Zen and the Art of Card Counting

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

No. The error rate would be no different, but the 2DTC is more accurate for betting than the more common 1/2DTC and 1DTC.

And possibly more comfortable to use.

[NAP]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

No. The error rate would be no different, but the 2DTC is more accurate for betting than the more common 1/2DTC and 1DTC.

While I don't doubt the truthfulness of your statement, this seems counter-intuitive to me. Can you explain what makes it more accurate?

[BJinNJ]

Fred's book on pg. 200

You can use 1 deck and cut the indices in half.

This was OK'd to me by Fred.

BJinNJ

[AussiePlayer]

Originally Posted by NAP

While I don't doubt the truthfulness of your statement, this seems counter-intuitive to me. Can you explain what makes it more accurate?

http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=8332

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by NAP

While I don't doubt the truthfulness of your statement, this seems counter-intuitive to me. Can you explain what makes it more accurate?

Yes Bluebook explains the improvement, but also sims done by QFIT, as well, I think. It is counter-intuitive that Snyder's 1/4DTC would be LESS accurate than Renzey's 2DTC, but once you grasp it you will see that the increase in per-decks-increment normalization also increases the adjustment GRANULARITY*. zg

*More is more. Bigger is better.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by AussiePlayer

http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=8332

Thats the one. zg

[Friendo]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

It is counter-intuitive that Snyder's 1/4DTC would be LESS accurate than Renzey's 2DTC, but once you grasp it you will see that the increase in per-decks-increment normalization also increases the adjustment GRANULARITY*. zg

Yep.

On good stretches, the Mentor TC will spend a great deal of time between +5 and +30, and I adjust my bet ramp according to the rules: the same bet which I would make at +9 with S17 NSR will wait until +11 with H17 NSR. Playing indices are similarly precise.

You have larger numbers to work with, because the number of half-decks remaining scales to half the number of decks remaining, so the denominator is smaller during TC conversion.

One of the things which prevents me from moving to Halves, which I can also count, is the crudeness of the bet ramps and indices: you have basically -1 through +6 to work with, instead of -5 through +30 I work with using Mentor.

It makes little difference in the long run, since "all decisions are approximations," per Wong, but if you run bet ramps on CVCX for Halves (or High-Low) and Mentor, you'll see what I mean about the relative crudeness of 1DTC conversion.

[NAP]

Thanks for the response guys. That actually makes sense now.

Congratulations, you've convinced me to look into switching to a 2DTC conversion.

[Coyote]

So, would you guys say there is a difference in the ease of use between Zen and Mentor? Seems to me that if I'm going to go with 2DTC I might as well go with Mentor.

Another question, how acceptable is Mentor for team play?

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by Coyote

So, would you guys say there is a difference in the ease of use between Zen and Mentor? Seems to me that if I'm going to go with 2DTC I might as well go with Mentor.

Another question, how acceptable is Mentor for team play?

Mentor is FINE but if you already got the ZEN count down, ZEN w/ 2DTC would be a solid hybrid. zg