So Step 1 was over. I know my basic strategy. It was time for Step 2 - learning how to count cards. I have briefly explained the counting system I first learnt in the previous post.

Now, it had only taken me a couple of hours to learn Basic Strategy. Memorising the chart was pretty simple and playing a few dummy hands to test my knowledege was pretty easy too. But counting cards looked a bit more difficult. I got the old DVD out again (Beating BlackJack with Andy Bloch), and ran through the section on how to count cards.

This part of the DVD is great. The instructional bit on how to count cards is priceless. You watch, follow along, and learn how to count cards. +1, -1, +1. +1, +1, -1. The count is 2! Wow, this is easier than I thought (funny how the count on the instructional DVD is always positive). The first couple of times I ran through the DVD, I found it hard to keep up with him. Assigning numbers to other numbers and counting them is a tricky skill to learn, but after a little practice you do start to get the hang of it.

Of course as any counter knows, being able to add and subtract is not enough. You need to be able to do it in pairs, do it at speed and do it accurately! Being off by 1 is not going to hurt you overall, but if you're off the count by anymore than that - you're in trouble!

It was at this point I realised that I didn't have any playing cards to practice with. Doh! So I went out and got some at $3 a pack and started on some easy drills.

Drill 1 - Counting down a deck.
In the movie 21, there's a scene where he counts down a deck on a plane. I finally know what he's doing now!
The Hi-Lo system is a balanced system. This means that there is an even number of positive and negative cards in the deck, so that by the end of the deck you should always end up with zero. And that's what I did. I counted the deck down a few times until I confidently hit zero three times in a row. Man, I'm ready to go play now - I can count, I know basic strategy - I'm ready to win some money!

Drill 2 - Counting in pairs
On the Andy Bloch DVD - he points out that in casinos you get dealt cards in twos, so you should be counting in twos. It makes it less obvious that you're counting and you should be more efficient too.
So I sat there for an hour dealing myself three hands at a time and counting down 4 decks. I always came out at 0, or if I was off, I was only off by 1.

I'm pretty good at this counting stuff, eh? At least I thought I was.
As I was soon to find out, counting in the comfort and privacy of your home at a nice slow speed is not the same as doing it in a noisy, public environment.

Next post, I test to check if counting cards works
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/testing-system.html

Step 2 to becoming a card counter is learning how to count cards.
There is a common misconception that you need to be some sort of genius to be able to count cards. I mean, keeping track of all the cards already being played to figure out what cards are left in the deck? Who can do that?

Well I'm here to tell you that counting cards is easy. Anyone can do it with a little practice.
Back in the movie '21', you may have remembered they used a secret code to tell the new player what the count was. Instead of 16, they would say 'sweet', or instead of 14, they would say 'chair'. The code itself is not important, it is the numbers that are important.

So what have these numbers got to do with counting? Everything. Let's face it you have to be super human to be able to keep track of every single card shoe after shoe. So counters don't keep track of every card, but assign values to each card and keep a running count.

There are in fact many different types of counting methods, Zen, Hi-Lo, Red-Seven, KO, Mentor, Kisses and many more. There's also balanced counts and unbalanced counts. But let's keep it simple for now and stuck to the popular Hi-Lo system. This is the one I started on and the one I'll be using for quite some time. In fact, most counters don't ever move beyond Hi-Lo. It's easy to use and does the job.

What is Hi-Lo
The Hi-Lo system is a balanced count system. It is simple to learn and decently efficient to use. In the Hi-Lo system, you assign the value of 1, 0 or -1 to each card as so:

Face Value Count Value
2,3,4,5,6 1
7,8,9 0
10,J,Q,K,A -1

This means that every time you see a 2, you add 1 to the running count. if you see a 10, you subtract 1. If you see a 7,8 or 9, you ignore the card as if it wasn't there.

And that's the Hi-Lo counting system. You start from a count of 0 at the beginning of the shoe and keep a running count as each card is dealt. Of course there's more to it than that, but this is sufficient to know for now.

Read on in the next post:
http://confessionsofacardcounter.blogspot.com/2008/12/learning-to-count-cards.html