Uston Advanced Point Count

Ken Uston, who was probably known as the "king of blackjack" at one time, published his landmark book "Million Dollar Blackjack" for several reasons, and one of them was to unveil what was to that point his crowning achievement in terms of blackjack systems.

The Uston Advanced Point Count was complicated blackjack betting system, for sure. Complicated systems take a lot of time and energy to master to the point where they can be used in the fast pace of the casino. In his book, though, Uston maintained that the time required to master it was no more than that which was required to be an average chess, backgammon or bridge player.

The Uston Advanced Point Count was a three-level count, which made it more involved than single-level systems, for sure, and the combinations were certainly going to be a challenge. The card values are as follows:

* 2 and 8 are counted as +1
* 3, 4, 6 and 7 are counted as +2
* The 5 is counted as +3
* The 9 is counted as -1
* Ten-value cards (10, J, Q, K) are counted as -3
* Aces are not counted, and were to be the subject of a side count

This made it more difficult than the Hi-Opt II blackjack system, and less difficult than the Revere APC blackjack system.

The Uston APC contained over 163 strategy variations which had to be memorized by the player, and true count conversion was, of course, necessary. It used a half-deck conversion factor, meaning, for example, that if there are 3-1/2 decks remaining to be played, that constitutes seven half-decks.

Ace adjustment was required as well with the use of a side count. Prior to betting, the player must determine whether the remaining deck is Ace-rich or Ace-poor. For every Ace that it is rich, you would add +3 to the running count before the true count conversion. You will subtract -3 from your running count if the deck is Ace-poor. This becomes incredibly cumbersome without a lot of practice, and to jumble things even further, that ace-adjusted count only applies for betting purposes, not playing purposes, so you have to keep two different counts in your head.

What this amounts to is something that is very complicated in a blackjack game where things are moving at a rather swift pace, and this is the kind of count that is one of the most powerful in the world, on the surface, but is tailor-made for causing mental fatigue. As far as the efficiency of the Uston Advanced Point Count is concerned, you are looking at a .69 playing efficiency and a .99 betting efficiency, which puts it right up there with the Revere Advanced Point Count. The "ease of use" quotient on the Uston APC was not high, however.

Uston had players on his blackjack team using this blackjack system, but ultimately he admitted that they were getting tired and making mistakes, which was negating the advantages that could be culled from the blackjack system. He later got them off the system and into another blackjack betting system - one that he devised, of course.