Yakes: card counting

[Yakes]

Why is it that you count and ace as a high card when you want to know the density of bust cards in a shoe? Please e-mail me with a response.

[Dancer]

> Why is it that you count and ace as a high
> card when you want to know the density of
> bust cards in a shoe? Please e-mail me with
> a response.

Most counting systems count the ace as a "high" card (assigned a negative value) as you correctly point out. In reality, though, the ace is only considered a "high" card when calculating your bets because of its importance in Blackjacks and, to a lesser extent, soft doubling.

Aces are the most important cars for betting, but they are of little value for playing purposes.

The more advanced counts consider the ace only for betting purposes, which is more accurate but requires the player to count aces separately.

In shoe games, betting decisions are far more important than playing decisions, so it doesn't impact your win rate TOO much. I've seen different stats, but somewhere around 8% - 10%. The fewer decks you're playing against, however, the more important playing decisions become.

Counts with the ace considered a "high" card have a PE (Playing Efficiency) of around 50% - 59% (higher level counts approach the top number). Counts that require you to track aces separately, have PE's in the 60% to 69% range.

Hope this helps...