In a 6-deck shoe game, is there a minimum number of hands (or cards) played into a new shoe that will give a skilled hi-lo/illustrious 18 player their long-term positive expectation. Obviously, it takes some time for the count to go positive enough to increase betting/apply deviations. However, intuitively, it seems that you're just as likely to hit an advantage 3 decks in as 4 decks in, after which the count could go back to neutral/negative. A general or approximate answer is fine, as I'm guessing there are many variables.

Thanks again!

JT