Steve Pietro: Strategy indices

[Steve Pietro]

I have been a card counter for several years and just recently I switched to the Red Seven count for playing the shoe game. Actually, I find the unbalanced count to be quite effective in a shoe game. However, I understand that the playing indicies are not very acurate for play. I just recently obtained a copy of John Auston's Worlds Greatest Blackjack Simulation. I noticed that the indicies vary substantially from those recomended by Arnold Snyder. Do I use the indicies published by John, or do I use the published by Arnold? Any thoughts?

[Parker]

> I have been a card counter for several years
> and just recently I switched to the Red
> Seven count for playing the shoe game.
> Actually, I find the unbalanced count to be
> quite effective in a shoe game. However, I
> understand that the playing indicies are not
> very acurate for play. I just recently
> obtained a copy of John Auston's Worlds
> Greatest Blackjack Simulation. I noticed
> that the indicies vary substantially from
> those recomended by Arnold Snyder. Do I use
> the indicies published by John, or do I use
> the published by Arnold? Any thoughts?

The important thing to realize about strategy indices for unbalanced counts used in running count mode is that those nearest to the pivot point will be the most accurate.

The farther one gets away from the pivot point, the more the index will vary by penetration. Most indexes are most accurate at about midpoint, for example, 3 decks into a six deck shoe. Indexes at the pivot point are not affected by penetration.

I'm not certain about the indices in Auston's report, but they may be true-counted numbers. Read the info on "methodology" at the fron of the report.