Norm Wattenberger: REKO - Another simplified KO strategy

[Oldster]

I am confused on surrender. KO always surrenders 16 v 9,T,A and 15 v T.

With REKO, no change in 16 surrenders, but now only surrender 15 v T at +2?

Sorry to be do dense about something that is probably obvious to everyone else.

> Since most play these days is with shoes, I thought
> I?d create a variation of KO specifically for six
> decks. For lack of a better name I?ll refer to it as
> REKO (Ridiculously Easy KO.) I believe this strategy
> requires substantially less time to learn than KO
> Preferred. First there are 16 indexes (incl.
> Surrender) instead of 19. Not much difference here.
> But, more importantly, KO Preferred has three
> different index values (+4, -4 and +3.) REKO has only
> one index value: +2. This is more of a difference.
> With KO you need to memorize the index values assigned
> to the 19 indexes. With REKO, you need to know what
> the 16 index plays are. But, you do not need to
> memorize the index values. They are all +2, including
> Insurance. A Flash Card drill would have 16 cards with
> +2 on every card J The indexes are:

> Insurance
> 16vT
> 16v9
> 15vT
> 12v2
> 12v3
> 11vA
> 11vT
> 10vA
> 9v2
> 9v7
> 8v5
> 8v6
> Surrender:
> 15v9
> 15vT
> 15vA
> As I said the indexes are always +2. However there
> is one change. The initial running count is ?20 for no
> surrender and ?19 for surrender.

> Results

> I compared REKO with KO for four situations. In all
> cases, there are four players, three to your right,
> S17 and DAS and a 1:16 optimal spread. Following are
> the SCORES:

> KO REKO % of KO NSr
> 4.5/6 23.5 23.0 98% NSr
> 5.0/6 38.2 37.7 99% LS
> 4.5/6 35.1 35.4 101% LS
> 5.0/6 55.0 54.0 98% REKO
> results are 98% to 101% of the results of KO Preferred
> for Surrender and No Surrender at the simmed spread
> and penetrations. I also ran the same four sims for
> HiLo with optimal betting by True Count with half-deck
> resolution and 24 indexes (The Catch 20 and Fab 4.)
> REKO with 16 indexes all set to +2 had SCORES of 93%
> to 96% of HiLo with 24 indexes.

> CVCX Online

[ktc]

>Since most play these days is with shoes, I thought I?d >create a variation of KO specifically for six decks

> As I said the indexes are always +2. However there
> is one change. The initial running count is ?20 for no
> surrender and ?19 for surrender.

hi;

...I'm just a recreational player and find this really fascinating...

can this be applied to 8 decks?

if so, what would be the initial running counts?

thanks in advance,

ktc

[GeoC]

Ken commissioned me to run a full set of indices for his SS count. Unfortunately he died so I went ahead and developed my UBZ2 with Don's Illus. 18 indices. Back then there were tons of great single and double deck games. I felt the UBZ2 was better suited for the available games back then.

[seen]

I'm new to counting cards and it going good learning it but I want to us the reko strategy for my counting but I do not understand what you do with the indexs +2.

If the count is -15 and one of the index came up (12v3), dose this mean the count go up to -13 or what?

Also I read this about reko indexs: Another way of looking at it is using two basic strategies. Use one basic strategy for running counts up to +1. Then a different strategy for +2 and above.

Please help me understand this.

> Since most play these days is with shoes, I thought
> I?d create a variation of KO specifically for six
> decks. For lack of a better name I?ll refer to it as
> REKO (Ridiculously Easy KO.) I believe this strategy
> requires substantially less time to learn than KO
> Preferred. First there are 16 indexes (incl.
> Surrender) instead of 19. Not much difference here.
> But, more importantly, KO Preferred has three
> different index values (+4, -4 and +3.) REKO has only
> one index value: +2. This is more of a difference.
> With KO you need to memorize the index values assigned
> to the 19 indexes. With REKO, you need to know what
> the 16 index plays are. But, you do not need to
> memorize the index values. They are all +2, including
> Insurance. A Flash Card drill would have 16 cards with
> +2 on every card J The indexes are:

> Insurance
> 16vT
> 16v9
> 15vT
> 12v2
> 12v3
> 11vA
> 11vT
> 10vA
> 9v2
> 9v7
> 8v5
> 8v6
> Surrender:
> 15v9
> 15vT
> 15vA
> As I said the indexes are always +2. However there
> is one change. The initial running count is ?20 for no
> surrender and ?19 for surrender.

> Results

> I compared REKO with KO for four situations. In all
> cases, there are four players, three to your right,
> S17 and DAS and a 1:16 optimal spread. Following are
> the SCORES:

> KO REKO % of KO NSr
> 4.5/6 23.5 23.0 98% NSr
> 5.0/6 38.2 37.7 99% LS
> 4.5/6 35.1 35.4 101% LS
> 5.0/6 55.0 54.0 98% REKO
> results are 98% to 101% of the results of KO Preferred
> for Surrender and No Surrender at the simmed spread
> and penetrations. I also ran the same four sims for
> HiLo with optimal betting by True Count with half-deck
> resolution and 24 indexes (The Catch 20 and Fab 4.)
> REKO with 16 indexes all set to +2 had SCORES of 93%
> to 96% of HiLo with 24 indexes.

> CVCX Online

[Don Schlesinger]

> I'm new to counting cards and it's going good learning
> it but I want to use the reko strategy for my counting
> but I do not understand what you do with the indexes
> +2.

For the plays indicated, if your RC equals or exceeds +2, you make the departure, as appropriate.

> If the count is -15 and one of the indexes came up
> (12v3), does this mean the count go up to -13 or what?

No, no. You don't change your RC at all. You simply note whether it is +2 or higher, or not. If yes, then you stand on your 12 v. 3, which is a departure from BS. If the RC is lower than +2, you don't make the departure and use BS (hit). Clear?

> Also I read this about reko indexs: Another way of
> looking at it is using two basic strategies. Use one
> basic strategy for running counts up to +1. Then a
> different strategy for +2 and above.

> Please help me understand this.

See above. Write back if you have further questions.

Don

[seen]

> For the plays indicated, if your RC equals or exceeds
> +2, you make the departure, as appropriate.

> No, no. You don't change your RC at all. You simply
> note whether it is +2 or higher, or not. If yes, then
> you stand on your 12 v. 3, which is a departure from
> BS. If the RC is lower than +2, you don't make the
> departure and use BS (hit). Clear?

> See above. Write back if you have further questions.

> Don

Thanks a lot. I understand it now. thanks