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KISS 3 / KISS III Card Counting System

The KISS III system is slightly different than the KISS II count only by the fact that now "7s" will correspond to a +1 count and the Aces will now correspond to a -1 count. KISS itself stands for "Keep It Short & Simple" so you know this will be an easy system to learn for new card counters. This is a level I (level one or single level) strategy meaning the indices range from (+1,0,-1) and there are fewer numbers to keep track of.

The KISS III count was first made popular in the book called "Blackjack Bluebook II", which was published by Fred Renzey. All the KISS card counting systems were designed to be simple and had the possibility of making efficiency better by adding more advanced properties to the system. This one in particular is very close to the Red 7 count where the only difference is you need to be suit aware of the "2s" instead of the "7s". Although, the KISS 3 actually has a slightly greater playing efficiency than Red 7.

You can see the indexes for this strategy below. Remember that you need to be suit-aware of the "two point" cards. This means when a red "2" is dealt, you add 0 to the count and if there is a black "2", you need to add +1 to the running count. You could just as easily switch the indexes from black to red and it will not make a difference either, as long as you stay consistent throughout the whole deck.

Card Value Points
2 0/+1
3 +1
4 +1
5 +1
6 +1
7 +1
8 0
9 0
10 -1
J -1
Q -1
K -1
A -1

In comparison to the KISS 2, KISS 3 has a huge increase in betting correlation but a decrease in efficiency and insurance correlation. If you are wondering which one is better, then it just depends on what attributes are more important to your game and what kind of rules you are using in different variations of blackjack. The KISS III tends to have an advantage when playing with shoe games or games with multiple decks of cards. This is great for players because almost all casinos nowadays use the shoe instead of single deck.

This is also an unbalanced system, which means you do not have to do conversions between the true count and the running count, which depends on the number of decks being played. The strategy in an unbalanced system such as the KISS III, you need to multiply -2 by the number of decks you will be playing with. For example, if you are playing at a table with four decks, the initial starting count would just be -8. Then you just continue to count as you normally would. The general rule is when your total count eventually goes above 0, you will have a 1% edge over the house. This is actually easier for beginners since there is less to keep track of and you know exactly when you have the edge.

The goal is to bet high when the count is high since the greater numbers of tens in the deck will benefit the player more than the dealer. Likewise, when the count is low or positive, you should reduce your bet sizes to ease up on the losses when the advantage is against you and the house has the edge. Like always, you need to memorize basic strategy and play a perfect game in order to have the best chances and percentages in the odds.



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