Most people who come into blackjack tend to think that there is only one counting system….the high/low. This is the most common counting system and counts low cards 2-6 as +1, cards 7,8,9 as Zero and tens and aces as -1. Just like to point out here that low cards are plus and high cards are minus. This tends to confuse a lot of people as high cards are obviously advantageous to the player.
But remember that you are calculating the effect of cards that are left IN THE SHOE and not cards that have been dealt. If the first twenty cards that have been dealt have been aces and tens then that can hardly be a positive for the player seeing as they have now gone and the player cannot use them to form an advantage….perhaps now you will be able to see why low cards are plus.
I have often been asked which counting system is the best. Years ago of course there were massive debates about this. Some very fine mathematicians argued this point aggressively. I am not a mathematician (far from it), but I do know how to make money (there is a difference).
The actual efficiencies with regards playing and betting were hotly debated until it was found that betting efficiency was by far the most important concept of the two. This was why they best systems were basically on a par with each other from a betting efficiency of around .97 for the high/low. Only four counting systems were proven to be superior and they were the KO system, The Wong Halves, The Red 7 and Lawrence Revere’s count.
Some of the other systems with ace side counts came close but the four that were clearly better were only showing .98 and .99 efficiency. But the true genius of the high/low was that it was so simple to operate that you could do other things like shuffle track and interact.
At one stage though we even used the level four system of Revere’s in the belief that we were doing something smart. This count used the following numbers
2…… +2
3…… +3
4…… +3
5…… +4
6…… +3
7…… +2
8…… 0
9…… -1
10…. -3
A…… -4
Now try keeping that count for even one round of play under actual casino conditions 
Seriously though, the high/low does a great job and for anyone who wants to play blackjack then I recommend using this over any other system. This is especially the case with recreational players.
see you soon and take care
