Basics of KISS III

Before I can introduce you to what I call KISS IV you'll need a basic understanding of the KISS III system. If you want to know the index plays and get the inside tips from the creator himself you're going to have to check out Blackjack Bluebook II. With that disclaimer, here we go!

KISS III Stats: Betting Correlation: .98 Playing Efficiency: .56 Insurance Correlation: .78

KISS III is an unbalanced count. What this means for you is that it will be a bit simpler to use compared to a balanced count, but will lose some accuracy when because of the fact that there is no true count conversion. We'll take care of that loss of accuracy with KISS IV.

With KISS III your initial running count (IRC) will vary depending on the number of decks you are playing. For the purpose of this discussion we are going to assume you are playing a six deck shoe. In this case your initial running count will be set to 9. The card ranks are as follows:

KISS III Card Ranks

Essentially how this works is you sit down at a 6 deck game (or back count) with your initial running count, which is 9, in your head. For every card that comes out you either add or subtract the values above to your running count. Don't worry about missing out on small things, such as the burn card, as the effect of missing one card will be miniscule. As an example, let's assume the following scenario:

You have went to your local casino and sat down at a 6 deck blackjack game. We're also going to assume you've done your homework and the rules and penetration of this game are also beatable. It's just you and the dealer heads up. The dealer deals you a 9 of clubs and a 2 of clubs. The dealer's upcard is jack of hearts. What is your running count now?

Well let's see, the 9 of clubs has a value of 0. Your running count will stay at 9. Your 2 of clubs is a black 2 and has a value of +1. Your running count has changed to 10 (9+1=10.) We need to count the dealer's card and he has a jack of hearts. His card has a value of -1 so our running count returns to 9 (10-1=9.)

We decide to double down and receive a 10 of hearts. We have 21, nice! Let's not forget to count this card though. A 10 has a value of -1 so our running count has been reduced to 8 (9-1=8.)

The dealer flips up their card and they were holding the king of clubs which has a value of -1. Our running count is reduced to 7 and the dealer scoops up the cards and places them in the discard tray. Our running count stays at 7 for the next hand where we repeat this process until the shoe is reshuffled.

Well great, we have all this information about the cards being played, but the trick is using it effectively to make smart, profitable decisions. With the KISS III count you know you have an advantage anytime your running count hits 20 or above. Likewise, it's probably time to walk away anytime your running count hits 4 or lower. You should only take insurance only at a count of 25 or above. Your decision to hit, stand, double down, or split will also be affected by your running count.

Now that you have an understanding of the KISS II and KISS III counts let's take it another step and I'll show you some tricks I've come up with to squeeze every last drop of power out of these counts.

NOTE: This is only basic information; this is not enough to make you a profitable player. You are still going to need to know how to increase your bets, bankroll guidelines, index plays, etc. Once again I recommend Mr. Renzey's book Blackjack Bluebook II or you can use my version of the count which will be detailed in an upcoming article.

If you haven't purchased Blackjack Bluebook II yet, I highly recommend it!  Click the picture below!