Revere Point Count System According to Norm Wattenberger, the expert on card counting who runs QFIT, the Revere Point Count system is the best of Lawrence Revere’s multiple advantage play systems for getting an edge over the casino at blackjack. In most ways, the Revere Point Count works like every other card counting system. Rules of the Revere Point Count Being a balanced system you’ll start with a count of zero. You’ll now add or subtract to the running count based upon the following values: Any three, four, five or six adds 2 to the count. The Revere Advanced Point Count – How it Works. At the start of a new shoe the ‘running count’ will be zero. You’ll now add or subtract to and from that count based upon the following values: A five will add 4 to the count. A three, four or six will add 3 to the count. A two or a seven will add 2 to the count. Revere discusses four major strategies created by Julian Brown, in addition to the Revere Point Count, Revere Five Count, Revere Plus-Minus, and Ten Count Strategies. These strategies are for single deck play, but Revere came out later with a multi-deck version. The book is well respected and is still sold today by Revere’s family. The Revere Point Count (RPC) is one of four card counting systems co-developed by Lawrence Revere and detailed in his book Playing Blackjack as a Business.

• Revere Point Count Indices Blackjack Chart
• Revere Point Count System
• Revere Point Count

This Level 4 System May Be Too Complex for Practical Use

The Revere Advanced Point Count (RAPC) is one of the most complicated card counting systems you’ll find. This system follows on from the ‘Revere Advanced Plus-Minus’ and the ‘Revere Point Count’ which were progressively more difficult, but the RAPC goes one step further. The RAPC is a level IV counting system, meaning that players will have to keep track of values that range from -4 through to +4, making it much more difficult to track than level I systems, where players will only find values of +1 and -1.

The RAPC is a balanced count, meaning that if you add and subtract the values of all 52 cards in a deck, the final count will come back to zero. You could practice this at home before taking the system into a casino, although it is only advisable to use this system if you are a very experienced card counter.

How Card Counting Works

In any card counting system you’ll keep a count. During a game, when the count is a positive one, it means that the remaining cards in the deck are good ones for the player (usually featuring a good proportion of cards with a value of 10, which means the dealer is more likely to bust). Obviously, the opposite applies and when the card count is negative, the conditions are bad for the player.

In any game of blackjack, the house has a built-in edge. However, a positive count will see that edge turned on its head and the edge will now be with the player, making the game one where the player can make a profit. With a negative count, the edge in favor of the house increases, so you should certainly be betting small.

The Revere Advanced Point Count – How it Works

At the start of a new shoe the ‘running count’ will be zero. You’ll now add or subtract to and from that count based upon the following values:

A five will add 4 to the count.

A three, four or six will add 3 to the count.

A two or a seven will add 2 to the count.

An eight is a neutral card, so the count will remain unchanged.

A nine will subtract 1 from the count.

A ten, jack, queen and a king will each subtract 3 from the count.

An ace will subtract 4 from the count.

As you can see from the above values, this system does require some learning as it won’t feel as natural as some other systems, where you might, for example, simply add 1 for low cards and subtract 1 for high cards.

Having calculated your running count, you now have the further step of converting it into a ‘true count’. This is achieved by dividing the running count by the number of decks left in the shoe, so if you had a running count of +24 with 4 decks left, the ‘true count’ would be +6. This extra step adds a further level of difficulty to the RAPC.

Now you have a ‘true count’ you can make your betting decisions. You’ll want to increase the bet size when this count is a positive one and the higher the count is, the more you’ll want to bet. As is always the case with card counting, you should be aware that you don’t look like you are doing it, so aim to keep your bet sizing from looking too systematic.

How effective is The Revere Advanced Point Count?

Nobody would dispute the claim that the math behind this system is good, but in this day and age the RAPC has been rendered obsolete. This is due to the sheer difficulty of using the system. Consider that in a casino, you have many factors to consider – the speed of the game, the noise, talk and other players. Because of these factors, a card counting system with so many values to consider is incredibly taxing.

Revere Point Count Indices Blackjack Chart

Even expert card counters have dismissed this system, as there are other simpler systems out there where the difference in the edge over the house is negligible. The RAPC system gives you a perfect 100% betting correlation, but there are level I systems which give you 99% – and using a level I system you are much less likely to make a mistake.

The Revere Advanced Point Count – Summary

Revere Point Count System

Revere Point Count

If you ever did decide to take the RAPC into the casino, make sure that you have plenty of experience of card counting. This is one of the trickiest systems out there and even a small mistake will end up costing you. If you can get it right however, the rewards are certainly there – although you’d have to ask yourself ‘Is it really worth it?’