Robbie: Spanish 21 count

[Robbie]

You may have already answered this question. How do you overcome the negative 32 start of an eight deck shoe? It takes longer and more backcounting to get into positive territory ?

Robbie

[21forme]

> You may have already answered this question. How do
> you overcome the negative 32 start of an eight deck
> shoe? It takes longer and more backcounting to get
> into positive territory ?

> Robbie

Depending on the game (S17, for example) positive territory starts around TC = -3.

[Robbie]

> Depending on the game (S17, for example) positive
> territory starts around TC = -3.

How is that?

[bfbagain]

So a TC of +1 or more becomes an advantage for the player in balanced count system, thus a TC of -3 (in an unbalanced system) is close to a TC of +1. A TC of -2, imho, is where you should begin to raise your bets. I know Kat says that she raises it at -3. This is subject to how risk averse you may be. My approach is to wait for -2 in the first half of the shoe and -3 in the second half, if you're playing with the no-redouble rule. If the redouble rule is in effect, then -3 is good throughout the shoe.

cheers
bfb

[Katarina Walker]

> So a TC of +1 or more becomes an advantage for the
> player in balanced count system, thus a TC of -3 (in
> an unbalanced system) is close to a TC of +1. A TC of
> -2, imho, is where you should begin to raise your
> bets. I know Kat says that she raises it at -3. This
> is subject to how risk averse you may be. My approach
> is to wait for -2 in the first half of the shoe and -3
> in the second half, if you're playing with the
> no-redouble rule. If the redouble rule is in effect,
> then -3 is good throughout the shoe.

In my book, I give the advantages at each count. Good Spanish 21 games (HE around 0.4%) have a small advantage at TC = -3.
The optimal way to bet is to bet proportionally. That is how you maximise your SCORE (max win rate and min std dev). I always do. So my TC = -3 bet is usually quite small, i.e. $30 at TC = -3, then up to $180 at TC -2, $330 at TC = -1).
A $150 jump = 0.5% increase in advantage, and pro rata. So a 0.1% increase = $30.
It's all in the book. To play your best game, you need to have an accurate idea of how your advantage varies with the count. From what I've seen, most Blackjack players don't know this. They either bet too high when they first get any advantage, or they don't bet at all. If your advantage is a puny 0.1%, then you should be betting 1/6 of what you bet whan your advantage is 0.6%. Not half. Not zero. 1/6.
And then when they get a great shoe, and their advantage just gets higher, and higher, and higher, what do they do? They stick with their big bet, and never increase it. (Which looks weird). If your advantage is increasing and your bet isn't, your win rate will be suboptimal, and your ROR and std dev will be unnecessarily high.