Note that the shoe game indices are quite different from the 1- and 2-deck charts. If you sometimes play in shoe games, and sometimes in handheld games, then I would suggest learning the 1- and 2-deck chart for the hand-held games, but reverting to the simple Red Seven system for shoe games, using only the half dozen indices prescribed earlier. Naturally, if you memorize things easily, or if you are very dedicated, you could learn both of these charts. Do not try to do more than you’re comfortable with; remember that it’s better to do a few things well than to bungle your game by trying to do too much.

These are presented in the standard format of blackjack strategy charts, like those presented earlier. If there is no entry for a decision, then you should always use basic strategy. No pair-split indices are provided because the gains are too small to bother with. For all of the player-hand totals of 12-16 at the top of the charts, the index numbers provide the running counts at which you should stand. For example, with 12 against 4 in the Shoe Game chart, note that you should stand if your running count is -4 or higher. This means that in the second half of the shoe, you would stand on a count of -4, -3, -2, and so on, and hit on -5, -6, -7, and below.

If surrender is allowed, that takes precedence over other decisions. Since no indices are provided for surrendering on 16 against 9, 10, or A, always follow basic strategy and surrender the hand.

The easiest way to learn the index numbers is to learn them in blocks. First learn all of the 0 (pivot) indices. Then learn the +2 and +4 indices. After you have learned all of the positive indices, learn the negative ones, starting with the -2s. Many players make flash cards to drill themselves on index numbers, and there are also many excellent software programs available that allow you to input and practice card counting systems.

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For those players who've been bitten hard by the blackjack bug, and might be considering moving on to a more advanced true count system, such as the Hi-Lo Lite, let me suggest that you first try the Advanced Red Seven. This system uses the same Red Seven count values, and continues to work as a running count system, but we expand on the strategy changes so that you can play more accurately. For dedicated players there is also a precise method of estimating your advantage, so that you can use the same proportional betting schemes as professional players.

How to Read the Strategy Charts
In the 1 & 2-Deck Strategy Chart, the heavy bold index numbers are to be used for both 1- and 2-deck games. For 2-deck games, these are all the indices you will need. The lighter numbers should be used for single-deck games only. They are not as important as the bold indices, so if you play in single-deck games, learn the ones in bold first.
The Shoe Game Chart is to be used in the second half of the shoe only. For example, in an 8-deck game, use the Advanced Red Seven indices

THE ADVANCED RED SEVEN
1 & 2-DECK STRATEGY
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X A
16 6 2 -2 4
15 6 4 2 4
14 -4 -4 6
13 -2 -2 -2
12 2 0 0-2-2
11 -4 -4 -2
10 -4 -2 2 2
9 0 2
INSURANCE: 0
SURRENDER
15 2 0 0
14 2
BOLD = 1 & 2-Deck Light = 1-Deck Only
2 3 ALL SHOE GAMES 4 5 6 7 8 9 X A
16 4 -4
15 4 4
14
13
12 4 0 -4
11 -4
10 4 4
9 -4 4
INSURANCE: 4
SURRENDER
15 0 -4 0
14 4

only after the first four decks are in the discard tray. In a 6-deck game, wait until three decks have been played to start using the advanced indices. In the first half of the shoe, follow the simple Red Seven strategy, utilizing only the primary half-dozen strategy changes.

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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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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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# Decks Starting Count
1 -2
2 -4
3 -6
4 -8
5 -10
6 -12
7 -14
8 -16
Now, when you practice counting, always start at the appropriate starting count for the number of decks in play. Your pivot is always 0, and when you come to the end of the deck(s), you should always have a final running count of 0 as well.

The Red Seven Betting Strategy
Once you're comfortable counting, you can begin to apply the Red Seven betting strategy at the tables. When counting in a casino you always begin your count after each shuffle with the starting count that corresponds to the number of decks in play, as above. Any time your running count is 0 your advantage will have risen by about 1% over your starting advantage. This 0 pivot is a good indicator of when to raise your bet for nearly all the blackjack games available in this country; about 80% of the games have a starting advantage between -0.4% and -0.6%. So, your 0 pivot usually indicates an advantage for you of approximately 1/2%. (In a later section, you will find a method for determining the house's starting advantage more precisely, according to the exact rules and the number of decks in play.)

Simply stated, the Red Seven betting strategy is to bet more when your running count is 0 or higher, and less (or nothing) when your running count is negative. Your betting spread is the amount of your smallest bet compared to the amount of your biggest bet. This may be expressed in either dollars or "units." Example: If your smallest bet is $5 and your biggest bet is $50, then your betting spread is $5-50. In units, this may be expressed as a spread of 1-10.

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With any balanced point count system, a count of "0" indicates that the high cards and low cards are evenly balanced in the remaining deck(s). The zero count is the "pivot" count that always tells the player that the value of the cards remaining to be dealt has returned to whatever the house edge was right off the top of the deck(s). The pivot count is the running count that we would have if we counted down all of the cards in the deck or decks.

With a balanced count, the pivot is always zero, and it always indicates that the cards have returned to the "normal" house edge off the top. With the Red Seven Count, because it is unbalanced, our pivot count is two times the number of decks in play, since there is an imbalance of +2 in the card point values for each deck. And, instead of indicating to us that the cards remaining have the normal house edge off the top, the Red Seven pivot indicates that the player's advantage has risen by 1% over the house edge. The Red Seven pivot is a much more useful and common point of reference for a card counter who desires to know when to raise his bet and alter his strategy. The imbalance in the count values allows us to make our most important betting and strategy decisions by running count, with no deck estimates or "true count" adjustments.

