Blackjack Edge Calculator

[muckz]

Who is correct? BJA3, Norms calculator, or the wizard? While I've never really cared about the specific number, while working on something I noticed all 3 of these sites give different answers.

[Norm]

Mine includes the cut card effect.

[DSchles]

More complete answer: calculating basic strategy edge is straightforward, once you define "basic strategy." It turns out that this is a little harder than you might imagine. In my intro to the BS charts and edges in BJA3, I define, very meticulously, and in several pages, how Cacarulo and I defined BS. Please read it carefully. If you accept that definition, then the numbers in BJA3 are precise.

Shack does BS three different ways: total-dependent, composition dependent, and with cut-card effect. They all give different answers, of course. But the reason that Shack's C-A numbers differ ever so slightly from mine is that he places no limit on the concept of "composition dependent." What that means is that, if your hand consists of, say, seven cards, he permits you to reckon all seven values and to play the hand according to that specific composition. I do not, because I consider it ludicrous to call reckoning seven cards in a hand BASIC strategy.

Hope this helps.

Don

[davethebuilder]

More complete answer: calculating basic strategy edge is straightforward, once you define "basic strategy." It turns out that this is a little harder than you might imagine. In my intro to the BS charts and edges in BJA3, I define, very meticulously, and in several pages, how Cacarulo and I defined BS. Please read it carefully. If you accept that definition, then the numbers in BJA3 are precise.

Shack does BS three different ways: total-dependent, composition dependent, and with cut-card effect. They all give different answers, of course. But the reason that Shack's C-A numbers differ ever so slightly from mine is that he places no limit on the concept of "composition dependent." What that means is that, if your hand consists of, say, seven cards, he permits you to reckon all seven values and to play the hand according to that specific composition. I do not, because I consider it ludicrous to call reckoning seven cards in a hand BASIC strategy.

Hope this helps.

Don

Apologies for hijacking this thread Don, but would you please read the article on Katarina Walker on Wizard of Vegas/Forums/Gambling/Blackjack and reply. I value your opinion on the matter.

Thanks,

David

[ZenMaster_Flash]

Slightly tangential to the subject of Basic Strategy - is the fact that they are not applicable
to Card Counters whose accelerated bet-sizing at high TC's are highly correlated to the
frequency of surrendering hands that are NOT Basic Strategy surrenders. This holds true for
Insurance as well, because all surrenders are made with greater than average bet sizes.
With Surrender in place, I imagine that a huge bet spread [e.g. 300 to 1] would completely
negate (almost) any House Edge. Imagine playing with a 500-1 spread.

[ZenMaster_Flash]

" ... please read the article on Katarina Walker on Wizard of Vegas/Forums/Gambling/Blackjack and reply."

I trotted over to take a peek, fully expecting some unpleasant sort had posted excoriating lies.

The thread is one post, suggesting that Katarina belongs in the BJHoF (Blackjack Hall of Fame.)

[muckz]

Don, why did you choose to not include the cut-card effect?

Which house edge do you believe most casinos would use, assuming this would be for their baseline perfect BS player. Cut card effect or not?

[DSchles]

"Don, why did you choose to not include the cut-card effect?"

Because it's impossible to standardize. And when authors and folks creating simulators and combinatorial analyzers want to compare notes, they have to be able to have a convention. With CCE, there is none. For a six-deck shoe, for example, with every different level of penetration, the CCE changes, albeit ever-so-slightly. But, we're expressing edges to four and five decimal places, so "one cut card position fits all" simply is unacceptable. For single-deck, it's much worse. Every single card changes the CCE, and sometimes appreciably. So, do you now want to be listing SD BS edges 15 times for each game? Or, do you want to list a single CCE, knowing that it is only an approximation for any other depth except the lone representative one. Sorry, not my cup of tea.

"Which house edge do you believe most casinos would use, assuming this would be for their baseline perfect BS player. Cut card effect or not?"

Clearly, not, for two reasons: a) they don't know it, and b) the lower the house edge (NOT using the CCE), the lower your comp value. :-)

Don

[muckz]

Yes, multideck CCe chart would be daunting and not much value. In SD where CCE plays a large roll I would have expected at least an attempt to quantify house edge at variable penetrations. Then again, that may not have much value either outside of some specific situations.