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  1. Dealer Upcard Manipulation

    There are times where the dealer might see the next card out of the shoe. Suppose that the dealer decides the upcard depending on this information? For example, if the dealer knows the next card is a ten, she will always make it the upcard and if it is not, will always make it the downcard. In this case, the house edge is a miserable 3.64%. (Miserable for the player.) Below is a chart displaying the house edge for the same scenario for each possible card, assuming six decks, S17, DAS, LS, and Basic
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    Studies
  2. Spanish 21: What are hands worth?


    On pages 372 and 274 of Modern Blackjack, I present charts displaying the advantage and amount won per hand by a basic strategy Blackjack player. The charts look different because the frequency of hands is different. Unfortunately, a crappy 12 is a lot more likely than an excellent 11. I thought I would create the same charts, but for Spanish 21, as many card counters have moved to SP21. Find them below for six decks, H17 with double down rescue but no redouble. For differences in the chart,
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    Studies
  3. Blackjack Card Counting Volatility Cones

    Well, the title isn’t accurate. But, it’s where I got the idea for a new, rather unusual, trio of charts.

    On page 443 of Modern Blackjack, I provide a chart of the theoretical range of results given a 90% confidence level. I thought that I would expand on this. These charts were based on playing six decks, S17, DAS, LS, 4.8/6 penetration, with a 1-15 spread using High-Low with full indexes and four players. Any set of circumstances provides a measurable advantage. Unfortunately, luck
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    Studies
  4. Onomatopoeia

    Ploppy, such an ugly sounding word. In my book, I do not use it once in 680 pages. I do use “pit critter.” Once, to explain why I don’t use the characterization. I generally avoid derogatory terms. But, this is more than a matter of civil discussion. The word “ploppy” is used to denote an incompetent player, just as the name “pit critter” denotes a pit boss in a derogatory manner. It may give someone some measure of satisfaction in putting down these people. But, what is the actual
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    Musings
  5. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay

    There has been much discussion about the different methods of integerizing Blackjack true counts: flooring, truncating and rounding. Card counters simplify true count indexes because non-integer indexes simply provide no appreciable gain. Studies have shown that truncation is slightly less preferable when the player estimates remaining cards exactly. However, players do not estimate cards exactly. Two studies I have not seen. First, comparing these three methods when the player estimates remaining
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    Studies
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