Two Hands

[DSchles]

But I have a different question. If you are on a team of two players with a combined bankroll, each at a different table, would you each bet $73 - the same as an individual playing two hands at the same table? My guess is no, since two hands at the same table has the higher variance (since my two hands are not independent at all - they might face the same dealer BJ and both lose together!)

Correct. It's the covariance between two blackjack hands (both being played against the same dealer upcard) that causes the reduction from the single-hand bet. That disappears if you're at separate tables, so you each make the optimal one-hand bet as if each of you owned the entire bankroll.

And one last question - should you vary the 73% bet by True Count? At 0, EV is negative, implying a lower percentage, at +5 EV is much higher, implying a higher percentage.

Short answer: no. At least, not by enough to matter. The variances do, in fact, increase a little as the TC increases. You can see that by running your eye down any of the chapter 10 charts (they're standard deviations, but no matter). So, the bet sizes will increase, of course, but the general rule of about 75% of the one-hand bet doesn't change.

p.s. Yes, I realize that no one is making a $72 vs a $74 bet, but the math always confused me since two hands at the same table are NOT independent and we cannot use the “square root of n” rule to calculate standard deviation for two hands.

The variances, at least, can be calculated according to the equation in the footnote on page 20.

Don