LearnChapter 2 of 8
The Hi-Lo count
Every card gets a value: low cards 2–6 = +1, middle cards 7–9 = 0, high cards 10, J, Q, K, A = −1. Add them up as cards appear — that total is your Running Count. A high positive count means many high cards remain — good for you.
Hi-Lo is a balanced count: a full deck adds up to exactly zero. Twenty low cards (2–6) contribute +20, twenty high cards (10, J, Q, K, A) contribute −20, and the twelve middle cards (7, 8, 9) contribute nothing. That is why a positive count means the shoe is now richer in high cards than it started.
A worked round. The cards come out 5, K, 2, 9, A, 7, 4. Step by step: +1, −1, +1, 0, −1, 0, +1. The running count after those seven cards is +1. Nothing more happens in your head than that addition, card by card.
The trick that makes it fast is cancelling in pairs: a high card and a low card together are zero, so you learn to see K + 5 = 0 as one unit and skip it. Practise with a single deck at home — deal through it and you must end at exactly zero, which tells you whether you slipped.
Why Hi-Lo and not one of the dozen other systems? Because it captures almost all of the available edge — its betting correlation is about 0.97 — while being simple enough to hold under casino noise. Multi-level systems like Omega II gain a fraction of a percent and cost far more attention. Professional teams use Hi-Lo, and so does every mode in this trainer.
Other chapters
Ready to make the count automatic?
Everything above becomes reflex with practice. Start with the free drills — no card needed.
Start free →