Scavenger Advice

[sbrugby]

I've been reading on scavenger plays in the Grosjean paper and on the forums. Come up with these different scenarios.

-Going partners on doubles for a full bet or the remainder of a double for less
-Going partners with a player on a +EV Pair hand they weren't going to split
-Selling Defensive splits- Pairs that are correct to split but have negative expectation. This wasn't covered in Grosjean Paper so I'm not sure if I overlooked something here.

Based on BS EV tables though I came up with following list of splits that would be +EV to sell one of the hands on:

• 22 and 33 vs 2,3
• 33 vs 7
• 66 vs 2,3,4
• 77 vs 2,3,7
• 88 vs 8,9,X,A
• 99 vs 9

-Buying other players insurance or other sidebet in high enough counts(Would never do it for heat reasons)
-Buying other players hands for half their bet when they would've otherwise surrendered. Only for times they surrender suboptimally
-Selling my -EV hand for full price to allow a civilian to play it his/her way

Wondering if anyone has any advice, or recommended books/articles/threads, about how phrase the deals to avoid confusion where the civilian thinks that I'm entitled to less that the full amount of the scavenge play?

[Freightman]

Scavenging, I mean good scavenging, is an art form unto itself. You've hit on some. I won't elaborate on others - the possibilities are endless. Needless to say, scavenging works best when there is harmony and tranquility at the table - and the pit lives a happy table.

[RS]

If you want to get good at scavenging, you should probably learn ALL the match ups, not just the "basic strategy" ones. There are scavenger plays that are +EV for the scavenger but would be -EV if you did them yourself.

What would you do it a player has 8v6 and he wants to double for less? Or 8v3? Would you sell off a 2,2 vs T split? Would you buy into a T,T vs 8 split? What about T,T v 9? Would you buy into doubling 9v7? Who cares if the strategy is right (for the ploppy), if he's going to do some whacky play and you have an opportunity to scavenge, go ahead and take it. Not all of those are right...some are, though.

[Freightman]

If you want to get good at scavenging, you should probably learn ALL the match ups, not just the "basic strategy" ones. There are scavenger plays that are +EV for the scavenger but would be -EV if you did them yourself.

What would you do it a player has 8v6 and he wants to double for less? Or 8v3? Would you sell off a 2,2 vs T split? Would you buy into a T,T vs 8 split? What about T,T v 9? Would you buy into doubling 9v7? Who cares if the strategy is right (for the ploppy), if he's going to do some whacky play and you have an opportunity to scavenge, go ahead and take it. Not all of those are right...some are, though.

RS raises 1 really good point, and 1 more by inference.

There are plays that are -EV for the player, and +EV for the scavenger. I will avoid, taking only if offered, plays which offer the layer a potential second choice, I.e, 8v6 where is here us a possibility if a 2,3 for a double. Don't want to piggish to the pit for those types of scavenge plays.

[Joe Mama]

You must be very clear on these split scavenges as to who gets which hand or if there is a half share in each; can be especially tricky if there is a language barrier.