The Zen Count card counting system is one of the many card counting techniques devised by professional gambler and blackjack master Arnold Snyder. First mention of this strategy can be found in Snyder’s 1983 classic Blackbelt in Blackjack.
An expert card counter and one of the seven original inductees into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, Snyder has come up with many card counting systems that have been suitable for players of all levels of card counting ability and overall experience and skill.
The Zen Count card counting system is not exactly for absolute beginners as there are some elements of this system that require certain knowledge of basic aspects of card counting, but it is simple enough to be mastered after a little bit of practice at home before players can successfully execute it at the casino.
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But how is this system used and what does it require to learn it? Here is everything a player needs to know about the Zen Count card counting system before heading to a blackjack table to use it in pursuit of better edge against the house.
Zen Count – The Basics
An important thing that every aspiring card counter should remember is that the basis of any card counting system, the Zen Count included, is playing perfect basic strategy and avoiding making mistakes as even the simplest of them could undermine whatever advantage a player could gain through card counting.
The Zen Count system, just as any card counting method, relies heavily on creating a running count. In other words, as a card is dealt at the blackjack table, the player needs to assign a value to it and then add the value to the sum of the values of all previously dealt cards.
The running count is that important signal that a card counter needs in order to adjust their bets when playing blackjack, that is to say to increase or reduce them. In the Zen Count system, players can increase their bets in the case of a positive running count and reduce them to the minimum allowed at their particular table in the case of a negative running count.
Running Count Keeping Hints
True Count Drills
Approaches Utilized by a Card Counter
Making a Proper Selection of a Game
Appropriate Games
When using this card counting system, players always start their running count with a value of zero. And when cards are reshuffled, players should again reset their running count to a value of zero and restart their card counting process. This makes the Zen Count somewhat similar to other simpler card counting system such as the Hi-Lo Count.
Using the Zen Count System
In the Zen Count method, each card in the deck has a numerical value. When a card counter who wants to use this technique sits at the blackjack table, they should always start with a value of zero, as mentioned earlier.
As cards begin to be dealt, the player needs to add each card’s respective numerical value in the Zen Count system to the running count. The Zen Count numerical values are known as indices and are shown in the table below:
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | J | Q | K | A |
| +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -1 |
Luckily, the indices in the Zen Count system are not that complicated and can be memorized fairly easily after a few practice sessions at home.
In other words, when a player starts with a count of zero, they need to:
- add 1 to their running count if a 2, 3, or 7 is dealt
- add 2 to their running count if a 4, 5, 6 appears
- do nothing if an 8 or 9 is dealt
- subtract 2 from their running count if a 10, J, Q, or K is dealt
- subtract 1 from their running count if an A appears
It should be noted that the Zen Count system handles Aces in a slightly different manner than other card counting methods in that they are not counted separately. They are included in the running count along with the other cards instead.
To compensate for the reduced edge percentage when Aces are removed from the deck, the Aces are assigned a value of -1 in the running count. Snyder believed that this was just as effective as the elimination of Aces from the running count and counting them separately, as it is with other card counting methods. This somewhat makes the Zen Count system a bit less complex than other systems as it gives players one less thing to be constantly taking into account while playing blackjack.
It should also be noted that 10s and Aces are given negative values as they benefit players the most and not having them reduces their edge. In the same manner, low cards are assigned the highest value as their removal from the deck benefits players. In other words, the running count is the highest when most of the low cards have been taken from the deck and lower when there are fewer 10s and Aces left.
The Zen Count System and True Count
Snyder believed that using a true count could make the Zen Count system even more efficient. In order to determine the true count, the player must use the Zen Count numerical values of the cards to first determine the running count.
Once this is done, the player needs to try to determine the number of the card decks left in play and then divide the running count by the number of decks left. The result is the true count.
Having all that knowledge significantly helps players adjust their bets. The lower the true count is, the less a player would want to bet. And if the true count is high, players would certainly want to place a little bigger bets as the chance of getting a blackjack is higher.
A good way to size bets when using the Zen Count system is to use the true count as a multiplier for the minimum at the blackjack table. In other words, if the true count is at +2, the player could bet two times the table minimum. And if the true count is negative or stands at +1, it is a better idea to simply bet the table minimum.
Players should not bet too aggressively when using the Zen Count system in order to avoid being caught by casino staff. Just as all other card counting methods and advantage play techniques, the Zen Count is, too, frowned upon by gambling establishments around the world.
