First stop, what are the conditions of the game we are going to play? I want to use an example of a game that comes to town every August/September. It is a 4 deck , no hole card, hit soft 17, split any pair, double any first two cards game. This amounts to an off the top disadvantage of -.66%. Not perfect, but half as bad as playing Baccarat would be.

Second stop, what count are we going to use? The total value of all the + cards is 2.05% for 1 of each 2 3 4 5 6 and 7 taken out. Since I use the Hi Opt II which gives the 2 3 6 7 a value of +1, and the 4 and 5 a value of +2, I divide the 2.05% by 8. This gives me a value of .25% for each positive count. Hi/Low counters would use 1.75% divided by 5 (the 2 3 4 5 6 cards) for an average value of .35% per plus count.

The above tells us that a True Count of +3 for Hi Opt II will wipe out the games -.66% and have a small .09% advantage. Hi/Low needs +2 TC to come up with a .04% advantage. Since Hi/Low doesn't count the 7 which has a value of .30% a full knowledge of our advantage is not always with us. This is the main reason I use the Hi Opt II.

The table minimum is $3 and the maximum is $25, a sweet 8:1 spread. The game is dealt down to 1 deck for a penetration of 75%. The shuffle is easily tracked as many of the dealers are very inexperienced. By watching the discard tray a good player can play this game as if it were two 2 deck games, often knowing how 10 and Ace rich the first 2 decks and last 2 decks are before being dealt!

For not so advanced Hi Opt II players, a Running Count of +12 during the first deck is needed, +9 during the second deck, and +6 during the third deck to jump their bets. Any player with $2,500 can easily bet $25 once the True Count is +3, but a conservative raising of the bets from $3 to $6 to $12 to $25 is a little more in order for this game. It is also possible to spread to 2 hands of $6, then $12 and $25 for a more advantageous 16:1 spread. Casino hours are 10AM to 6AM so there are many times an empty table can be had.