I tried searching but couldn't find anything on this. (although I'm sure it's talked about here somewhere) How do you adjust the count and your play to account for the cut card?
You should adjust your play by not playing in games with lousy penetration. If you have driven 2 hours to a casino and there are no good games there, the best move is not to play blackjack there.
If the penetration is marginal but playable you might have to lower your base unit amount to keep your risk of ruin acceptable.
If you do not already have one, invest in a good simulation program to find out what penetration levels are acceptable for your specific situation. Qfit software is about the best available.
What do you mean to "account for the cut card"?
Are you talking about when you get near the cut card (end of shoe)? Better/worse penetration (how far back the cut card is inserted into the shoe)? Or are you talking about something else?
Edit: Penetration is the % of cards in front of the cut card (cards that will be in play) compared to all the cards in the shoe (or decks in front vs total decks). ie: If you're playing a 6 deck game, with 5 decks in front of the cut card, 5 decks will be played. Thus, there'll be 1 deck behind the cut card. The penetration is 5/6 which is ~ 83%. On a 6 deck game with 4 decks in front of cut card and 2 decks behind it, the penetration will be 4/6 which is ~ 66%. The better/deeper the penetration (closer to 100%), the better the game.
Last edited by RS; 12-24-2014 at 07:07 PM.
"Everyone wants to be rich, but nobody wants to work for it." -Ryan Howard [The Office]
I just looked up penetration and Mofungoo answered my question. I was just wondering if you had to adjust how you figured the true count (but there didn't seem to be an accurate way to do that.) or if there were other tricks to lower the advantage the house gains because of the cut card
Are you talking about single or double deck games? Or shoe games?
True count (for most systems, like HiLo) is Running Count divided by Decks remaining. You don't need to know where the cut card is when doing a true-count calculation. ie: You're on an 8 deck shoe, 3 decks have been played, and the running count is +11, then the true count is 11/5 which is 2.2 (rounded to 2).
"Everyone wants to be rich, but nobody wants to work for it." -Ryan Howard [The Office]
A shallow shuffle point costs the house money. It doesn't gain them advantage, it reduces the number of rounds per hour they deal.
A deep shuffle point allows for end-deck play (which would be conceding an advantage), but I believe it's reasonably certain that no house would set the shuffle point that deep anymore.
If the dealer happens to set the shuffle card a little deeper than usual, you could encourage good behaviour with a tip. I have found this useful. I'm blatantly obvious about it - dealer sets the shuffle card, and I say "that looked like a really good cut" and slide a chip out to be toked.
May the cards fall in your favor.
You compute your true count according to the number of unplayed cards. The advantage of deeper penetration is that you have a higher frequency of high counts the deeper into the deck the cut card is placed.
Play within your bankroll, pick your games with care and learn everything you can about the game. The winning will come. It has to. It's in the cards. -- Bryce Carlson
so , all in all , if you play a six deck shoe and the dealer cuts two decks off, you still calculate the true count the same way , even if he cuts one deck off the shoe before , or half a deck later on that night. you dont change your tc calculation , If you get poor penetration , you get a little depressed about it , but you don't change how you calculate the true count....hope that helps a little ...
Last edited by Nikky_Flash; 12-25-2014 at 06:33 PM.
Bookmarks