Half shoe is a good thing?

[flyingwind]

From M$BJ page 267.

They commissioned Econ. Inc of Princeton, NJ, to study the playing expectations of the average and Basic Strategy player and the card counter in Atlantic City. The study, which was completed in the fall of 1980, simulated millions of BJ hands. It was concluded from the study that, using eight decks and cutting off four decks, the perfect BS player has a .04% edge over the house; the conservative counter has a 0.25% edge.

I find this hard to believe.

 

[FLASH1296]

That is not at all absurd. It looks very much correct as posted, once you recall that …

the original game in A.C. included Early Surrender and indeed gave the

flat-betting Basic Strategy player a slight advantage "off-the-top".

A conservative Card Counter would reap such a small advantage with 50% pen

and a small spread, so that figure look correct as well.

Originally, A.C. dealt 4 (4) deckers with one (1) deck cut off.

 

[flyingwind]

Times change, rules change

Interesting. Too young to know what things were like back then. Rules have changed over time. I hardly expect the presence of a surrender option at the houses I play at. I've only played surrender in LV. What other rules may have changed that made a difference between back then and now?

 

[aslan]

That is not at all absurd. It looks very much correct as posted, once you recall that …

the original game in A.C. included Early Surrender and indeed gave the

flat-betting Basic Strategy player a slight advantage "off-the-top".

A conservative Card Counter would reap such a small advantage with 50% pen

and a small spread, so that figure look correct as well.

Originally, A.C. dealt 4 (4) deckers with one (1) deck cut off.

Questions that come to mind immediately:

Why with four decks cut off? Does that infer that one or two deck cut off would be the same or maybe even better?

How much would a PA game register which has late, not early, surrender?

Would conservative counting be able to defeat a PA game? (By conservative counting I mean a lesser than recommended bet spread.)

 

[Brock Windsor]

Interesting. Too young to know what things were like back then. Rules have changed over time. I hardly expect the presence of a surrender option at the houses I play at. I've only played surrender in LV. What other rules may have changed that made a difference between back then and now?

Before my time, but the biggest change as it relates to advantage play is the peeking device. Or so I'm inclined to believe.
-BW

 

[tthree]

Mmm early surrender

Im old enough to remember early surrender. It seemed to disappear very quickly though. Maybe in the first year I could legally gamble. I never got carded in those days, premature gray I guess. Got my first gray hair in my teens. All my friends had fake IDs and would get carded and turned away but I never got carded. Good thing to because I didnt have fake ID.

I was counting with a system I devised (later I found out it was better known as HIOPT I), no indices just intuition. No betting ramp, I played a positive progression after a winning BJ, win of a double down or a series of pretty wins that had a good card flow. I left so much of the potential advantage on the felt it makes me sick to think about it, but it still seemed like a "sure thing".

I mostly played craps. I only visiting the blackjack tables if none of the dice controllers were on that day (I usually played with 2 or 3) causing a need to grow a new session buy in. It always seemed like taking candy from a baby then back to the craps table. How much are they selling those time machines for? I think I could recoup my investment in no time.