What are the most important cards to side-count?

I'm new to the site and new to counting (3 months now). i use hi-lo for 5 deck games and i found another counter, whith whom i sometimes play. since the casino has no heat, we sit next to each other on high counts and back-bet behind each other. we also exploit, at times, the way splitting is handled when you back bet (see Ian Anderson,BTLV) in european casinos.

since there's no point for both of us to sit at a table and count the cards, i generally take it upon myself to keep count and my partner simply increases his bets along with me. but i want him to keep one or two side-counts. he can do this with aces with his chips (so i can see them on the table). i'm not sure how to take advantage of this information (i assume it's best for insurance purposes). also, what would be another good card to keep a side-count of--the 5 or 6? and what would be the advantage of such information?

heck, if i played at a table with three counters, i can easily imagine two of the players each keeping two side counts! that would be great in a casino with no heat. which four cards would be most important for side-counting?

again, i'm new here and i assume this question has been answered somewhere by someone. thanks for the help,
toecheeze

Side counts are good to improve playing efficiency. The count of aces is good for decicions if to double 11 or not, in Europe especially against a 10. The count of 7s is of use if you decide if to hit 14 vs 10 or not.
I do not know the advantage you can get by side counts, to study it precisely I recomend you Peter Griffins "Theory of Backjack", which contains all the information you need.
As you already count hi-lo I think the most important side counts are: A, 7, 5, 9, without being sure.

Sometimes when my friend is playing (he uses KO) and I'm just watching, I'll keep an unbalanced count for insurance only (start with -4x[# of decks], subtract 2 for every 10, add 1 for all other cards, take insurance when positive). It probably doesn't increase his EV more than an ace side-count would, but it's really easy. Take care.

--TBW

For AOII the best side counts for PE gains are 7,8,6,9,and Ace.

The 7's & 8s will give ~7% PE gain each, 6's & 9s give ~5%, and Aces are worth ~3 %.

Side counts are difficult to implement and there is not a great deal of easily understood information on them. The mathematics of blackjack site has a wonderful spreadsheet you can download that will calculate adjustments to your primary index.

You might want to consider learning a multi-level count with a high PE (e.g.AOII or Uston APC) before moving to side counts; that can be the best way to increase PE since they are easier to learn to use than adding a side count.

wc21