A lot of people love playing blackjack. They love the excitement and the thrills that getting an ace and a king in their hand offers. They love winning money. However, like most casino games, the odds are in favor of the house, and in the long run, you will probably lose money.

What if there was a way for you to continue enjoying this exciting game while actually turning a consistent profit. Well, due to some people’s research, there is a way. It is called card counting.

It has been determined that by having a running count of the cards dealt, you can determine if the remaining cards in the show are in your favor or are in the house’s favor. This allows you to adjust your bet size accordingly and actually gives you a substantial edge over the house.

The counting system we are going to examine today is the KO card count system. This is the most basic blackjack counting system and many other systems are based on the same premise as this one. If you can learn to use this effectively, you will be able to implement almost any other card counting system with ease.

Here is the basic premise. The count starts at zero. For every two, three, four, five, six and seven, you add 1 from the total count. For every eight and nine, you do nothing to the count. For every 10, jack, queen, king and ace, you minus one from the total count.

When you count for a few rounds, you will be able to get a pretty reliable number to start adjusting your bet size with. As the count gets higher, meaning there are more high cards in the deck, the deck is advantageous to you, and you should increase your bet size. If the count stays low, you should just continue with your standard bet size. Continue keeping the running count in your head until the deck is shuffled. After that, you have to start all over again.

Here is an example of how a count for one round would work. This is an example of one table with five players and a dealer playing:

Dealers Hand: Ace – 5

Player 1: Jack – 2

Player 2: 7-2

Player 3: 10-5

Player 4: Queen – King

Player 5: 6-8

What would be the running count for this round? If you said +1, you would be right. The cards dealt would equal +6 and -5, so the overall count is +1. Now, this count is still very low, so it is not necessary to increase your bet size.

This system may seem very simple but it still takes a bit of practice to implement successfully. Obviously, when you do get comfortable with using it, you can gain a significant edge over the house. If you use it consistently and don’t make mistakes with the count, you will be making lots of profit in no time. Head over to the tables and give it a shot!

More Card Counting Systems:

Hi Opt 1 Card Count
Blackjack Hi Opt 2 Card Count
Hi-Lo Count