I'm sure you guys have noticed that if you place a stack of brand new cards together with a stack of cards that have been used for a while, the new stack appears slightly smaller than the used stack. This knowledge is especially important when counting into 6-decks, particularly when getting closer to the end of a shoe.
I feel that my estimation of decks remaining is strong as I have practiced this at home. However, I am a little worried if there is about 3/4 - 1 1/4 decks remaining in a six deck game because obviously at this point, the difference between 3/4 decks and 1 deck for example is considerable with respect to how much to bet. The difference is much less when say only 1 deck or 2 decks have been dealt.
So my question is, do you guys consider "card use" when gauging how many decks are left? I would like to make sure that I am accurate. This concept has led me to consider using an unbalanced count system instead of hi-lo. I suppose I could just take a good look at the stack when the dealer takes it all out to shuffle and determine how big one deck, two decks, etc. are from there.
Thoughts?