Knock Out Blackjack

The Knockout Count method, also known as the K-O method, of card counting was made popular by the book Knock-Out Blackjack--The Easiest Card Counting System Ever Devised, which was written by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura. Similar to the Hi-Lo Counting System, the Knockout Count method assigns point values to each card value in the deck and as cards are dealt out a player keeps track of the count by adding or subtracting the appropriate value.

As with the Hi-Lo system, cards with a value of 10 (10, J, Q, K) as well as Aces are assigned a value of -1 and cards with a value of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are assigned a value of +1. Knock Out blackjack also assigns 7s with a value of +1 and 8s and 9s are worth 0.

If you are used to other card counting systems where all cards in a deck can be added together to equal 0 then you will have to get used to the fact that the K-O system is unbalanced-there are more +1 cards in a deck than -1 cards. This system is also based on a +2 count which means that when your count gets to +2 you should start thinking about raising your bet and as the count gets higher and higher over +2 you should raise your bet more and more.

Knock Out blackjack strategy is a good strategy for beginning card counters as it is easy to learn without a huge amount of practice and can give you the edge over the house when you play casino blackjack.