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Blackjack – The Red Seven Playing Strategy
June 15th, 2009
Using the Red Seven Count, you can also increase your advantage over the house by deviating from basic strategy according to your running count. First of all, insurance is the most valuable strategy decision. In single-deck games, assuming you are using a moderate betting spread, insurance is almost as important as all other strategy decisions combined. Conveniently, you have a very nice insurance indicator with the Red Seven Count. In 1- and 2-deck games, you simply take insurance any time your running count is 0 or higher. In all shoe games, take insurance at +2.
As for other playing decisions, there are only a few to remember. Any time you are at a running count of 0 or higher (with any number of decks), stand on 16 against 10 and on 12 vs. 3. (According to basic strategy, you would hit both of these.) In single-deck games, the decision to hit or stay on 16 against 10 is the second most important choice for a card counter. After you've gotten the hang of these strategy changes, there are a couple of others you can add that will further increase your advantage. At running counts of +2 or higher, with any number of decks, stand on 12 versus 2, and on 15 versus 10; and double down on 10 against X.
By using this simple running count strategy, in multi-deck games you will be taking advantage of about 80% of all possible gains from card counting. Because you won't be sloppily attempting to adjust your running count to true count on every hand, your decisions will be made with devastating accuracy. Using the simple Red Seven Count, you have no strategy tables to memorize; you simply have a basic strategy, which you play on more than 90% of your hands, and you'll have to make so few changes according to your running count that it would be pointless to draw up a chart.
There are, to be sure, weaknesses in this vastly simplified system, but, in my opinion, most card counters would be wise to ignore more difficult strategies. Because of its combined power and simplicity, the Red Seven Count lends itself to many advanced, professional strategies for beating the game of blackjack. It's also an excellent system for teams and partners. The Red Seven Count requires the minimum amount of memory work for a professional level system, and also spares the player from having to worry about mathematics at the table, except for the simple adding and subtracting necessary to keep the running count.
If you find it very confusing to add and subtract when your running count is negative, you may totally avoid negative running counts by adding 50 to all of the recommended starting counts, which will also make your pivot 50, instead of 0, no matter how many decks are in play. For instance, adding 50 to the 1-deck starting count of -2 makes your starting count 48. Because your pivot is always 50, strategy changes that you would normally make at +2 are now made at 52. Again, I advise this only for players who have trouble dealing with negative numbers. If that's you, then the corrected starting counts you should use for 1, 2,4, 6, and 8-deck games, are: 48, 46, 42, 38, and 34, respectively. Use these numbers when you practice counting down decks. There is no loss of power if you use this method.
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Blackjack – Red Seven Starting Counts Part2
June 14th, 2009
How much of a betting spread should you use? This depends on many factors—the rules of the game, the number of decks in play, the penetration (shuffle point), the size of your bankroll, and what you can actually get away with in that particular casino, to name a few. This concept is so important that we will discuss it in depth in several later chapters, but the general rule of thumb is to bet very little when the house has the edge, and to bet more when you do. The bigger the difference between your low bet and your high bet, the greater your advantage over the house, and the more money you can expect to make. Without enough of a difference between your low and high bets, you may not get the edge at all because your relatively few big bets must cover the cost of all those bets you place when the house has the edge. For now, the chart below will provide a guide for the most common games.
Simplified Red Seven Betting (Units to Bet)
Running Count 1 Deck 2 Decks Shoe (4 to 8 Decks)
Negative 1 1 1 (orO)
0 2 2 2
+2 4 2 2
+4 4 3 2
+6 4 4 3
+8 4 6 4
+12 4 6 8
+ 16 4 6 8
Note that the suggested bets are in units, not dollars—in the next chapter you will find guidelines on how to size your bets according to your bankroll. The above guidelines are not to be taken as strict betting advice, and should only be used as a general rule for casual players. Serious gamblers will need to use more precise betting strategies, according to their advantage, table conditions, the need to camouflage, and so on.
In many one-deck games, a 1 to 4 spread according to the count is about as much as you can practically bet without getting booted out for card counting; in some casinos, even that spread will get you backed off the table in short order. In many shoe games, a 1 to 8 spread would barely get you over the break-even point, which is why the 0-unit bet is suggested in shoe games at negative counts. It's basically impossible to only play at positive counts in shoe games, but it's often wise to leave the table if the running count does not start moving quickly in the positive direction.
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