Game selection question..

[ZeeBabar]

Assuming no heat, modest bet spread, at what point does a 6 deck game (H17, no S, standard rules) with a Pen of about 75-80 percent become more favourable than a DD game (H17, standard tules, no S) with a 55-60% pen. The question comes from a recent trip where often, I would select the 1 or 2 DD games, start heads up but would soon be joined by 1, 2 or 3 other players. This led to 3-4 spots being played with the limited pen DD game. Games were $25 minimum and I was spreading 1-6. Play all.

The 6 deck game was $10 minimum, I could play 1-2 spots, start with two hands of $20 each, drop to one hand of $10 at TC -1 or below, up to two hand max bet of $90 each. No of players varied between heads up and 5 spots being played.

Under these circumstances, when 3 or 4 spots were being played at DD game, I wondered if the 6 deck game was better.

 

[sagefr0g]

i'm pretty sure the answer to your question and similar questions resides in an understanding of the concepts of SCORE and DI, written about in BJA. unfortunately, that's an area of the book that i never fully read through, as when i played blackjack, i would only ever allow myself to play the lowest min bet games available, hence my options were limited from the get go as far as choosing between games. anyway, the concepts are something i want to read up on as a general understanding of them should help with respect to ap game analysis of other sorts. BJA has tables for which one can compare the SCORE of various games such as DD & 6D, or what have you.
so but anyway i guess the problem with your DD game is that the more the table fills up, it's as if the pen is reduced to where the number of rounds is reduced along with the option to take advantage of a high count.

 

[Fenix]

In CVCX, I plugged in the rules for the two games. The SCORE for a 1:6 spread hi-lo sweet16 DD game H17 DAS RSA with 57% pen is 28.24 playing heads up and 27.43 with two others.
The SCORE for a 1:12 spread hi-lo sweet16 6D H17 DAS RSA with 78% pen is 17.99 playing heads up and 18.30 with three others.

The shoe needs a pen of 84% or greater to have a better SCORE than the DD game.

I personally find it difficult to play DD with more than one or two others. The count tends to jump around more and I find it difficult to bet correctly without jumping my bet. The game is also slower so my EV/hr tanks. I'll personally take the shoe with less players over a crowded DD.

 

[ZeeBabar]

But Fenix, one advantage with the 6 deck game is that at T-2 after 2 decks played, I would leave the table so I was only playing counts of TC-2 and up avoiding any super negative shoes.I would expect that would make the SCORE higher than the play all DD game.