Hi-Lo Count (High-Low counting or Plus-Minus counting) is considered to be the basic counting of blackjack, and every new comer learns this system first when s/he start studying basic strategy of blackjack and principles of card counting in general. This system was described in details by Edward Thorp in his book Beat the Dealer, so, Hi-Lo Count was actually the first blackjack system discovered by card counters.
Hi-Lo is the perfect counting system for "freshmen" of card counting because of the following facts:It is the system of the first level of difficultly, which means that a counter should add or subtract only one point from his/her count total.
It is a balanced counting system, which means that a gambler starts his counting with a zero and ends it with a zero too.
It does not have a side-count (as KO Count has) when a gambler should count Aces separately from his/her general count.
It is very easy to count cards using Hi-Lo system because of the facts described above: everything you should know perfectly is a value of every card of a deck and the main principle of counting cards at blackjack.
Points+1+1+1+1+1000-1-1
So, a gambler starts its counting with a zero; each time when a card is dealt from a shoe s/he should add or subtract 1 point according to this card's value. A counter should not forget about the cards of a dealer and other players which gamble at the same blackjack table with him/her!!
Blackjack is played with a deck of 52 cards 20 of which have positive value, 20 - negative and 12 of them are neutral; that is why when you use Hi-Lo Count you should end your count total with a zero.
The more points you have during your counting - the more your chances to get a high card are: so, when your count is positive you are welcome to increase your bets (as you can see, low cards have positive values according to Hi-Lo system, and when they are dealt it means that more high cards are left in a shoe and you have big chances to get them). When your count total is close to 0 or negative - we would not recommend you to make big bets because your chances to get a high card are very small!