Could this style of counting work?

This might be a stupid question however if you took a deck and counted how many 9-A were dealt out wouldn’t that tell you what percent of high cards are left in the deck opposed to small cards? In a 8 deck shoe there would be 192 high cards 192 small cards leaving out the 8s. Sort of making an 8 a zero card

Quote: Robertc21

This might be a stupid question however if you took a deck and counted how many 9-A were dealt out wouldn’t that tell you what percent of high cards are left in the deck opposed to small cards? In a 8 deck shoe there would be 192 high cards 192 small cards leaving out the 8s. Sort of making an 8 a zero card

Hi Robert and welcome to the forum
Not a totally dumb question.
If you ONLY counted high cards like that, and estimated how many cards had been dealt, then that rolling count would only ever increase. It would be a bit tricky with that partial info to determine when you have an advantage. You could have a secondary count of 7s and 8s and so could calculate back the number of low (2-6) cards.
BUT Hi-lo using 6 low cards and 6 high cards makes keeping a rolling count dead simple. It would bob about from just less than zero to just more than zero. Then it's simple to count, or more reasonably estimate the true count and from that, to judge when you have an advantage. ( which isn't much and isn't often )


In answer to your other question in an article comment, you estimate TC and it's roughly 0.5% less house edge for every 1 of TC. So at TC=2, it's more or less a break even game. At TC>2 you generally have a small edge. The point at which you increase your bet or wong in or out is determined by how aggressive you want to be, how much heat you can get away with and how solid your bankroll is ( considering kelly criterion )
Typically, you might min bet or wong out up to TC=2 and then push out meaningful bets at TC=3 and build towards your max bet at about TC>=4
Different players have different levels of aggression and situations vary. I saw one counter who played min bet (5) till TC=3 then whacked out bets of >100 . He wasn't around long as he stood out like a sore thumb as a card counter.

If you are new to card counting, check out Romes articles, then read posts by Stabworld and Zenking. They'll show it's not an easy road to wealth.

Thank you for your response. I have been practicing using the KO strategy to start with. Just until I get fast enough to switch to hi/lo so I can have a balanced count.

My mother asked me what I was doing and when I explained it to her she said just count only the high cards. That will tell you if there are more left in the shoe or less depending on how many decks have been dealt.
I didn’t think her strategy would work however.

Quote: Robertc21

Thank you for your response. I have been practicing using the KO strategy to start with. Just until I get fast enough to switch to hi/lo so I can have a balanced count.

My mother asked me what I was doing and when I explained it to her she said just count only the high cards. That will tell you if there are more left in the shoe or less depending on how many decks have been dealt.
I didn’t think her strategy would work however.

Hi Your mum was wrong in the sense that a balanced count is far more manageable.
Maybe sign up at an online casino and practice hi-lo at the live dealer tables. It's nice and slow and you don't even need to be playing..

However, I'll tell you now. It's of amusement value only except for THE MOST OBSESSIVELY committed. Card counting for profit is damned hard and slim pickings.