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John Grochowski is a blackjack expert and a well-known and respected casino gambling columnist. His syndicated casino gambling column appears in the Chicago Sun Times, Denver Post, Casino City Times, and other newspapers and web sites. Grochowski has written six books on gambling including the "Answer Man" series of books (www.casinoanswerman.com). Send your question to Grochowski at casinoanswerman@casinoanswerman.com.

Q. Why is Hi-Lo card counting better than just counting face cards?

A. Let me preface this by saying it is possible to devise a fairly accurate counting system by counting SMALL cards and ignoring the high ones. It requires some adjustments, but the Speed Count detailed in Frank Scoblete’s Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution book shows how it’s done. It’s the easiest accurate card counting system I know.
 
But to go at this from a hi-lo counter’s standpoint, the key is the balance between high and low cards remaining in the deck. Knowing only the proportion of high cards remaining to be played might tell you when blackjacks are most likely, and that’s a key component of a card counter’s edge. They can’t tell you when to make certain strategy decisions, or when your double downs will play truest.
 
A run of hands like King-7, Queen-8, and Jack-9 is different from a run of King-6, Queen-5, and Jack-4. In the first, neutral cards accompany the faces. In the second, low cards offset the faces. You’ve counted the same number of faces, but I see a Hi-Lo count of -3 in the first case, and 0 in the second. In the first, not only have three cards that are great for my double downs been removed, but so have three that are not bad for my double downs. In the second case, the three high cards have been offset by eliminating three cards that are bad for double downs.
 
That can make a difference in playing strategy. If I have 13 vs. a dealer’s 2, basic strategy says to stand. But in a true count of -1, I hit instead. I don’t know that true count unless I track both high and low cards.
 
All that said, adjustments can be made and the count simplified. If I were recommending a system to a beginning counter, I’d advise them to try the Speed Count. It’s much, much easier than Hi-Lo, with a small loss in accuracy.

In addition to the number of players at the table, speed of the game is affected by the method of shuffling. A hand-shuffled game brings fewer hands per hour than a machine-shuffled game, and continuous shuffling machines, with no break to cut the cards, are the fastest of all. Non-counters are best off at a hand-shuffled game with more players at the table. Advantage players are best off with a non-continuous machine-shuffled game with fewer players. No one should play with a continuous shuffler.
 
Q.  I recently saw 21+3 blackjack games for the first time. The side bet on the player's two cards plus the dealer's up card combining for a flush, straight or three of a kind, paid 9 to 1. What are the true odds on the side bet?

A. In a six-deck game, there are 5,013,320 possible three-card combinations. Of those, 485,096 are winners, while 4,528,224 are losers. That's between 9.3-1 and 9.4-1, and gives the house an edge of 3.3 percent.
 
Like most blackjack side bets, 21+3 has a higher house edge than blackjack itself, especially if you know your basic strategy. In common six-deck games, the house has an edge of about half a percent against a basic strategy player, a few tenths more or less depending on house rules. An average blackjack player faces a house edge of 2 to 2.5 percent. Only when you get into the realm of poor blackjack play do you face house edges as high as 3.3 percent.
 
A couple of other side bets that have had runs of popularity give the house even bigger advantages. Royal Match, which has made a comeback on electronic blackjack tables, has a 6.7 percent house edge in its most common six-deck version. The version of Lucky Ladies I’ve seen in casinos has a house edge of 24.7 percent, and even the "good" version has a 17.6 percent house edge.
 
I can understand why players might want to make the side bets and give themselves a chance at a bigger payoff than they get on a regular blackjack winner. In the long run, though, they’re costing themselves money. Basic strategy for nearly all side bets is to skip them.