lowest assigned point values.

The High-Low system is considered a single-level or level-one count, because the count never increases or decreases by more than a single, predetermined value. A multilevelcount, such as Zen Count or Wong Halves, makes finer distinctions between card values to gain greater play accuracy. Rather than all cards having a value of +1, 0, or −1, an advanced count might also include card ranks that are counted as +2 and −2, or +0.5. Advanced players might additionally maintain a side count (separate count) of specific cards, such as a side count Aces, to deal with situations where the best count for betting accuracy differs from the best count for playing accuracy.

Many side count techniques exist including special-purpose counts used when attacking games with nonstandard profitable-play options such as an over/under side bet.

The disadvantage of higher-level counts is that keeping track of more information can detract from the ability to play quickly and accurately. A card-counter might earn more money by playing a simple count quickly—more hands per hour played—than by playing a complex count slowly.

The following table illustrates a few ranking systems for card counting. Many others exist.

Card Strategy 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, J, Q, K A
Hi-Lo +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 0 0 0 −1 −1
Hi-Opt I 0 +1 +1 +1 +1 0 0 0 −1 0
Hi-Opt II +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 +1 0 0 −2 0
KO +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 0 0 −1 −1
Omega II +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +1 0 −1 −2 0
Zen Count +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +1 0 0 −2 −1

The KO Strategy was first introduced in 1992 as the “All Sevens” count in The Book of British Blackjack.

 

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