jeff: Different betting question - only play once a year

[jeff]

Here's my situation - I'm fairly comfortable with Ustons advanced point count, and have been practicing nightly for an hour or two for several months. I typically only play BJ once or twice a year, and I'm going to vegas for my yearly trip next month for four days.

Seeing how I practically never gamble, I'm not at all worried about attracting heat.

It seems the majority of books/discussions I get, involve betting strategies designed to disguise counting. I'm wondering what my optimal betting strategy should be, assuming I don't care if they catch on or not.

Also - if I stand behind a table and back count until the point I'd like to enter then jump in - how many spots should I play at one time? (Assume the count is at max unit level).

Or - - if I'm playing heads up with the dealer (one spot), and the count goes to my max unit level - how many spots should I then play?

Thanks for all the help

[Ed Tice]

If playing heads up there is rarely any reason to play more than one spot. If wonging in, play as many open spots as you can find, *but* remember that there is a correlation coefficient of about 0.57 between your bets, so you cant place a max bet on every spot or you will be overbetting.

Most betting strategies I have seen are not geared towards disguising counting. There are some "cover" strategies available such as never more than doubling your bet.

But the betting ramps that you see outlined in books are based on the Kelly betting criterion, currently accepted to be the mathematically optimal way to bet for any given advantage.

Since you play only once per year, you can give up all cover, backcount shamelessly, and split tens until your heart is content, but otherwise you will be playing no differently than the rest of us.

Ed

> Here's my situation - I'm fairly comfortable
> with Ustons advanced point count, and have
> been practicing nightly for an hour or two
> for several months. I typically only play BJ
> once or twice a year, and I'm going to vegas
> for my yearly trip next month for four days.

> Seeing how I practically never gamble, I'm
> not at all worried about attracting heat.

> It seems the majority of books/discussions I
> get, involve betting strategies designed to
> disguise counting. I'm wondering what my
> optimal betting strategy should be, assuming
> I don't care if they catch on or not.

> Also - if I stand behind a table and back
> count until the point I'd like to enter then
> jump in - how many spots should I play at
> one time? (Assume the count is at max unit
> level).

> Or - - if I'm playing heads up with the
> dealer (one spot), and the count goes to my
> max unit level - how many spots should I
> then play?

> Thanks for all the help

[Shaggy18VW]

One thing to add to Ed's post:

If your betting levels are relatively low, red to small green, you could get away with jumping of bets. But you may want to start out a little on the conservative side. Get more aggressive later in your trip. If you're too obvious early on, they may ask you to leave with 3 days left on the trip.