By Blackjack Rebel.
HL (High-Low) ignores 7, 8 and 9 and counts them as zero. But there is information to help mainly with betting but also with a few playing strategy decisions by considering the sevens and nines so you might as well use it than just ignore it.
I am suggesting keeping the HL and everything you learned about it but just add a side count, 7m9c, to help with betting and six strategy changes.
7m9c = Seven Minus Nine count which counts the 7’s as +1 and the 9’s as -1.
7m9c is a simple level one side count which counts only two ranks, the 7’s and 9’s, which the HL ignores. In the simplest use of 7m9c, you keep the HL and all of its playing strategy changes and use the 7m9c to help only with betting.
There are level 2 count systems that include the sevens and nines in the primary count and no side counts which improve betting efficiency but those are complicated level 2 count systems and you also need to learn new playing strategy indices which is horrible and the most important playing strategy decision, taking insurance, is negatively impacted by these level 2 counts that include seven and nine in the primary count.. I would never recommend that. Keep the HL since it is very simple and easy to use and this is what almost all teams use. So keep what works so there are no new playing strategy indices to use and no complicated level 2 count to learn.
So I am suggesting a SIDE COUNT of 7m9c to use with the HL. There is nothing new to learn here since for most playing strategy you keep the HL and use the 7m9c side count with the HL to help the HL mainly with betting. Betting is what is most important for the shoe game but there are also six major playing strategy changes, five of which are late surrender as shown below.
Some terminology
tc = true count
dr = decks remaining
dp = decks played
n = number of decks
brc = betting running count
psrc = playing strategy running count
Top 6 selected strategy changes
- Stand hard 14 v T if HL + 3*(7m9c) ≥ 10*dr
- Surrender 8,8 v T DAS if HL + 2*(7m9c) ≥ 2*dr
- Surrender hard 14 v 9 if HL + 2*(7m9c) ≥ 6*dr
- Surrender hard 14 v T if HL + 2*(7m9c) ≥ 3*dr
- Surrender hard 14 v A if HL + 2*(7m9c) ≥ 6*dr
- Surrender hard 13 v T if HL + 2*(7m9c) ≥ 8*dr
You can keep the HL in your head and the 7m9c also in your head (so you are tracking only two integers in your head) or you can use chips to help with keeping the 7m9c as shown below. You can nonchalantly move around the 7m9c chip stack so it looks like you are just playing with your chips, so it does not raise suspicions. The casino will have no idea what you are doing. Or just keep both counts in your head as mentioned above.
So my recommended way to keep 7m9s is very simple and requires very little work. It minimizes movement of chips in and out of the 7m9c chip stack if using chips or minimizes updating 7m9c if keeping 7m9c in your head with the HL.
Keep the HL in your head as usual, updating the HL as soon as each card hits the table. Wait until all cards are on the table and before players make any playing strategy decisions to update the 7m9c. So once all cards are on the table and before players make any playing strategy decisions scan for 7’s and 9’s seen and calculate the 7m9c for cards seen on the table and update the 7m9c from the previous round with the 7m9c of cards seen on the table. Then as each player plays his hands one card at a time the HL and 7m9c are updated. So if an 8 is played neither count is updated. If a 7 or 9 is played, only the 7m9c is updated and if any other card is played then the HL is updated as usual.
If calling in a big player, the spotter can use chips to relay both the 7m9c and the HL to the big player. For example, if HL is 13 and 7m9c is 4 then have a stack of chips representing the HL with two green chips (each green chips representing a count of 5) and three red chips and another stack of 4 red chips for the 7m9c. Keep the HL in your head until the big player comes to the table and then put out a chip stack representing the HL. Then the big player just needs to look at the HL and 7m9c stack of chips and he knows the counts. The big player can just update the HL count in his head and the spotter can take down the HL chips stack as the big player is updating the HL himself and the spotter can just keep on updating (the HL in his head and) the 7m9c chip stack So the big player keeps updating HL in his head and can glance at the spotter’s 7m9c chip stack to know the 7m9c count and so does not have to keep a 7m9c side count himself.
So here is how using the 7m9c helps the HL with betting.
brc = betting running count = HL + (1/2)*(7m9c)
btc = betting true count = brc / dr where dr = decks remaining
Thus for betting, instead of using HL true count for betting, you are using btc for betting. For a six deck shoe with five out of six decks dealt, ABS(7m9c)2)EDITOR NOTE: ABS is the non-negative value of X. It stands for Absolute Value. can be as high as 14 or 15. But ABS(7m9c) being 14 or 15 are the most extreme values which are extremely rare. But if ABS(7m9c) is even around 6 or so it can make a big difference in your blackjack bet especially near the end of the shoe.
I will be publishing a series of books on both Blackjack and Spanish 21 with plus/minus side counts hopefully within the next year. These books are basically written but I am waiting for some final touches. I intend to post them as PDFs. These books are KO made simple (using a Table of Critical Running Counts I created for easy look up of true counts), KO with side counts, Spanish 21 with side counts, High-Low with side counts and Plus- Minus side counts. I also analyzed some side bets using linear combinations of the primary count and side count(s) to get the best derived count for each side bet.
Either KO or HL can be used as the primary count for the shoe game but for the two deck game use HL. I prefer KO for the shoe game for many reasons which I will not discuss here. I realize HL is almost universally used by blackjack teams thus my separate book HL with side counts. Gronbog of Blackjack Forum had given me permission to publish his simulation results if I gave him credit. Thus, Gronbog’s HL with 7m9c sim results are shown here.
[ Comments from Don Schlesinger ]
EXAMPLES AND SIMULATION RESULTS
KO WITH TABLE OF CRITICAL RUNNING COUNTS
Footnotes
| ↑1 | EDITOR NOTE: Of course, “easy” is a relative term. For many, the Hi-Lo count is difficult. Adding a second count only would make it more difficult. But I fully understand that, if you have mastered the Hi-Lo count already, adding a simple second count that only counts 7s and 9s is very doable. It only takes practice. Keeping them straight in your head is the hard part. One way to avoid keeping the 7m9c in your head is to just use a stack of chips to keep 7m9c as suggested by the author. So when 7m9c is needed all the player has to do is glance at his 7m9c chip stack and he knows what the 7m9c is. |
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| ↑2 | EDITOR NOTE: ABS is the non-negative value of X. It stands for Absolute Value. |
I came across this while following a blackjack-related article elsewhere, and I’m glad I ended up here. The explanation of 7m9c alongside Hi-Lo was much clearer than I expected.