Advise me on spreading to two hands please.

[mushin]

The other day when playing I spread to two hands once I felt confortable with the way my play was going. My first impression was that the results were amazing... but I only have a short period of play so that just may be emotion from the results as I won my first purple chips (After coloring up)

But... spreading to two hands at $25 each minimum actaully felt like I was playing at a much lower limit. It almost seemed as if my minimum became $12.50 per hand as I would some times win one and losse the other. I also seemed to win both hands more than I lost both. Since that day I have been playing two hands in CV and my impression seems the same. What I am after now is advice on how playing two hands impacts things like: session bankroll, overall banroll, stratigies.

Any discussion on this would be greatly welcome! I also welcome advice on reading material such as books, threads, and websites that would dig into multiple hand play.

Thanks

[blackjack avenger]

You bet 73% of 1 hand over 2
Example:
$103 or double $75s

Need more $ per session, close to 50% more.
In the short run variance goes up

[Aslan]

THe following discussion from a previous thread may be informative. This was obtained by utilizing the search function in the upper, right-hand corner of the screen and querying "spreading to two hands."


http://www.blackjacktheforum.com/sho...preading+hands

[moo321]

Make sure you don't overbet when spreading to two. Blackjack avenger's numbers are correct, if your bankroll calls for a $100 bet you go to 2 hands of $73 ($75 in the real world). Also, while I have no problem doing it in shoe games, you need to be careful in double deck, as it can draw some heat spreading back and forth to 2 hands.

[blackjackomaha]

moo & blackjack avenger covered this pretty well. In most DD games, you'll most likely have to start with two hands and either stay there or drop to 1 if required. This can draw attention...but shoe games, it is very easy to get away with. 50% more bankroll minimum is required IMO.

[Aslan]

50% more bankroll minimum is required IMO.

I'd say, in general, you always need more BR than the calculated numbers suggest.

[mushin]

I read up on the thread that was recommended and that all pretty much made sense. I did begin to wonder about ways to play the actual hands and if there are any index plays that take into account the covarience of the two hands. Or... possibly even on a simpler level.... something like... if you are pretty certian you made your first hand and have a high probablity of busting on the second... you should stay on that hand with the logic being... with a bust you have no chance of winning. Granted this would be dependant on the dealers likely hand but I think you see where I am going. Hit on Hard 16 unless you are playing two hands and dealers up card is X or Y or Z.

Basicly... are there any index plays that might take into account covariance.

[blackjack avenger]

I read up on the thread that was recommended and that all pretty much made sense. I did begin to wonder about ways to play the actual hands and if there are any index plays that take into account the covarience of the two hands. Or... possibly even on a simpler level.... something like... if you are pretty certian you made your first hand and have a high probablity of busting on the second... you should stay on that hand with the logic being... with a bust you have no chance of winning. Granted this would be dependant on the dealers likely hand but I think you see where I am going. Hit on Hard 16 unless you are playing two hands and dealers up card is X or Y or Z.

Basicly... are there any index plays that might take into account covariance.

On coin flip plays could adjust
Ex.
Your hands 12, 16
Vs 4
Your right at the indice for 12v4 hit, stand
You could hit

Don't lose sleep over these decisions nor slow down play.

[bigplayer]

Never bet $75. Better to bet $100 on one hand and $50 on the other for speed and ease of payoffs. OR if one hand alternate $100 and $50 to average $75.

[Most Interesting Man]

That will increase your variance but also eliminate making change for blackjacks and surrender.

[blackjack avenger]

If your going to bet over the prescribed amount
Ex.
$103 on one hand
$100, $50 over 2 hands
Instead of
$75 *2 over 2 hands

Your variance and ROR increase
If a pure Kelly resizing player, its a bad move

Course some say betting full Kelly. Bad move

If you bet a much smaller fraction of Kelly, not as damaging with
$100, $50, a smaller bank variance toll due to more conservative
betting

One should probably look to round down the 2 bets.

I edited my original post to show $103 to $75 * 2.

[Aslan]

Never bet $75. Better to bet $100 on one hand and $50 on the other for speed and ease of payoffs. OR if one hand alternate $100 and $50 to average $75.

I think this is an excellent idea if your base bet is $100, one that I had never thought of, but I cringe at the thought of overbetting or underbetting if $100 is my max bet, even though I can see it would even out in the long run; plus counts just don't usually last all that long and I like to get max out ($100 on one or $75 on two) in every round. I wonder what effect this has on the short run? Variance? Time required to get to the long run? if any.

PS-- thank you, blackjack avenger, I did not see your post until after I posted this.

[moo321]

Basicly... are there any index plays that might take into account covariance.

I'm not aware of this specific thing being studied, but see the study of "Risk Averse Indices" in Blackjack Attack. RA indices have you wait to double down 10 v. 10 (for example) until higher than the EV maximizing index.