Card Counting: The HI/LO Technique.

There exists a number of card counting systems in blackjack. The system Hi-Lo was created by Harvey Dubner in 1963, and which was later refined by Julian Braun and Stanford Wong, is today the most simple to learn and the most well known of the card counting techniques.

It is the system of card counting that was used most in the blockbuster film Las Vegas 21 but which was called the Plus/Minus system.

General Principles of Card Counting:
The principle of the card counting technique consists in attributing values (of 1, 0 or -1) to each card which is dealt to all players during a game of blackjack, and to additionally sustain a count- by either adding 1, keeping the score equal, or of subtracting 1- that will help you determine which cards remain in the un-dealt deck and which will give the player the advantage over the house or casino.

Value of Cards in the Hi-Lo System:
The Aces as well as the Face Cards & 10's take a value of -1 in this system.

The cards 7, 8 & 9 each count as 0.

The cards 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 each count as 1.

2, 3, 4 , 5, 6 Count +1

7, 8, 9 Count 0

10, J, Q, K, A Count -1

Practical Example:
After a deck of cards has been shuffled the count begins at 0. The dealer distributes the cards as follows:

5, 7, Ace, 6, 3, 8, Jack.

For each card that is dealt, the count is adjusted as so:

+1 for the 5, 0 for the 7, -1 for the Ace, +1 for the 6, +1 for the 3, 0 for the 8, -1 for the Jack.

So the count proceeds as follows:

+1, +0, -1, +1, +1, +0, -1= +1 (remember you start the count at 0)

The final count, after the completed sequence is +1

Equalised System of Counting:
The Hi-Lo system of card counting is classified as an equalised. There as many +1 as there are -1 in the game, thus in the total count of all 52 cards the value 0 will always be the outcome.

How to Wager?
At the point at which the cards are dealt, the player continues to mentally count the cards that are played and determines thus whether they should wager or not.

The more the total value of the count is raised, in other word if the rate of cards yet to be dealt (10 pointers and Aces) is raised, the more the game turns to the advantage of the player, and therefore it is to the players advantage to wager higher amounts.

If the total value of the count hovers around 0, the deck is neutral and neither the player nor the dealer has a clear advantage over the other.

Finally, if the total value of the count is very weak, this signifies that the player does not really have the advantage over the dealer; the cards which remain in the deck are very weak. It is thus recommended that the player keeps their wagers to a minimum, or else simply quit the blackjack table completely.

During the course of the cards being dealt, the counting of cards becomes more and more precise and the player can augment of diminish their wager amounts and give themselves a greater probability of winning.

Do Not Forget: The Blackjack Strategy is Essential in Order to Play Well:
From time to time, by changing the strategies that you use to play can avert the attention away from the fact that you are practising the card counting technique.

Example 1: If the total of the cards is 2 or more and you have in your hand a ‘Hard 16' (hard signifies that there is no Ace in the hand, or that the Ace can only take a value of 1, because at 11 you would be bust) against the dealer who has a 10 (their visible card), you should stick, contrary to the ‘rules of base' in blackjack.

But, if the deck contains more figures, you will risk going bust a lot more easily in this case, this is why it is preferable to not follow the ‘rules of base' of blackjack and chose to stick.

Example 2: Another example consists of always taking an assurance once the total value of the count reaches 3 or more.

The majority of the time stay faithful to the strategies of base in blackjack and make reference to your count value when you decide whether to increase or decrease your bets, this is the foundation of the card counting technique.

What is the Difference Between Card Counting When a Game of Blackjack Uses a Single Pack of Cards and When the Game Uses Multiple Packs of Cards?
When several packs of cards are in play in a game of blackjack, the card counting varies depending on the number of packs of card being played with.

For example, when a single game is used for blackjack, if the first 6 cards dealt are weak, the total count value will be 6; this is a very favourable position for the player.

If the first 6 cards distributed when the deck contains several packets of cards are weak, then the total count value is still the same, i.e. 6. However, the advantage is not the same since the deck contains more packets of cards, you will therefore need to utilise another system of card counting in order to determine how to place your bets (augmenting them or diminishing them). When a game involves a deck with 6 packs of cards and that the first 6 cards out are weak, the total count per pack remains the same (true value) and in reality is slightly only slightly greater than 1, since there is now only just less than 6 packs of card in play that remain in the deck.

Basically you divide the total count value by the number of packs which are being played in order to establish what the true count value is.

 

 

Card Counting: Introduction. Card Counting: History. Card Counting:Is it Illegal? Card Counting: How is it Detected by Casinos? Card Counting: The MIT Team. Card Counting: An Informal Technique Card Counting: The Hi/Lo Technique