I am a newbie as well and have decided on hi-lo after looking at many other counting systems. I think you should stick with Hi-Lo. Are you having problems with half deck conversions. What I do is if it is closer to 4 decks remaining but you know it is a little less like 3.6 or something, just use 4. In other words, in 6 deck games, I don't bother with half deck conversions. Do you have software that you can practice on? I think this makes a world of difference. I made my own blackjack game and am practicing with that.