Coming into the middle of a deck without knowing the count.

[BJLFS]

I heard that one should just start counting from zero. Is that correct?

What say you?

 

[MangoJ]

That's true (in my opinion). You can still count, but you play a game with greatly reduced penetration.

 

[Severity8]

?

At what point as far as decks dealt does this become mute knowledge. 1deck... 2decks.... at what point is this not known info so great that it absolves AP knowledge? At what point is the unknown outweigh the ...... lets sit down and play a few hands?

Sev~

 

[alwayssplitaces]

You're needlessly increasing your variance. Let's say on the first hand everyone gets a twenty or blackjack. You miss that hand and come in later. You see a lot of low cards and think the count is high, but it really is close to zero, so you're max betting for nothing.

You have to count all unseen cards as behind the cut card. If 1 deck has been dealt out of 6, when you join, you divide the running count by 6, not by 5.

Just wait till the shuffle, claim that you don't want to mess with the "flow", ploppies do that all the time. Or come in mid-shoe and randomly vary your bet till the shuffle for cover.

 

[BJLFS]

Thank you all.

 

[BJLFS]

You're needlessly increasing your variance. Let's say on the first hand everyone gets a twenty or blackjack. You miss that hand and come in later. You see a lot of low cards and think the count is high, but it really is close to zero, so you're max betting for nothing.

Never thought of that.

You have to count all unseen cards as behind the cut card. If 1 deck has been dealt out of 6, when you join, you divide the running count by 6, not by 5.

That's right. By definition you look at them as unseen cards.

Just wait till the shuffle, claim that you don't want to mess with the "flow", ploppies do that all the time. Or come in mid-shoe and randomly vary your bet till the shuffle for cover.

Thanks for that reasoning. That's the answer I was looking for when they invite you to sit down.

 

[blackjack avenger]

If Not Consistent

One can start counting a shoe at any point. The cards you miss you just consider them behind the cut card. The effect is reduced penetration which is not good. The more cards you miss at the beginning of the shoe the worse this effect is.

Did anyone expect me to say anything different?

:joker::whip:
good cards

 

[BrianCP]

If you must, see how many decks have already been dealt and consider them as still in play. 4 deck game, one deck already dealt when you sit down. RC hits +12 about 1 deck later. Instead of dividing by two decks, divide by 3 as you did not see that first played deck.


Of course the best way to deal with this is just to wait at the table for a shuffle.

 

[blackjack avenger]

Nothing Has No Value

Of course the best way to deal with this is just to wait at the table for a shuffle.

Not so
The shoe with cards missed still has value vs doing nothing.

The best option is to find a fesh shoe, if not available then watching the current shoe; with cards missed, has value. The more cards you missed the less value the shoe has.

:joker::whip:

 

[MangoJ]

If you must, see how many decks have already been dealt and consider them as still in play. 4 deck game, one deck already dealt when you sit down. RC hits +12 about 1 deck later. Instead of dividing by two decks, divide by 3 as you did not see that first played deck.


Of course the best way to deal with this is just to wait at the table for a shuffle.

Such a shoe is well worth playing, since you play at a TC of +4!

 

[bjcardcounter]

FerretnParrot started a thread already on this. There were more insights on it.