Bouncing Between One and Two Hands as Cover, and Opportunity

**Freightman** · 02-22-2018, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by BoSox

If you wore a plaid skirt like a real Scotsman, who do not wear anything under those skirts, makes the scratching much easier. Just don't sit at 1st, or 3rd base as ladies directly across the aisle will be fighting over seats. The pit boss lady will likely come over and say I know you are playing un-rated sir but I am going to comp you a steak dinner anyway, as you seem to be drawing in business.

You gotta love it - unrated balls, and yes, an easier more pleasant scratch can be had by all.

Your post reminds me of the lassie wanting to look under the Scitsman's kilt. She commented - its gruesome. He replied - yes lassie, and it's just grew some more.

**Freightman** · 02-22-2018, 10:33 AM

Well, I have a lunch meeting in a few minutes, adding time to my already gruelling 5 hours work expended this week, and thus, will delete a couple of posts in this thread.

Unfortunate - interesting thread.

**Freightman** · 02-22-2018, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by BoSox

How the hell can your decisions be quick when you are always scratching your balls under the table?

I must apologize for failing to add the obvious - when someone else is doing it for you.

https://youtu.be/LE1evIbc3mw

**Bubbles** · 02-22-2018, 01:32 PM

If you are going to switch between one and two hands, it is important to not be robotic about it. Switch like the ploppies do at times ploppies switch.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

**SpikeBJ** · 02-22-2018, 01:44 PM

I like sitting out a couple of hands to get that flow corrected. Coincidentally, that occurs in a negative count.

**Freightman** · 02-22-2018, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by SpikeBJ

I like sitting out a couple of hands to get that flow corrected. Coincidentally, that occurs in a negative count.

I recall a very profitable whiz break I took once, coincidentally during a seriously negative count. When I returned, my tablemate threw me a green. If I hadn't done for the whiz, he would never have won the $5000 Side bet.

**ZeeBabar** · 02-22-2018, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by Bubbles

If you are going to switch between one and two hands, it is important to not be robotic about it. Switch like the ploppies do at times ploppies switch.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

For me, its never robotic. I might start out playing the Blue decks with 2 hands, the red decks with 1 hand, after a while, stafrt out Blue decks with one hand and red decks with two hands. I will occasionally unbalance the two hands, sometimes switch from 2 hands to one hand in positive shoes and sometimes in negative shoes, spouting out my paranoia that in order to win one has to defeat the ASM programming or the old "change the flow", etc.

**BoSox** · 02-22-2018, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by moses

Bubbles, let the game come to you and seize the opportunities as they come. As long as the proper preparation for casino tolerance has been done, there is nothing to worry about. Don't push them around but by gosh, don't allow them to push you around.

I completely agree with your reasoning Moses. Showing mutual respect with the house, everybody gets a piece of the ploppy.

**JamesonDetroit** · 02-24-2018, 05:17 PM

Wow, thank you all for all of your input! Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. Lots to think about (coupled with a busy end of the week).

Originally Posted by BoSox

When I read the above quote, I see a red flag right away. Why does a boss seem interested in someone minimum betting? There is a reason for that and you spelled it right out for him.

Pit crews do take notice as they are not completely stupid, plus the eye upstairs has their back. What you are doing does not go unnoticed, and the subsequent reason he was watching you. Be careful on how much and when you are raising the sequence of your bets. They know when steaming is taking place, and when it is not.

Ah, good to know; thanks, mate. Specifically it is the well-timed steaming that is most obvious to them?

Originally Posted by moses

"Within reason," are the words that come to mind. Just because you are allowed to doesn't mean maximizing the opportunity is best.

Spreading to two hands runs a higher risk of playing under scrutiny than always staying with one. You will see what I call acceleration points in a sim. Thus go to two when it matters most while consider frequency in terms of the least. In other words, it's not so much about how much you bet when spreading to two but how often you spread to two.

