This is a question that is often debated among tournament players. I'll give you my opinion, though you may hear others that disagree... Counting in a tournament round is worth very little in my opinion. In fact, if concentrating on counting causes you to overlook any other piece of useful information, it's a detriment to your game. The advantage afforded by card counting is very small, and usually in tournament rounds you don't have the luxury of restricting your bet size based on the count. More often, your bet size will be dictated by your tournament situation, not what the remaining deck looks like. Counting can be useful in one way: If you know your opponents are counting, you might be able to guess better at when they'll make a large bet, and use that information to margin their bets and reduce their effectiveness. I also love playing against counters who are unwilling to place large bets when they need to, just because the count is sharply negative. In particular, as the end of the round approaches, there are much more important things to spend your mental capacity on than keeping a running count. Knowing your opponent's exact bankrolls is much more valuable. Count if you want, but don't do it at the expense of the critical decisions. There is one argument for card counting that has more merit: Playing strategy decisions can be more accurate. But I still think it usually requires effort that can more effectively be applied elsewhere.
