This book is a supplement to KO with Table of Critical Running Count. The 45m79c (Four, Five minus Seven, Nine count) is included as a side count to be used with the primary KO count. Traditional blackjack counting wisdom is that the primary count should be balanced, and if side counts are kept, they must be separately included by rank, which ranks is not included in the primary count, and an excess or deficiency of that rank is calculated by taking into account the number of cards of that given rank played and decks played. This book and other books to follow, which will include a second and third side count to add to the KO and 45m79c covered in this book, will show that both statements are false. The primacy count is the KO, which is unbalanced with a pivot of a true count of four, and the 45m79c is a plus/minus balanced side count with the 4, 5, and 7 included in both the KO count and in the 45m79c. Plus/minus side counts are exact and easy to keep. The ranks in the side counts may also be included in the primary count or in other side counts if more than one side count is used. All strategy changes are made by using a linear combination of the side counts with the primary count, with the result being compared to the critical running count for the particular strategy change so that no division or any other calculations are necessary. Near the pivot of a true count of four, where large bets are made and so accuracy is paramount, the true count is relatively insensitive to errors in estimating the number of decks played. Finally, k in KO + k*(45m79c) is selected so as to maximize the absolute value of the correlation coefficient between the tag values of the derived count and the effects of removal for each strategic situation.
