The Wong Halves System for Card Counting

Basics of the Wong Halves System

The Wong Halves is a standard, balanced system for counting cards in blackjack, which allows players to track the ratio of high to low cards in the shoe and know when they have the advantage. The idea, of course, is that decks rich in high cards (Ace, 10s) are more favorable to the players, whereas decks with fewer high cards favor the house. The Wong Halves is a rather complicated, level-3 method, which means that there are three different numerical values assigned to the cards, positive or negative.

Moreover, this system uses fractions so compared to most methods, it is significantly harder to apply. Here are the numerical values used in the Wong Halves count:

• 2, 7 – +0.5
• 3, 4, 6 – +1
• 5 – +1.5
• 8 – 0
• 9 – -0.5
• 10, J, Q, K, A – -1

As we can see, the highest value is assigned to the 5s (+1.5). These cards have been proved mathematically to offer the worst odds for the player. The high cards forming hands of 20, 21 (including blackjack), on the other hand, are worth -1. The method also assumes that the 9s in the deck shift the odds slightly in favor of the player, which is why they are also given negative value (-0.5).

The sum of all card values for the deck is exactly 0, which makes the Wong Halves a balanced system. This means that before placing their bets, players will need to convert the running count into a true count but more on this below.

How to Use the Wong Halves System?

Before starting to count cards, players should determine their bankroll, as well as the minimum and maximum bets they are comfortable with. A good betting spread for beginners is 1-5, while larger spreads such as 1-10, 1-20 or more, offer more profitability and greater risk at the same time. Players start off the game with 1-unit bets after a reshuffle. They begin the count at 0 and add or subtract numbers from it as the cards appear on the table.

As the structure of this system is a bit more complicated than usual, let’s take a 6-deck game as an example. The first cards dealt on the table are 7, 2, Queen, 4, and 8, corresponding to +0.5, +0.5, -1, +1, and 0. This means that our running count is +1, indicating that the player has a slight advantage over the house. However, these are just the first five cards dealt out of all 312 cards in the six decks used in this game.

If even 2 cards with a negative value are drawn in the next deal, the count will dip below 0. This lack of uncertainty caused by the many cards still remaining in the shoe makes the running count of +1 completely irrelevant. In order to provide players with a more adequate count, the system requires conversion to the so-called “true count”.

True Count

Unlike the running count that is constantly kept by players during the game, the true count takes the number of decks still not played into consideration. There are several different ways to determine the true count but most players stick to a simple and proven method – they just divide the running count by the number of decks in the shoe.

Following the same example, we have a running count of +1. Assuming some cards have been burnt and some have been dealt, there will be around 5 decks and half still left in the shoe. If 5 decks of cards are remaining (at best), we need to divide 1 by 5 for a true count of +0.20.

Since higher counts indicate better odds for the player, the true count we have is not impressive at all. In fact, we need a minimum true count of +2 to gain some actual advantage over the house. This means that we keep placing our minimum wager until the count becomes +2 or higher. Then, we increase the bet size to maximize the potential profits resulting from a favorable situation. The higher the count, the greater the bets should be. Of course, players should bet less when the count is low.