jblaze: playing with 2 counts

[jblaze]

Looking if anyone has experience playing with 2 different counts... I'm considering learning a simpler count for SP21 than the one I play BJ with, though I'm afraid I would inevitably confuse the count I'm using and screw myself up midshoe, or screw up the indexes. Though I think that having one counting system for BJ and a different one for SP21 might be easier than say, one count for shoe BJ vs. another for pitch.

Anyone have any thoughts? Ideas which made it easier to transition one to the other?

Thanks.

[kewljason]

You should talk with Automatic Monkey. I don't know if he posts here or not, but is a regular poster on one of the other sites. (I assume I can't give the site name so I won't) He uses multiple counts. Different counts for multi deck, single deck, double deck games as well as different counts for spanish 21 and I beleive some of the side bets. Way beyond my scope. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

I personally switched counts once, moving up to a higher level count after playing hi-lo for several years. I play over a thousand hours a year so it was completely imbedded in my brain. This seemingly simple transistion did not go smooth for me. It took several months for me to be able to play reasonably well in the casino atmosphere. Kind of had to deprogram myself before I could reprogram myself. I played the higher level count for 18 months and never was able to master it as completely effortlessly as I should have and never saw the small gain in winnings that I was expecting. (probably from a higher error rate) In the end, I switched back to the simpiler hilo, which after 18 months came right back to me. I can use hi-lo effortlessly and side count acurately, even two side counts at time, but switching counts....my brain explodes. Color me green for these guys that are able to do so effortlessly.

[21forme]

I've played with more than one count for different games. It can get confusing and requires more attention. For example in one game, it's a HiLo count with the exception that 9 = -1. I've caught myself forgetting that and adjusting for it.

[Blackjack Avenger]

Most would advise sticking to one count. Is the potential increase in EV between games worth the error rate? Does math come real easy for you? If the time it takes to learn is time away from the tables then probably not worth it.

For the effort involved it's probably better to use a higher level count across all games then different counts for different games. I use Halves, works for me.

[jblaze]

True. The odds of me learning a new count are pretty slim. But as automatic monkey has mentioned, Uston APC is pretty crummy for Spanish 21.

> Most would advise sticking to one count. Is the
> potential increase in EV between games worth the error
> rate? Does math come real easy for you? If the time it
> takes to learn is time away from the tables then
> probably not worth it.

> For the effort involved it's probably better to use a
> higher level count across all games then different
> counts for different games. I use Halves, works for
> me.