High low system, cards counting, cards counting basics

 << Cards counting basics

As far as the cards come out of the pack we follow the current score. Sevens, eights and nines are ignored, coming out of senior cards (tens and aces) leads to the score decreasing, that of junior cards (from two to six) - to the score increasing. The system "high low" as every balanced system has a very simple feature: when the score is positive a gambler's chances rise, when it's negative they fall. The higher is the score the larger is your expected gain.

But the main question is still open: how do your chances change depending on the score? When it's better to rise the stakes? As it happens the current score can't help here. To have an idea of your chances make use of a so called real score (sometimes it is called true score). A real score is a result of dividing of the current score into the number of packs being in the game. For instance, one pack left the game, the score is equal to +12. Let's divide it in five (the number of the pack left) and we get a real score which is equal to +2,4.

You can have some difficulties to count the number of the packs. As this number is generally fractional. The simplest way to estimate is to have a look at the set of cards out of game lying on the table on the left hand of the dealer. Having figured out the number of the packs which came out of the game, it's not difficult to count the number of the packs left. If you are sitting at the shoe the dealer takes next cards from, you can look into this box. Sure, all that requires hard trainings. You should learn at least roughly to estimate the number of packs of the cards being in a stack, you should get used to unmistakably maintain of the current score. Both of them should be tested at home conditions. And don't grudge the time for that: a game with mistakable score can result in disastrous effects. If you don't feel sure, it's better to forget of any calculations and always gamble at equal stake following a usual basic strategy.

If you use the "high low" system, then you will get the following "makeweight" to a standard mathematical expectation for different real scores.

Apparently, at a negative score (-2 or under) you should decrease the stakes or keep out from game. On the contrary, if the score is positive (+2 or over) it's the time to raise the stakes. But everything depends on your character: if any deviation of the score from zero, the hypothesis on regularity breaks down and it leads to a necessity to adjust the basic strategy. The higher is the real score, the more carefully we take additional cards, the more often we choose surrender and make use of new possibilities at stake doubling and cards splitting. You can find modified tables of the basic strategy in the Internet or calculate them with help of special programs.

Has the "high low" system any shortcomings? Of course, it has. Any of the results we got within this system don't pretend to be a high confidence. We have already known that from the point of view of a player the ace is stronger than ten, and five is more harmful than two. But we didn't make difference between these two cards when keeping the score. In the mean time a real positive score obtained as a result of fives coming out of the game is much more precious than the same score obtained as a result of twos coming out. The same parallel can be drawn between tens and aces. The moments when the chances of a player really reach up their maximum are rather rare. And on the contrary, sometimes it happens that the system sends false signals to the player. Whichever is a real score in the "high low" system we shall believe that a probability of appearance of a two is the same as that of a five and a ten will come four times more often than an ace. As to the middle cards (seven, eight, nine), we don't care at all.