Learning to Count Cards
I will use the Hi-Lo system to discus how to learn to count. My advice is to read this because the technique of learning is the same for almost any plus-minus type of system. The Level One systems are easiest to learn. The more complex the level, the harder it will be to learn, and the more time it will take to master. Still, some of the Level Two systems are so accurate, you may choose one of these.
Once you have picked your system, your first job is to learn the assigned value for each card. The Hi-Lo system assigns the following values:
Card 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A
Value 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 -1 -1
It will only take a little while to learn these values. The reason the small cards are assigned a positive number is because the effect of removal is positive for the player. There are, therefore, more large cards remaining to be played so the player has the advantage. It stands to reason that the large cards are negative because it is negative for the player to see them come out, and the effects of removal are negative values. This means there are fewer of them left to be played in the remaining cards, so the house has the advantage.
Once you have learned the values, take a complete, freshly shuffled deck of cards and turn them over. Now deal the cards one at a time and, as you see a card, say to yourself the value of that card. Go all the way through the deck, shuffle well and repeat this procedure. Be slow and accurate. You want to recognize the card and immediately know its value. Do this as many times as it takes to have 100% accuracy.
Once you are sure you are making zero mistakes, time yourself with a stopwatch or clock with a second hand. Let's say it took you exactly one minute. That’s not bad. From now on, work on your speed. You want to work on your speed here and it will pay off later as you put it all together. As you perform this exercise you will naturally get faster. Your brain is going to see the card and immediately recognize its value. Another thing your brain will do is automatically recognize a card as less than the top card of your plus group. If the 6 is the highest +1 card, your brain will see any 5, any 4, any 3, or any 2 as a plus one. You will not really have to know the number, but simply that it is less than 6, and your brain will do this automatically.
You will be able to get your speed to about 40 seconds or so. That is good enough for this exercise. Just to physically count down the cards takes about 25 seconds, so you aren’t that much longer and you are assigning a value to each. Once you have achieved this with accuracy, you are ready to go to the next step.
The next step is to keep a running count of the cards. Now be prepared – this is going to slow you up again. Don’t worry about that. Earlier I demonstrated the way a count was done and how you carry it over from hand to hand. In this exercise you are going to add the values of each card together, keeping a total as you go.
Take a freshly shuffled deck and begin just as before. When you see the first card, assign its value, then look at the next card and add the value to the prior one. Now, keeping that total fresh in your mind, look at the third card. Again, add this value to the sum of the first two cards. You are going to do this all the way through the deck. Once you reach the end of the deck, you should have a running count of zero. If you do not, you have made a mistake. A balanced count, which is what you are learning right now, will always total up to be zero. If it doesn’t, a mistake was made.
Without worrying about speed, practice this exercise until you are comfortable that you are always accurate. Just as before, time yourself. Now you know what your maximum time will be. Continue to practice this exercise, increasing your speed. As you improve, you will get your time down to about 45 seconds and with 100% accuracy. You can take each card and throw it down in a pile, but to speed yourself up, simply take the card from the deck in your left hand to your right hand. This will speed up your count, perhaps by five seconds or so.
Next you want to take the cards in pairs. This is actually how you are going to see most of the cards you count. Starting with the deck in your left hand, slide off two cards so you can see both cards’ denomination. Now count both cards in one step. This is a technique which is the final speed builder – cancellation.
Pairs of cards will often cancel each other out. An example would be a ten-6. The ten is -1, and the 6 is a +1. Totaled together they equal zero, so the running count is unaffected when you see a canceling pair. Each system will have canceling pairs, and after a little while they will become obvious to you. As you see a canceling pair, your brain will automatically ignore them and you will mentally repeat the last count. By using cancellation, you will be able to count down a deck of cards in about 25 to 35 seconds. Considering how many cards are played in a round (seldom more than half a deck), this should leave you with enough time to determine if insurance is a good bet, what to wager on the next hand, and maybe think about some playing options for the current count. With a full table, a hand per minute is about average. With fewer players, the hands speed up, but the number of cards also decreases.
