Re: Playing blackjack splits on the count.
When you say this, I assume you count aces as a ten and deduct 2-6 for a balanced count. Let me know if this is wrong.
A friend only counts aces. He goes to Vegas once a year, mostly for fun. By counting aces, it is easy even when having a number of beers. He is trying to avoid heat by always surrendering pair of 8's vs 10 or ace. The win ratio on splitting 8's against a ten is real, but small. He still gets some heat when he jumps to $100 from $10 when half the deck is out and all the aces are in the shoe.
We both shun 6:5 games!!
No, I only count tens - I count how many 10's have been discarded. If 3 decks have been discarded and 45 10's are gone, that means there are 3 extra 10's floating around in the remaining decks.
I don't count aces. In environments where I mostly play (6 deck, table nearly full) counting aces has never helped much - it's a very long term proposition. You'd have to hope the ace comes out to begin with, hope it ends up on your hand and not another person's - especially the dealer's, and hope a 10 comes with it. 10's themselves are more involved in various phases of the hand - doubling down, drawing 20's, the dealer busting, and whether basic strategy is going to hold up. If you're playing a heads up double deck game against the dealer, then it's sure a lot more worth it to count aces.
As for low cards, it helps if you can keep track of them but honestly without at least some low cards around the dealer would not bust and you would get less double and split opportunities.