Hi-Lo card counting tutorial

Hi-Lo is the simplest widely used card counting system: every card is tagged +1, 0 or −1, and you keep a running total from the moment the shoe is shuffled. The total tells you whether the cards still to be dealt are richer or poorer in tens and aces than a fresh shoe, which is the information a counter uses to size bets and adjust a handful of plays. This tutorial covers the tags, the practice method and a full counted round; it assumes you already play basic strategy without hesitation.

The three tag values

The tags appear in Wizard of Odds’ Hi-Lo reference and in Wikipedia’s card counting table. Because the plus and minus cards exactly balance, Hi-Lo is a balanced count: a complete deck or shoe always sums to zero. It is also a level-one count (no tag larger than 1) and ace-reckoned (the ace carries a tag), which together make it the standard first system.

Low cards are +1 because their departure helps the player: a shoe short of 2s to 6s busts the dealer more often when the dealer must draw, and produces more naturals. High cards are −1 for the opposite reason. The tags record what has left the shoe; the sign tells you what is left in it.

What a running count actually means

Start at zero after the shuffle. Add the tag of each card as it is exposed, whether it belongs to you, another player or the dealer. The total at any moment is the running count.

• Positive running count: more low cards than high cards have been dealt. The remaining cards are richer in tens and aces than average.
• Negative running count: more high cards have gone. The remainder is poorer in tens and aces.
• Zero: the dealt cards have been a balanced sample; the remainder looks like a fresh shoe.

A running count of +6 does not mean “six extra tens remain”. Aces share the −1 tag with tens, and the 7s, 8s and 9s are invisible to the count. It means six more low-tagged than high-tagged cards have been removed, which shifts the probabilities of the next card without revealing it. Wikipedia’s article describes the resulting edge in general terms: in a six-deck game a typical counter’s overall advantage is around 1%, and the count favours a larger bet only a minority of the time. The remainder of the shoe is still played at a house edge.

The running count also has to be scaled. +6 with five decks still to come is a mild signal; +6 with one deck left is strong. That scaling is the true count, which is covered separately in true count conversion. The rest of this page is about keeping the running count accurately and quickly, which is where most learners fail.

Cancelling pairs: the speed technique

Nobody counts a casino table one card at a time. Cards arrive in pairs and clusters, so you count in groups and let opposites cancel:

In a face-up shoe game, look at each player’s two initial cards as a unit and register only the net result. A 10-5 or Q-2 hand costs you nothing. Then sweep the table again as hit cards appear. With practice you stop “seeing” 7s, 8s and 9s at all, and you stop seeing high-low pairs; what remains is a small number of unbalanced cards to add.

The deck countdown drill

The standard practice routine needs one shuffled deck and a timer.

1. Remove one card without looking at it and set it aside face down.
2. Turn the remaining 51 cards one at a time, keeping the running count aloud or silently.
3. At the end, your count tells you the tag of the hidden card: if you finish at +1, the hidden card must be a −1 card (ten or ace); at −1 it must be a 2–6; at 0 it must be a 7, 8 or 9.
4. Turn the card over. If it does not match, the count was wrong somewhere.

Once you are reliably correct, time yourself. Then turn cards in pairs and cancel them, which roughly halves the time. Then add a distraction: a television, a conversation, music with lyrics. Casino tables are noisy and the dealer will not slow down for you. A useful self-test is to count a full 52-card deck and finish at exactly zero every time; the exercise checks arithmetic, not whether you notice every card in play, so follow it with real dealt rounds.

Common errors to watch for:

• Missing the dealer’s hole card when it is turned over at the end of the hand.
• Forgetting cards from a split hand or a double-down when they are turned sideways.
• Losing the count during a payout dispute, a chip change or a conversation.
• Carrying a count across a shuffle. Every shuffle resets the count to zero.

A worked round, counted card by card

Six-deck shoe, three players plus the dealer, all cards dealt face up except the dealer’s hole card. Running count is 0 before the round.

Initial deal

Using pair cancellation this is three glances: “cancel, minus two, plus two” and then +1 for the dealer’s 6. Running count +1.

Player actions (basic strategy, six decks, dealer stands on soft 17)

• Player 1 has hard 15 against a 6 and stands. No new cards.
• Player 2 has a natural and is paid 3:2 immediately. No new cards.
• Player 3 has hard 7 against a 6 and hits, drawing a 9 (tag 0) for 16, then stands. Running count stays at +1.

Dealer’s hand

• The dealer turns the hole card: a 10 (−1). Running count 0. Dealer has 16 and must hit.
• The dealer draws a 5 (+1). Running count +1. Dealer has 21.

Result: Player 1 (15) and Player 3 (16) lose their stakes; Player 2 was paid 3:2 before the dealer drew. The round ends with a running count of +1 after nine cards: six exposed on the deal, one hit card and two dealer cards. If the game has about 5.5 decks still unseen, that is a true count of 1 ÷ 5.5 ≈ 0.18, which rounds to zero and changes nothing. Good counters keep counting anyway; the signal builds over many rounds.

Where the tags come from, and their limits

Hi-Lo trades accuracy for speed. Giving the 2 and the 6 the same weight, and the 9 and the 8 the same zero, loses a little information compared with multi-level systems. Card counting systems compared sets Hi-Lo beside KO, Hi-Opt and Zen so you can see what the extra complexity buys. For almost everyone starting out, Hi-Lo done fast and without error beats a more precise count done slowly.

Two cautions apply to everything on this page. First, a count never turns a losing hand into a winning one; it changes probabilities at the margin, and the house still holds the edge on most rounds. Second, the mechanics only matter if the game is countable: a continuous shuffling machine, a shuffle every hand or shallow penetration leaves nothing to count, as explained in how a shoe game is dealt and casino countermeasures and legality.

Related reading

• Card counting overview
• True count conversion
• Illustrious 18 index plays
• Basic strategy