Adjusting for the Cut Card

[AKK]

I tried searching but couldn't find anything on this. (although I'm sure it's talked about here somewhere) How do you adjust the count and your play to account for the cut card?

[mofungoo]

You should adjust your play by not playing in games with lousy penetration. If you have driven 2 hours to a casino and there are no good games there, the best move is not to play blackjack there.

If the penetration is marginal but playable you might have to lower your base unit amount to keep your risk of ruin acceptable.

If you do not already have one, invest in a good simulation program to find out what penetration levels are acceptable for your specific situation. Qfit software is about the best available.

[AKK]

Mofungoo thank you for the reply. I actually just got CVBJ today. By penetration do you mean how far in the cut card is?

[RS]

What do you mean to "account for the cut card"?

Are you talking about when you get near the cut card (end of shoe)? Better/worse penetration (how far back the cut card is inserted into the shoe)? Or are you talking about something else?

Edit: Penetration is the % of cards in front of the cut card (cards that will be in play) compared to all the cards in the shoe (or decks in front vs total decks). ie: If you're playing a 6 deck game, with 5 decks in front of the cut card, 5 decks will be played. Thus, there'll be 1 deck behind the cut card. The penetration is 5/6 which is ~ 83%. On a 6 deck game with 4 decks in front of cut card and 2 decks behind it, the penetration will be 4/6 which is ~ 66%. The better/deeper the penetration (closer to 100%), the better the game.

[AKK]

I just looked up penetration and Mofungoo answered my question. I was just wondering if you had to adjust how you figured the true count (but there didn't seem to be an accurate way to do that.) or if there were other tricks to lower the advantage the house gains because of the cut card

[RS]

Are you talking about single or double deck games? Or shoe games?

True count (for most systems, like HiLo) is Running Count divided by Decks remaining. You don't need to know where the cut card is when doing a true-count calculation. ie: You're on an 8 deck shoe, 3 decks have been played, and the running count is +11, then the true count is 11/5 which is 2.2 (rounded to 2).

[AKK]

6 deck game. Yeah, my question was more just that, since the cut card is the houses way of gaining some of their advantage back, is there anyway to lower it.

[Dieter]

the cut card is the houses way of gaining some of their advantage back, is there anyway to lower it.

A shallow shuffle point costs the house money. It doesn't gain them advantage, it reduces the number of rounds per hour they deal.

A deep shuffle point allows for end-deck play (which would be conceding an advantage), but I believe it's reasonably certain that no house would set the shuffle point that deep anymore.

If the dealer happens to set the shuffle card a little deeper than usual, you could encourage good behaviour with a tip. I have found this useful. I'm blatantly obvious about it - dealer sets the shuffle card, and I say "that looked like a really good cut" and slide a chip out to be toked.

[bigplayer]

I don't adjust at all. Indexes take care of that. I may add a tiny amount to my bet near the end of a shoe to account for the floating advantage if the pen is exceptionally deep however, but this is very rare.

[Bodarc]

You compute your true count according to the number of unplayed cards. The advantage of deeper penetration is that you have a higher frequency of high counts the deeper into the deck the cut card is placed.

[Nikky_Flash]

so , all in all , if you play a six deck shoe and the dealer cuts two decks off, you still calculate the true count the same way , even if he cuts one deck off the shoe before , or half a deck later on that night. you dont change your tc calculation , If you get poor penetration , you get a little depressed about it , but you don't change how you calculate the true count....hope that helps a little ...

[AKK]

Yeah thanks for all the feed back guys.

[21forme]

if you play a six deck shoe and the dealer cuts two decks off,

That's a game uou shouldn't play, unless the rules are outstanding or you backcounting.