Would you adjust your bet spreads or index plays in this situation?

[21forme]

6D shoe. In the first ~1.25 decks dealt, 9 aces came out. The TC was almost +2.

Clearly, the likelihood of a BJ is lessened, however, there are a lot more Tens left than a TC of +2 would indicate. Would you adjust your bet spread or index plays in any way in this situation?

I didn't, but I certainly tracked the Ace clump thru the next 2 shuffles!

 

[blackjack avenger]

Info Can Be Nice

6D shoe. In the first ~1.25 decks dealt, 9 aces came out. The TC was almost +2.

Clearly, the likelihood of a BJ is lessened, however, there are a lot more Tens left than a TC of +2 would indicate. Would you adjust your bet spread or index plays in any way in this situation?

I didn't, but I certainly tracked the Ace clump thru the next 2 shuffles!

In general the effects of removal for an A or T are similar, it's rule dependednt Also depending on the count you use the A and T are already considered. For Wong Halves the A and T have the same value and it is one of the strongest counts for betting. So there is not much info here for betting. :joker::whip:
However, considering it is early in a shoe you could round down the TC, not the worst thing.

Now as far as strategy on the fly you could decide to double 11 vs A in a borderline situation but not double 10 vs 10 in a borderline situation, but again you are early in the shoe and the effects of those early A's will diminsih over time.:joker::whip:
Also, you may consider standing on 12v4 in a borderline situation

 

[BMDD]

What you're asking is if the 10 loses its value with the removal of the ace? ..let me know if you find the answer!

 

[Sucker]

This actually depends somewhat upon which counting system you're using. Some systems are keyed more as a betting strategy than as a playing strategy, and some systems are vice-versa. In the former, aces are assigned a greater negative value than in the second. Whichever system you're using, when the shoe is ace-rich or ace-poor, you ARE supposed to use your side count of aces to adjust your decisions.

In the situation you've described, if your system is keyed toward a betting strategy, you would still make the same BETS, but when it comes to PLAYING the hand, because the shoe is ace-poor by four aces; you would temporarily add (or subtract) the value of four aces to your running count.

If your system is keyed toward a PLAYING strategy, you would adjust the running count when deciding how much to BET, but play the hands according to the actual count.

While I'm sure that this will not assure PERFECT strategy, and there certainly are ways to get even closer; understanding these simple concepts will definitely get you MUCH closer than just blindly following your index plays will.

 

[Automatic Monkey]

This actually depends somewhat upon which counting system you're using. Some systems are keyed more as a betting strategy than as a playing strategy, and some systems are vice-versa. In the former, aces are assigned a greater negative value than in the second. Whichever system you're using, when the shoe is ace-rich or ace-poor, you ARE supposed to use your side count of aces to adjust your decisions.

In the situation you've described, if your system is keyed toward a betting strategy, you would still make the same BETS, but when it comes to PLAYING the hand, because the shoe is ace-poor by four aces; you would temporarily add (or subtract) the value of four aces to your running count.

If your system is keyed toward a PLAYING strategy, you would adjust the running count when deciding how much to BET, but play the hands according to the actual count.

While I'm sure that this will not assure PERFECT strategy, and there certainly are ways to get even closer; understanding these simple concepts will definitely get you MUCH closer than just blindly following your index plays will.

Closer, yes. Much closer, no.

Sidecounting aces has it's place but especially when we're talking about a 6D game, it doesn't buy you all that much. One of the oddities of BJ indices is that at high counts, the ace goes from being a low or neutral card for playing decisions to acting like a high card, because of all those high-count plays (doubling 8,9,10,A8, and splitting 10's) where catching an ace is very desirable.

Another caveat is against sidecounting aces unless you're really sidecounting them. If you only react to them when you notice a bunch of aces dealt, it could result in the pattern-recognition power of your mind playing tricks on you. In this case, 9 aces in 1.25 decks isn't all that unusual a distribution, normal would be 5, so that's less than an extra ace per deck.