Ko Count Blackjack
The Knockout (KO) Card Counting System was first introduced in The Book of British Blackjack, written by Mohsen Zadehkoochak in 1993. He called his card counting strategy the “All Sevens” count, because the difference between the High Low card counting system and the KO card counting system is that sevens are not considered neutral cards (with a value of +0), but have a positive value of +1. The big advantage of KO count is that you do not need to convert your Running Count into the True Count – there is only one True Count!
The Running Count in KO Count
In the KO card counting system you calculate the table count as follows:
Why is there no need to convert to the True Count?
In balanced card counting systems, such as the High Low card counting system, counting all the cards in one or multiple decks amounts to a count of zero. In an unbalanced system, however, counting all the cards will lead to a non-zero value. Out of all unbalanced systems the knockout card counting system is the most famous and the most easy to learn. In this system counting all cards in a single deck does not add up to zero, instead it adds up to to a table count of +4. This effect approximates the effect of converting your Running Count into a True Count and this calculation can therefore be safely dispensed with in the KO Count.
Why use the KO system?
The big advantage of using the Knockout card counting system is that players don’t have to convert the Running Count to the True Count. There is only one (true) count and that makes it easier to count while playing and keep your speed up. You do sacrifice some accuracy by using the KO system, but the loss is minimal compared to the overall accuracy of the High Low card counting system, also bearing in mind that your chances of making card counting errors are greatly reduced. So if you find your game suffering from errors made while converting running counts to true counts when using other card counting systems, or if you find you are playing slower than you should because you are distracted by your calculations, you will benefit greatly from the simplicity of the KO system. For players new to card counting the KO Count may easily prove an excellent system of choice.
Card Counting Guides
Card Count Systems:In the Knockout Card Counting (KO Count) system, all card values are the same as in the Hi Low system, except for the value of the 7 take a look at the book Knock Out Blackjack for a more detailed look at the system. In the KO system, the seven is considered a low card and a plus value, while in the Hi Low system it is considered a neutral card. Feb 16, 2021 Sabin and Storm are at Swinger's Palace. They sat down at the Blackjack Table. Fallah Bahh came in and joined the game. He quickly lost the game and was tossed out. Tenille Dashwood with Kaleb with A K. They locked up and battled back and forth, trying to gain the advantage.
Related Articles:
- In the Knockout Card Counting (KO Count) system, all card values are the same as in the Hi Low system, except for the value of the 7 take a look at the book Knock Out.
- The Knock Out or KO count is an unbalanced card counting method popularized in the book Knock-Out Blackjack by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancurra. The cards 2-7 are considered +1 while face cards and 10 point cards are considered -1. Unlike the Hi-Lo Count, the KO count should result in a value of +4 if a full deck is counted down correctly.
KO, or also known as knockout, is a common system used by blackjack card counters. There are a number of other systems out there such as Hi-Lo, Hi-Opt 1 and Hi-Opt 2. The basic concept of card counting is to start at a reference point such as 0. When certain cards are shown on the table, you add or subtract to this number until the count is at a desired level that would give you a greater edge.
There are two different categories of card counting. One is a balanced system, where you start off at 0 and count the cards and should end up with a total of 0 when the last card is dealt. If the count isn't 0, then you did it wrong! The other category is unbalanced card counting, where the end total is not necessarily 0. Knockout (KO) is an unbalanced card counting system.
KO Card Counting Strategy
KO or Knock Out strategy begins with the fact that when the whole deck is used up, the count should not end up being zero. Normally there are an equal amount of points that apply to certain valued cards, but in this case, we would give the seven cards a positive 1 count. When a seven is seen on the table, you are adding one point to your starting reference count of 0 to give 1 point now.
The Hi-Lo counting system is one where there are equal points that add up to 0 when the last card is dealt. KO Knockout gives the 7 card that extra point, so at the end of a deck of cards, your final count should be 4. This is because of the four 7 cards in the deck. Multiply the number of decks by 4 to get your final count when playing with multiple decks of blackjack cards. The reason for this small variation is the convenience in not having to make conversions to the true count value. Below is a table of what count number you should add when you see one of these cards being dealt.
Ko Count Blackjack Meaning
Card Value | Points |
---|---|
2,3,4,5,6,7 | +1 |
8,9 | 0 |
10,J,Q,K,A | -1 |
Benefits of KO Card Counting
Blackjack Card Counting Simulator
The system is not that difficult to learn. For example, in the KO count table above, if a 7 card is seen, add 1 point to your total. If an 8 card is dealt, don't add anything to the count and if an ace or ten point card is seen, then subtract a point. Keep in mind, you need to do this in your head and you have to pay attention to all the cards on the table, even the dealer and other player cards.
Blackjack Card Game Rules
The Knockout card counting system is designed to be easier on the player when trying to keep track of the true count and the running count. The running count is actually the important number here and it depends on how many decks are being used. The true count is the number that you are adding up in your head. To find the running count, just divide the true count by the number of decks being played. For example, if you have a count of +8 while playing with a shoe having 8 decks of cards, your running count would be converted to only +1.
Ko Count System
The benefit of this system is you don't have to keep doing the running conversion. It is easy for novice blackjack players who are just learning how to count cards and there really isn't much different between the Hi-Lo card system and the KO counting system either.