how much boxes to play?

[DSky-]

At my country at morning casinos are usually empty, so i have a question if i play blackjack and i am alone on the table is there some rules about when and how much boxes i should play ?

[Sonny]

If you can spread to multiple hands without increasing your bet then play as many as you can. If your regular bet is $10 then playing 2 hands of $5 each would be a little helpful, but if you have to play 2 hands of $10 or more then don’t do it. Putting more money on the table will just cause you to lose more. This assumes you are a basic strategy player.

-Sonny-

[DSky-]

i am new to blackjack and ilearned the basic strategy and i am trying to count right now but i ask because i saw some people changing the number of boxes they play and i ask if there is some strategy with changing the number of boxes

[SilentBob420BMFJ]

Originally Posted by Sonny

If you can spread to multiple hands without increasing your bet then play as many as you can. If your regular bet is $10 then playing 2 hands of $5 each would be a little helpful, but if you have to play 2 hands of $10 or more then don’t do it. Putting more money on the table will just cause you to lose more. This assumes you are a basic strategy player.

-Sonny-

imagine if you could play 5 spots @ $2 each (im pretty sure no casinos let you divide the table min into 2+ spots).. that would be godly in terms of lowering volatility and increasing fun!

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by DSky-

i am new to blackjack and ilearned the basic strategy and i am trying to count right now but i ask because i saw some people changing the number of boxes they play and i ask if there is some strategy with changing the number of boxes

Once you learn how to count cards you will find lots of strategies that involve playing multiple hands. But for a basic strategy player the main thing is to bet as little as possible all the time.

-Sonny-

[EmeraldCityBJ]

As Sonny suggested, for the Basic Strategy player, spreading the same amount of money across several hands will cause you to lose less in the long run.

Here are some AP considerations:
1) During high counts, some counters will spread to multiple hands to get more money out there - either because they've hit the table max bet, or for cover (e.g. jumping from one hand at $50 to two hands at $100 will look less suspicious than continuing with one hand and betting $150-200).
2) Spreading to multiple hands burns through cards faster. During high counts this is to the counter's disadvantage, but is often necessary for the reasons outlined in (1). During negative counts, it's better to burn through the cards faster, and under certain specific conditions (a small casino with one BJ game open, and the counter is head's up with the dealer), it may be beneficial for the counter to play multiple hands with the smallest bet possible.
3) If a shuffle tracker is expecting an ace or a clump of aces to be dealt, they are likely to spread to multiple hands, increasing the likelyhood that one of their hands receives the expected ace(s).

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by EmeraldCityBJ

As Sonny suggested, for the Basic Strategy player, spreading the same amount of money across several hands will cause you to lose less in the long run.

No, in the long run the amount lost will be the same because the amount of money in action is the same. The only difference will be that the short-term fluctuations will be smoother.

I think you described the AP consideration very well though.

-Sonny-