High-value cards like tens and aces are favorable for the player as they not only increase the chance of creating hands totaling to 20 and 21, but they also add to the possibility of the dealer going bust.

Low-value cards, on the other hand, like twos and sixes, are more likely to give the dealer an advantage since the blackjack dealer always must draw on all hands under a total of 17. If the dealer holds a hand totaling 15, he'd much rather see a deck full of low cards rather than tens, right?

Using the Hi-Lo System

The High-Lo system, which we are going to present here, is one of the simplest card counting systems around - the simplicity being one of the main reasons for the system's brilliance. More complicated systems will probably be more accurate, but with accuracy comes complexity. If you get to know the High-Lo counting system by heart, it will come naturally to you once you start playing. With a more complicated system you will always have to concentrate 100% on your count, but if your focus is lost for just a moment, you will lose track of your count completely.

Approaching Card Counting for the First Time

A smart way to approach card counting is by taking a look at how poker is played.By calculating the odds of taking home a pot, poker players can get an indication on how they should play the hand.Even though they can't figure out the exact odds of winning the hand, they can estimate the probability. Knowing your odds is just as important in blackjack as it is in poker and therefore you should study the basic blackjack strategies and use the High-Lo system to decide how to play your hands.

How it Works

We stated earlier that the High-Lo system is used to find the balance between high- and low-value cards in the deck. Here is how it works: All cards from 2 to 6 are considered low-value cards and are counted as +1. Neutral cards, 7 through 9, are not counted in the simple Hi-Lo system so just ignore them. The high value cards, your money cards, 10 to Ace, are counted as -1.

If you take one 52-card single deck and count it all the way through you will end up at +-0. Try it a couple of times, it's a good way to learn the system.

The reason why you subtract one (-1) every time a high-value card comes up is that it by then already have been played, i. e. your chances of making a winning hand like 20 or 21 has just decreased. The higher the count, the more advantage the player gets. Conversely, a negative count means that most player-favorable cards in the deck already have been played.

Lots of high value cards here, must be a negative count, right?

How to Make Money Using the Hi-Lo System

The trick on how to benefit from the information you get from counting the cards is simple. Just like in poker, the thing is to get your money in when you have an advantage over the other player. Every time the count is up, it means that the deck favors you, the player. The higher the count: the bigger the advantage.

By raising your wagers every time you find yourself in a situation where the deck is unbalanced in your favor, you cut a large chunk of off the built-in house advantage for the casino. And conversely, you lower your bets (or sit out completely) whenever your count is negative and the deck favors the dealer.

Remember that you must start counting every time the dealer breaks out a fresh deck. If you start counting in the middle of a game you have no idea of what cards have been dealt and the information you get from your count is useless for you.

The casinos use cutting cards to eliminate the advantage of card counting, and this is one of the reasons for why card counting is not an absolute science. You can (and should), however, use card counting to get a rough feel of how the deck is balanced and make your decisions based on this information.

Go ahead and test your skills in our Card Counting application on Facebook. The app is based on the same Hi-Lo System described in the article above.