Betting Strategy / Spread -- Help

[letsdothis21]

Okay I decided to create my own thread for this question to hopefully get some help with it.

I just learned the Hi/Lo count and will hopefully be learning the "Illustrious 18 indices" (is that what they are called?).

I have just began to think about BR (usually I would just bring however much I was willing to lose [around $60]), but now realize I should bring more to deal with variance. Thus I have around a $2k BR (is that enough?). Here is my current betting strategy which I got from Semyon Dukach:

(True Count - 1) x Betting Unit

I have done this with my BU being whatever table minimum I am playing at (usually $3 sometimes $5).

The last time I was at the casino my spread was from $5 to $60 or 1 to 12 spread - is this all right? I had a TC of +12/+13 and bet as so (thankfully won both hands playing this amount, one of which I doubled down).

Basically any information on what betting strategy I should use, or any thoughts on my current betting strategy would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by letsdothis21

Here is my current betting strategy which I got from Semyon Dukach:

(True Count - 1) x Betting Unit

This strategy sounds WAY too conservative to me. A TC of +13 is almost never going to happen. Most people make their max bet at +4 or +5 so you should be up to 12 units by then. A generic 1-12 bet spread might look like this:

+1 = $5
+2 =$10
+3 =$20
+4 =$40
+5 =$60

There was a pretty long discussion about this on one of the MIT websites:

http://www.blackjackinstitute.com/fo...pic.php?t=1161

From what I recall (vaguely) I think the team used some sort of offset to make their system conform to the typical proportional betting system. I don’t remember the specifics but it should all be explained in the thread above.

-Sonny-

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by Sonny

This strategy sounds WAY too conservative to me. A TC of +13 is almost never going to happen. Most people make their max bet at +4 or +5 so you should be up to 12 units by then. A generic 1-12 bet spread might look like this:
+1 = $5
+2 =$10
+3 =$20
+4 =$40
+5 =$60

With ONLY 400u I would be inclined to bet like this -

+1 = $5
+2 =$10
+3 =$10+$10
+4 =$20+$20
+5 =$30+$30

zg

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

With ONLY 400u I would be inclined to bet like this -

+1 = $5
+2 =$10
+3 =$10+$10
+4 =$20+$20
+5 =$30+$30

zg

And this:

<+1 = $0

-Sonny-

[Knox]

How come you guys aren't mentioning the inadequacy of this guy's 33-unit max bet bankroll. Shouldn't you weigh that much more heavily than the minimum bet of $5?

[letsdothis21]

thanks for the help guys, yeah the RC was 26 with about 1.5 decks left...so I was amazed.

I might be going to the casino again either tonight or tomorrow so I will try and use this new strategy, thanks for the link to that other forum post - the MIT team is so inspiring haha, I still have to read it all though.

If there is a suggested BR that I should have just let me know, I am still new so I still have to learn to count all the shoes I play and my winnings/losses to help me play better...but this is so fun.

Thanks again everyone

[jack,jackson]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

With ONLY 400u I would be inclined to bet like this -

+1 = $5
+2 =$10
+3 =$10+$10
+4 =$20+$20
+5 =$30+$30

zg

He might want to consider Dropping +5:30/30 for awhile. Until he builds up a slightly larger BR. This way he'll have 50 max bets to play with. Instead of just 33 max bets. [33x60=1,980] Even though this may effect his overall advantage. I find it to be a little safer. Just tryin to help!