But there is a more practical way to use unbalanced counts for players who are frequently changing games, playing against various numbers of decks, and especially if using extended strategy indices. Instead of altering the pivot count according to the number of decks in play, you can alter the starting count so that the pivot will always be 0. Instead of starting your count at 0 off the top of the deck(s), subtract the pivot count from 0, and start counting at a negative number. Then, regardless of the number of decks in play, when your running count rises to 0, you raise your bet.

In 1986, when Ken Uston hired me to help him devise his unbalanced SS Count, he wanted to provide more complete strategy tables, with separate sets of charts for each number of decks. Since Uston's level-three count had an imbalance of +4 per deck, his 8-deck pivot was +32, and his index number for hitting 15 against 10 was +44. His 6-deck index for the same decision was +33, and his 4-deck index for 14 against 10 was +40. Even his 2-deck number was +22. Ken felt these numbers were unwieldy, and I agreed.

The device we decided to use for the SS Count was a "Starting Count" other than zero. Multiplying the number of decks in play by -4, the SS one-deck starting count became -4; the eight-deck starting count became -32. Thus, the SS pivot was always 0, regardless of the number of decks in play, and the strategy charts look a lot less intimidating. A few years later, when George C. developed an unbalanced version of my Zen Count, he used the same device.

With the Red Seven Count, we'll use this technique for adjusting the starting count, always multiplying -2 by the number of decks in play to get the starting count. For example, the 4-deck starting count is -8 (-2 x 4). This methodology will always make your pivot equal zero.

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Start by buying yourself a couple dozen decks of cards. Put one in the pocket of every one of your jackets. Put one by each telephone you use regularly. One on the kitchen table. One by each TV set. One on the dashboard of your car. Always have a deck of cards at hand. As you watch TV, talk on the phone, or enjoy your morning coffee, practice keeping your running count using the chart's point values for the individual cards as you turn them over.
Start your count at 0. Turn cards one at a time face-up onto the bottom of the deck, adding each card's point value to your running count. For example:

Cards seen: 2, A, 8, 9, X, X, 5
Point values: +1,-1,0, 0,-1,-1,+1
Running Count: +1, 0,0, 0, -1, -2, -1

By the time you get to the end of the deck, your running count should be +2; if it isn't, then you have not counted correctly, assuming your deck contains 52 cards. If you have miscounted, turn the deck over and run through the cards again, until your final running count is +2. Then shuffle and go through the deck once more. Build up speed and accuracy.

When you are proficient at counting down a deck of cards in this manner, practice turning the cards over two at a time, and learn to count cards in pairs. It's faster and easier for most people to count that way, because many pairs cancel each other out. For instance, every time you pair a ten or ace (both -1) with a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or red 7 (all +1), the pair counts as zero. You will quickly learn to ignore self-canceling pairs, as well as 8s, 9s, and black 7s, since they're all valued at 0. When you're good at counting cards in pairs, start turning them over three at a time. You must be accurate in your count—speed without accuracy is worthless. It may take you weeks to master running counts, but once you learn it, it's like telling time. You'll find you can do it almost automatically.

To test yourself, after learning to count cards in pairs and groups of three, run through the cards by fanning them from one hand to the other as you count. Allow your eyes to quickly scan the exposed cards for self-canceling pairs, even when these cards are not adjacent to each other. You should be able to count down a deck in 40 seconds or less before you ever attempt counting in a casino. Most pros can easily count down a deck in less than 30 seconds, and professional teams usually require players to demonstrate that they can do it in 25 seconds or less, with perfect accuracy every time.

No matter how fast you can count when turning cards over yourself, you'll probably find counting at a casino blackjack table to be difficult at first. In facedown games, some cards will appear as mere flashes as players throw in their hands, and dealers scoop upcards as quickly as they're turned over. Before counting cards in a casino, spend a half-hour or so counting while watching others play. Do not sit down to play until you feel comfortable counting while watching the game.

If you expect to play in shoe games, practice counting down multiple decks of cards at home. Note that your final count should always amount to twice the number of decks you are using: With six decks, your running count at the end should always be +12; with two, it would be +4.

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Whenever I remembered to, I saved my score cards. They are the immortalized records of my forays into the casinos of Nevada and Atlantic City. When I'd come home from a session, I'd either toss the card into a drawer or drop it on my desk. Eventually, when I tidied up, often it would find its way into the wastebasket. Only now that I've been commissioned to write this book on gambling have I finally rummaged through the drawer to see exactly what I had saved.

Sorting the hundreds of score cards and carefully laying them out on the kitchen table was a traumatic experience for me. Seeing them as a cohesive entity was both awesome and instructive. Frankly, I just couldn't believe that I gambled in so many casinos in over forty years. And I was looking at only some of my forays! Now I'm sorry I didn't save every blessed one of them.
Because I didn't foresee ever using them for a book, I didn't bother to date the cards. I can pinpoint a few cards timewise by the information on the casino promotion piece, the back of which I had used as a makeshift score card. I did date a couple, but damned if I remember today why I went out of my way to do it.

Going through my piles of cards, I chose unusual ones—some winners, some losers.
Once Atlantic City opened up, my flights to Las Vegas became fewer. Puerto Rico casinos were the pits,- I loved the country but hated their casinos. The limits were low, guaranteed to grind down the player, and as the rules were rigged in the casino's favor. I have never met anyone who ever won money in the Puerto Rico casinos. I only bet in Puerto Rico to make drink or dinner money. And my betting limit was always 25 bucks, tops.

I'm offering a representative selection from my score cards because I believe you can learn from them, not only what to do, but more importantly what not to do. You'll see that sometimes I did make a score but, greedy schmuck that I was, I foolishly stayed around too long and eventually pissed it all away. Happily, some score cards show my gambling acumen, as I took my winnings and ran right out of the casino and hurried home on the next plane or bus. I hope when you win you'll also take the cash and run like hell.

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