The course
43 levels, from a single card to a whole shoe
Card counting almost never fails for lack of understanding. It fails for lack of automaticity: the moment the count takes thought, it is already too slow for a real table. The course is built to move each skill from "I understand it" to "I do it without thinking", and each level opens only once the one before it has been passed at the accuracy it asks for.
Open now, with no sign-up and no payment
- All 43 levels and their interactive drills
- The eight counting systems, the deviations and the final test
- Progress, accuracy and a practice streak, kept in the browser you train in
With an optional account
- Carry on where you stopped on any device, not just one browser
- Your progress survives clearing the browser's data
- One sign-in with Google; only your email address and progress are kept
Why the levels are locked
The lock is not a sales gate; it is a learning order. Every level assumes the one before it: you cannot convert a running count to a true count before the running count itself is automatic, and you cannot deviate by the count before basic strategy sits without hesitation. Skipping ahead does not get anyone there faster — it just practises mistakes.
What is fully open is what each level teaches. The syllabus below is the complete map of the course.
The full syllabus
Opening — why anyone counts 4 levels Practise →
- 1 What happens at the table The rules everything else rests on: how the dealer plays, what pays what, and who loses first.
- 2 Where the house edge comes from Before talking about an edge for the player, it helps to see why the edge sits with the house by default.
- 3 Why high cards favour the player The heart of the method. Here we run a real simulation and see the difference in numbers, instead of taking a claim on trust.
- 4 What counting does — and does not do Honest expectations: how large the edge really is, why it only works over time, and what has to come before it.
A. Hi-Lo — the count itself 9 levels Practise →
- 5 Card values The base of the base: the value each card carries in Hi-Lo, the most common system and the usual starting point.
- 6 Reading at speed The same values, now against a clock. The literature sets the target as automatic recognition, with no moment of hesitation.
- 7 Cancelling pairs The technique that makes real speed possible: not counting card by card, but seeing pairs that cancel and skipping them.
- 8 Groups of three The same technique widened to three cards at once, the way cards actually land on the table.
- 9 Running count: short sequences Holding a total in your head across five cards in a row.
- 10 Long sequences Twenty cards in a row. This is where it shows who really holds the count and who loses it halfway.
- 11 A full deck down to zero The classic self-check: count 52 cards and finish at exactly 0. Any other result means a mistake.
- 12 A deck against the clock The professional benchmark: a full deck in under 30 seconds, with 25 seconds as the target.
- 13 Counting through distractions In the usual training order, resistance to interruption is built as soon as the count is stable — not at the end of the course.
B. Converting to True Count 4 levels Practise →
- 14 Estimating the decks left Without a good read of how much is left in the shoe, no true count can be worked out. This is a visual skill, not arithmetic.
- 15 Working out the true count The formula that turns a running count into a real measure of the edge: running count divided by decks left.
- 16 Half-deck precision A step up in accuracy: dividing in half-deck steps rather than whole decks, the way serious players do.
- 17 Counting and converting live The combined skill: holding a running count while cards are dealt, and converting it to a true count at once.
C. Basic strategy 4 levels Practise →
- 18 Hard hands Counting without basic strategy is worth nothing. We start with the most common case: a hand with no ace.
- 19 Soft hands Hands with an ace counting as 11. Less intuitive, and a common source of mistakes.
- 20 Pairs and splitting When to split and when not to. This is where most players go wrong.
- 21 Full strategy against the clock Every kind of hand mixed together, with a timer — because at the table there is no time to think.
D. Deviations from the count 5 levels Practise →
- 22 The three most profitable deviations Not all deviations are equal. These three carry most of the gain, and they are the first to learn.
- 23 Illustrious 18: the first half The nine most profitable deviations, including splitting tens against 5 and 6.
- 24 The full Illustrious 18 All eighteen deviations, including the negative-count spots where you hit instead.
- 25 Fab 4: surrender by the count The four most profitable surrender deviations, at tables that allow it.
- 26 Deviations under pressure Every deviation mixed together, with a clock. This is the real test of this knowledge.
E. Betting, bankroll and risk 4 levels Practise →
- 27 Bet size by true count This is where the profit is actually made. Counting without varying the bet is an intellectual exercise worth no money.
- 28 Bankroll and risk of ruin Why a player with a real statistical edge can still lose everything.
- 29 Wonging: when to play at all The strongest tool for raising your edge: not playing the bad hands in the first place.
- 30 Camouflage Counting is only half the job. The other half is not looking like a card counter.
F. More level 1 systems 4 levels Practise →
- 31 The KO system An unbalanced level 1 system: it drops the true-count conversion, and pays for that in precision.
- 32 KO: start, key count and pivot The mechanism that replaces the true count: IRC, key count and pivot.
- 33 The Red 7 system An unbalanced system where the colour of the card changes its value. It asks you to notice something that did not matter until now.
- 34 Switching between systems An interference exercise: moving between Hi-Lo and KO mid-session without mixing them up.
G. Level 2 systems 5 levels Practise →
- 35 Zen Count: the values Entering level 2: values of ±2 join the picture. The literature recommends Zen as the first advanced system.
- 36 Zen: a full deck The same self-check as in Hi-Lo, with doubled values. Zen is balanced, so the target is 0 again.
- 37 Omega II: a neutral ace A level 2 system where the ace scores 0 — a choice that improves playing accuracy and hurts betting accuracy.
- 38 Ace side count Two counters in your head at once: the main count, and how many aces have come out.
- 39 Hi-Opt II A level 2 system with the highest insurance correlation, also with a neutral ace.
H. Level 3 and the final test 4 levels Practise →
- 40 Wong Halves: fractional values Level 3. The system with the highest betting correlation there is, at the price of doing arithmetic in halves.
- 41 Wong Halves: sequences Accumulating a fractional count across a whole sequence without losing the halves along the way.
- 42 Uston APC Level 3 with seven different values and an ace side count. Among the most demanding systems there are.
- 43 Final test: a whole shoe Everything together: running count, conversion, playing decisions and bets, at table pace and to a high standard.
Start from level one
The first level opens with the rules of the game itself — not with counting. From there the course moves at your pace, and remembers where you stopped.
Start training