For Big Player and other intelligent players!

An early thanks to anyone who helps me out!

I am new to blackjack and would like to get your advice on which system to learn. I have considered both single and multi-level counts, and have not bitten the bullet on one of these systems yet. I would like to play mostly single and double-deck, but a good shoe system is important of course. I am currently looking at Hi-Lo, Wong Halves, Hi-opt II, KO preffered, and AO II! An obvious range of difficulties and complexities.

I would preferably like to stay with one system and continually improve at that system, but once again I am inexperienced and have no 'real-time' gauge for the difficulties in using these counts. My bankroll is sufficient to bet black chips as my minimum bet, so a count that really works well with a larger spread would be great. My research has shown that Hi-opt II with all the works is the strongest system, but difficult to implement. Should I begin with the easiest system, KO? Or should I jump right into the more difficult systems. I am currently leaning to Wong Halves, is this a good decision for a newcomer? I look forward to your responses.

Speculator

decide to learn is dependent on the part of the country you live in and the games you'll be mostly playing. If you live in Reno or near Tunica you'll be playing a lot of single deck in which case I strongly recommend a two level count like Zen, AO2, or HiOpt-2...the added win rate is worth the effort.

If you're living in Vegas or mostly playing shoes then KO, HiLo, is just fine.

I am really starting to come around to the power of Zen as it is fairly easy at both shoes and effective at single deck. Personally, I use Zen for shoes and A02 with the Ace sidecount for single and double deck and use one set of index numbers for both counts.

Personally, I think you should select the best system you can get your brain to work with and just stick with it. I don't recommend KO for hand helds...just not strong enough.

In the end, it is a personal choice. Ian Andersen, for example, uses HiOpt-1 for handhelds and HiLo for shoes.

if you succeed, in 10 years you can work your way to making minimum bets of black.

There are only a handful of intelligent players that still visit the free pages.

Since you are new to blackjack, making $100 minimum bets is not a very intelligent choice.

The most important decision you will make at the table is how you bet your money. For this reason I recommend that you start with an uncomplicated, ace-included count, meaning Dubner High-Low or Uston High-Low. This will give you experience at the table and will allow you to be a winning player from the start. Attempting to begin your career with a complex count, especially one that requires a seperate count of aces, may be frustrating and expensive.

I learned card counting from Revere's textbook Playing Blackjack as a Business. The advice in the above paragraph is his advice and it is just as valid today as when he wrote it. I recommend that you read and reflect upon both Revere's book and Uston's Million Dollar Blackjack. Be aware that Revere's betting advise is overly optimistic, but his boot camp approach to preparation is entirely appropriate.

I have no experience using unbalanced counts, but their rationale of obviating the need to determine a true count is lost on me as I find normalizing the running count to be no challenge.

Your ultimate choice will be based upon the types of games you expect to play and your facility to handle the complexity of multi-level tags and seperate rank counts. And without the personal experience in the casino you cannot have a basis for determining which count system fits you best.

FWIW, I use the same two level, ace-exluded count, HO2, in all games with indices I excruiatingly derived with SBA. It gives me betting correlation between the RPC and Halves, high insurance correlation, and very high playing efficiency. But the first count system I played was the Simple Plus Minus from Revere's book.

I would start with High Low first. Get the feel of that count and playing BJ before you do anything else. You may find it is not the game for you and move on. If you stick with it it is rather easy to count 4 n 5 n 6 as +2 and 10 as -2 include the 7 as +1 and move up to Zen, the lazy persons Hi Opt II...grin

If you are playing sd&dd, ho2 ace side is the strongest system, if you are playing shoes i like zen,keeping ace side count in shoe games is very hard to do.

I use variations of the Hi Opt II, and usually try to track the Aces in shoe games rather than keep an idea of how rich they are. My answer was not my preference, but more a set of stepping stones for this new player.

Thanks for all the responses guys.

For big player, I read in an archived post that you recommended using the halves count, is this no longer so?

so far the recommendations are: Hi-lo, Unbalanced Zen, Hi-opt II, KO. This is not going to be a source of major income for me, I just enjoy the actual casino time, but I am not the type of person who will willingly be at a disadvantage and give my money to a casino. I am willing to put in the time to learn a complex count, but is it worth it for me? Again, mostly hand-held games, but shoe games will be played. Thanks again guys, I will try to stop being so redundant.

Speculator

I am willing to put in the time to learn a complex count, but is it worth it for me? Again, mostly hand-held games, but shoe games will be played.

It's probably not worth the effort to learn a complex system. What little you gain in expectation will probably be lost in mistakes. II would strongly recommend a 1-level system such as HiLo or KO. Because the TC changes so quickly in hand-helds, I personally prefer KO for those games. I use HiLo for shoe games.

Over the years, I've tried Halves and HO2, but I always return to 1-level counts. It's just not worth the effort.

go to Halves later on if you want to, using the same index numbers. However, the easiest system of all is KO, in my opinion, and you can count the Aces for single deck games (only to get better insurance decisions). Counting the Aces works well with Hi-Lo also, for single deck game insurance decisions.

AB