Using advanced techniques

hi everyone, i have been playing & counting for a while now and am getting confident with my new skill set.

? Should I invest time in learning shuffle tracking and/or ace sequencing? Do they offer high additional EV?

What I like about the counting thus far, is that I have used very simple techniques - I use HiLo, simple betting spreads and just look for good playing conditions - i.e. i keep things as simple as possible. the advanced techniques, going by the discussions on some threads, seem amazingly complex.
? Is that the case?

If I often have the chance to spot the bottom of the deck, and often play heads-up (or with few other players), maybe learning to cut to the ace and making it magically land on one of my two boxes, is the best approach for now? All I would have to learn is how to cut a deck with accuracy.
? Does that sound like a good approach?

Great idea, but don't presume that this skill is any less complex than the others. Any of the skills you mentioned can be learned but all require a significant amount of practice both in and out of the casino. Some require sharper than average vision and estimation skills. You'll feel your heart hit your stomach when you push that max bet out on two or three spots only to see the ace land on the dealers hand. Comparatively I would find shuffle tracking a dealer who tops their cut offs easier than cutting to an ace but everyone has different talents.
BW

If you’re a serious long-term player then yes. There are many techniques that will give you a huge advantage if you can find opportunities to use them. The more techniques that you learn, the more opportunities you will find to make money. Check out this old thread:

http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?p=102995

Yeah. Some are more complex than others, and the details of certain techniques are not really available to most players so you will have to do a lot of work on your own. That's true of most things in life.

If you know a magic trick that will make the ace fall on your hand, go for it. If not, there are a few more skills you will have to learn in addition to near perfect cutting. All of the advanced techniques will require a lot of study and practice. Brock covered this nicely above.

-Sonny-

Probably the safest and most universally applicable advanced technique is double-key ace sequencing. It can be used on most shuffles, and all you have to do is memorize one key pair per shuffle to give you a significant increase in advantage when used in addition to counting. If you can memorize two key pairs, that gives you twice the extra advantage. No special skills are needed.

You still need that magic trick that makes the aces fall on your spot. It either takes skill or luck to get those cards to fall where you need them.

-Sonny-

Luck will do the job. This is a 52% advantage we've got here when you get the ace on the first card, so you only have to be right once in a while to get a nice advantage. I'll settle for the ace falling on my big bet 1 out of 8 times. (2.35% edge)

The fun part about that is to the eye it takes a long time for 1 out of 8 to become statistically distinguishable from 1 out of 13. You'll probably be backed off only due to lifetime win, which is the best way.

Be Wary

When you simply count cards you know the good cards are in the shoe. When you shuffle track you are hoping your skill puts the slug or A where you want it.

card counting is akin to factory line work, you put in the time you make money.

shuffle tracking/sequencing is akin to surgery, make a mistake and you could kill your patient that being your bankroll:joker::whip:

Practice is the key as others have stated.

Do you think you need other techniques for camoflauge? Then of course they have more value.

I would check to see if the games you face are actually vulnerable to other techniques before expending the energy learning other techniques only to find you can't apply them based on conditions.

If expanding your game takes away from playing time, you may be better off playing unless again there are camo or other considerations.

Not if your bets are sized properly. Bankroll is bankroll, advantage is advantage, and standard deviation is standard deviation regardless of whether it comes from counting, tracking, holecarding or any other form of AP. Misjudging the location and concentration of high cards, and that awful horrible mistake of the dealer dealing all the naturals to himself instead of you :flame: are all the same thing in terms of your standard deviation and your bets have to be sized with this in mind no matter what method you're using.

Being we don't know exactly what we're going to be seeing the dealers doing when we get to the casino, and we can't take our laptops out and recalculate (although I have done my share of shuffle analysis in parking lots) it's best to set up for a worst-case shuffle, and be pleasantly surprised when we see something better.