On page 175 of Mason Malmuth's "Blackjack Essays" there is a brief discussion of what he calls "opposition betting." This is an idea that has intrigued me for a long time, but I have yet to find any sort of rigorous study of the topic.

Assume the player uses Kelly betting or a fraction of Kelly. When the count is neutral or only slightly positive or negative, the player randomly jumps his bets up and down. This appears to be senseless because it is senseless. As long as the game is truly in "coin toss territory" the player's expectation on these bets is break even. In my opinion this is great cover, especially if the house is really studying you and tracking your moves precisely.

As Mason mentions, though, the player's fluctuations are going to increase and his bankroll must be larger than it would otherwise be. This is easy enough to understand. But how much? Has anyone ever done a computer simulation on this? Can anyone give me some guidance?

Jackie Chiles