1. Red 7 is deemed as a card counting system that is best for card counting beginners or even blackjack beginners. But, that doesn’t mean that it’s an inaccurate system. On the contrary it is very accurate, very basic and very professional, which is why it’s great for beginners. The best way to use it is to combine it with some blackjack strategy in order to gain an even bigger advantage.
  2. According to the Red Seven Count system, all ten-value cards and aces are worth -1. Low cards, which include deuces, threes, fours, fives, and sevens, bring +1. Eights and nines are not taken into account, so you can ignore them. There is a special attitude towards sevens.
  3. The Red Seven card counting system is an unbalanced card counting strategy, similar to the KO Count. You can read more about the Red Seven Count in Blackbelt in Blackjack by Arnold Snyder. The point values are distributed as per the table below:.In the Red Seven Count, ONLY red seven's are counted as +1; black seven's are given a value of 0.
  4. Red 7 cards are assigned a value of +1 and black 7 cards a value of zero. This is, of course, why the system is named as the Red Seven system. It is possible to reverse the assignment of value against the red and black seven, so that the red 7 is counted as zero.
Editor’s Rating
Ease of Learning and Use70/100
Playing Efficiency54/100
Betting Correlation98/100
Insurance Correlation75/100
Overall Rating74/100

A complete blood count (CBC) is a blood test that measures your hemoglobin level and other characteristics of your red blood cells (such as their size). This test not only shows if you have anemia, but it can also help your doctor figure out what might be causing it.

The History

The Red Seven system was developed by Arnold Snyder, one of the original inductees into the Black Hall of Fame in 1983. Snyder is a renowned professional gambler and author, publishing a number of important works across the years.

His first book was published in 1980, and was called The Blackjack Formula. This was an important work since it was the first to show how deck penetration (the number of cards dealt before a deck is subject to a reshuffle) affected the rate at which a card counter won against the house. Of particular interest is Snyder’s assertion that the amount of penetration has a more significant effect on win rate than the actual card counting system being used. Since this assertion, Snyder’s data has been subject to a number of checks via computer simulation and found to be correct.

His 2nd book, Black belt in Blackjack: Playing 21 As a Martial Artist was published in 1983 and used the well-known colored belt grading system used in the martial arts as an analogy to take the prospective blackjack player from ab-initio status (white belt) to professional level (black belt). This professional level covered key aspects such as tracking the shuffle and playing as a team.

A further book, The Big Book of Blackjack, and published in 2006 described the history of blackjack. It also updated Snyder’s thoughts on various card-counting systems, including the Red Seven system.

How to use Red Seven System

So what is the Red Seven system all about? It’s an unbalanced system, which means that the number of negative and positive point values, assigned to the cards, are unequal and the total sum of all the points is non-zero. After a full deck is counted the running count should finish with the value +2. The running count values assigned are as follows:

Red 7 Counting System

  • Cards of ten and above are assigned a value of -1
  • Cards 2 through 6 are assigned a value of +1
  • Cards 8 and 9 are assigned a zero value and are therefore ignored
  • Red 7 cards are assigned a value of +1 and black 7 cards a value of zero. This is, of course, why the system is named as the Red Seven system. It is possible to reverse the assignment of value against the red and black seven, so that the red 7 is counted as zero and the black seven as +1, without affecting the system.

Snyder describes the use of a “pivot”, which is defined as the running count at which the edge in favour of the player has risen to 1% or greater of the games starting edge, which is always in favor of the house. This pivot is used to make informed betting decisions.

Assuming the starting running count is zero then the pivot will change with the number of decks in the game. A simple adjustment to make the pivot zero irrespective of the number of decks is to multiply the number of decks by -2. As an example, in an eight-deck game the running count starts at -16. This will ensure that the final count, at the end of counting all the decks in the game, will be zero.

Blackjack red 7 count system

Betting Strategy Adjustment

Snyder himself recommends that, in a single deck game, a negative running count should result in a minimum bet. When the running count hits the pivot, or zero, then the minimum bet should be doubled and when the running count goes to +2 or greater then the bet should be doubled again. He describes very detailed betting advice in his book Black belt in Blackjack: Playing 21 As a Martial Artist.

Below is simple overview of how to increase/decrease the bet size based on the running count. The betting amount adjustment of this system can be calculated based on the running count:

  • running count < 0
    the betting amount is equal to table minimum
  • true count >= 0
    the minimum bet amount should be doubled
  • true count >= +2
    the minimum bet amount should be doubled again

Playing Strategy Adjustments

Red 7 Count Vs Hi-lo

Insurance betting strategy is also easy using the Red Seven system. If you are betting in single and double deck games then the insurance should be taken when the running count is zero or positive. In multi-deck games always take insurance when the running count is +2 or more.

Other recommended strategies include always standing on 16 versus a 10 when the running count is zero or more.

The Rating

Red 7 Count

The Red seven system fairs pretty well when compared with other far more complex systems with the following scores. Betting Correlation scores high 0.98. Playing Efficiency is at average 0.54. Insurance correlation is fairly accurate at 0.75. The biggest advantage of this system is that it is easy to learn making it’s ease of playing score 70. The ease of playing is a particularly high score, beaten only by REKO System and KO System.


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Arnold Snyder and the Red Seven Card Counting System for Blackjack

Card Counting History:The History of Card Counting - Edward Thorp versus John Scarne - History of Card Counting Part III - The Griffin Agency Invenstigations - Shufflemaster Inc.
Card Counting How To:How to Count Cards - Learn to Count Cards
Card Counting Systems:Hi Lo Blackjack Card Counting System - KO (Knockout) Blackjack Card Counting System - Hi-Opt I Blackjack Card Counting System - Hi-Opt II Blackjack Card Counting System - The Red Seven Count - Zen Count Blackjack Card Counting System - Omega II Blackjack Card Counting System - Uston Advanced Point Count - Revere Advanced Point Count - Ed Thorp's Ten-Count

The Red Seven card counting system is an unbalanced card counting strategy, similar to the KO Count. You can read more about the Red Seven Count in Blackbelt in Blackjack by Arnold Snyder.

Red 7 Counting

The point values are distributed as per the table below:

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+1+1+1+1+1*00-1-1

7 Red Counties In Ohio

*In the Red Seven Count, ONLY red seven's are counted as +1; black seven's are given a value of 0.

The point of an unbalanced card counting system like the Red Seven Count is to eliminate the need to convert the running count into a true count when making betting decisions.

There Are 7 Red Counters In A Bag


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