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Knock Out Count

By: Abbadon

This is for those who have already learned basic strategy and High-Low card counting. It's not very advanced though because it actually makes counting easier. The philosophy behind the Knock Out or K-O count is "the simpler the better". The simpler it is the less likely you will be to make a mistake. The K-O is a single-level, single-parameter count, designed to be highly effective using a bare minimum of strategy changes. One of the best parts about it is it eliminates the need to convert to a true count.

Just like all counting systems the object of K-O is to keep track of high and low cards so that we can predict what will come next. If alot of small cards come out we can expect 10 value cards to follow. The same works visa versa if alot of 10 value cards come out, you can expect little ones to follow. Like High-Low you also start K-O from 0 then add or subtract as detailed below. However some people start from negitive numbers in an effort to try and correct the unbalanced part of K-O but that's an incorrect way of doing it and it cancels out the idea behind K-O. If you are playing against 6 decks or more you could play it safe and start from a count of -4.

So here's how you count:

2 - 7:+1 (24 total)
8, 9: 0
10-Ace: -1 (20 total)

So for 2-7 you add 1 to the count, for 8 and 9 you do nothing because they are neutral and for 10-Ace you subtract 1 from the count.

There are 24 cards in a deck that have the value of 2-7 and 20 that are 10 value or ace(1 or 11). In High-Low there are 20 of each and then the neutrals. Thats why K-O is considered unbalanced. However that doesn't make it any less effective.

Because it is unbalanced your count at the end of a deck will be +4 instead of in high-low where it would be 0. This unbalanced feature of the count is what eliminates our need to convert it to a true count. You simply use your running count for all strategy and betting decisions.

In K-O you can typically raise your bet when your count is greater than or equal to 2 per deck. In a equation that would be [if count is >= 2*x then raise bet) while x equals the number of decks. So for 2 decks you wait until the count is 4 or more and if you have 6 decks you wait until the count is 12 or more. You can modify this if you want because in a 6 deck game when you have a count of 10 your probably pretty safe raising your bet anyways, but it's up to you.

So what kind of results can you expect with K-O? Statistically it would be between 1 and 2 percent of an advantage over the house. So say you play 100 hands per hour with a spread of $10 to $50, you could expect to have a profit of about $10 to $20. Of course theirs no guaruntee of that result but as you know you will win over the long run. From my experience I do much better than that after 100 hands against a single deck.

You can increase your winnings in K-O or any other counting system by making strategic decisions based on your count. The most important is Insurance. If you are offered insurance and you have a positive count then you should take it because the card under the ace is more likely to be a 10 value card. This is the opposite of basic strategy where you always refuse insurance. There are a lot of ways to apply your count to your decisions. Another would be if you had a count of 4 and had a 16 against a dealer showing 10. In this situation you should probably stand. However the strategy is up to you and you will learn it as you get more practice.

Good Luck!!!