Just to make sure, in terms of "how often", if you want to take advantage of it then the way to do it with the best cover would be to do it frequently, and not always (or even rarely) when the count would make it useful? Or is it better to do it more seldom. It seems like infrequent well-timed spreading to two would be more obvious than someone who is constantly switching between one and two with no apparent rhyme or reason, but it might be that you mean the opposite? Thanks for clarifying, definitely interested in the appearance to the pit.

Originally Posted by BoSox

The importance of learning to use a counting system flawlessly does not even come close to the importance of learning how to get away with it. Which involves learning how to evaluate a casino properly by scouting not only for tolerance levels, crowd conditions, discretionary dealer cuts etc. Then looking completely natural while playing, your comportment dealing with employees, and problem gamblers. As well as being a great actor, putting on a facade that looks completely normal, such as showing real emotion to the action, all the while just playing the math. All the things that you cannot learn in books. These are the type of things we should be telling the new players. Stealth, recently made a similar post, that I really liked. There is so much more to the game than just learning to count the cards!

Indeed! This is definitely one of the most interesting pieces I'm enjoying learning about and experimenting with.

Thanks again, everyone, for all the input. I've much to learn, and I appreciate your assistance!

**BoSox** · 02-24-2018, 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by SuperSmash

Just to make sure, in terms of "how often", if you want to take advantage of it then the way to do it with the best cover would be to do it frequently, and not always (or even rarely) when the count would make it useful? Or is it better to do it more seldom. It seems like infrequent well-timed spreading to two would be more obvious than someone who is constantly switching between one and two with no apparent rhyme or reason, but it might be that you mean the opposite? Thanks for clarifying, definitely interested in the appearance to the pit.

Moses wrote:

"Thus go to two when it matters most while consider frequency in terms of the least. In other words, it's not so much about how much you bet when spreading to two but how often you spread to two."

If you are playing alone, in my opinion, stay with one hand. When others are at the table I would go to two hands just like Moses said not too often but when you are going to make your bigger bets when it matters the most. The reasons are you are trying to disguise making large wagers on only one spot by making two 75% wagers of what the one spot wager would have been. What did you now gain? Well, you were able to get 50% more money on the table at the same risk of ruin. A very good proposition.

**Freightman** · 02-24-2018, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by BoSox

Moses wrote:

"Thus go to two when it matters most while consider frequency in terms of the least. In other words, it's not so much about how much you bet when spreading to two but how often you spread to two."

If you are playing alone, in my opinion, stay with one hand. When others are at the table I would go to two hands just like Moses said not too often but when you are going to make your bigger bets when it matters the most. The reasons are you are trying to disguise making large wagers on only one spot by making two 75% wagers of what the one spot wager would have been. What did you now gain? Well, you were able to get 50% more money on the table at the same risk of ruin. A very good proposition.

Here's a twist.
Agree with what you say. With tablemates, 75% of the main 1 square bet would be the approx covariance value by betting on 2 squares. Now, if you're playing to a virtual 0 ROR, and don't mind the variance, bet 100% on both squares.

By going to 2 squares, you may have lost 1, possibly 2 high Count hands, so, if you can handle it, go for the gusto.

**BoSox** · 02-24-2018, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by moses

Smasher, if you didn't go to two hands, then they didn't see it.

Freighter, when you go to two hands on the table do you also follow up with two hands below the table?

**Freightman** · 02-24-2018, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by BoSox

Freighter, when you go to two hands on the table do you also follow up with two hands below the table?

Excellent question.
Serious practitioners of the FBM ASC are well versed in the art of the dual square count, utilizing 1 hand. The phrase "two squares for one nut" reinforces this philosophy.

Those untrained in the art, will use 1 hand per nut. This creates controversy when pushing chips into the 2 squares utilizing their Schmekl. This unfortunate poor use of resources is partially responsible for the phrase "I drive the same way the Italians do".