BJ Majish: Group Indexes In Casino Verite

[BJ Majish]

Hi.

Can anyone tell me how to enter a group index into a table cell in CV? I went through this a year or two ago, and after much frustration finally figured it out, but now I'm back at square one after installing version 4.

I'm trying to set up my K-O groups. (Even though version 4 is supposed to come with the K-O strategies, I found them very incomplete, so I'm trying to set up my own.) I'm starting from the group tables I downloaded from Qfit a while ago. In the Special Actions box, I have:

G1- Group I
G2- Group II
G3-Group III

Many group values are already entered into cells, but if I try to change one or create a new one, it doesn't work. Whether I right click on a cell and select a group or try typing the group code into the cell, I seem to always end up with the value "0". What am I doing wrong?

[Norm Wattenberger]

> Hi.

> Can anyone tell me how to enter a group index into a
> table cell in CV? I went through this a year or two
> ago, and after much frustration finally figured it
> out, but now I'm back at square one after installing
> version 4.

> I'm trying to set up my K-O groups. (Even though
> version 4 is supposed to come with the K-O strategies,
> I found them very incomplete, so I'm trying to set up
> my own.)

Could you explain? The strategies are right out of the book.

> I'm starting from the group tables I
> downloaded from Qfit a while ago. In the Special
> Actions box, I have:

> G1- Group I
> G2- Group II
> G3-Group III

> Many group values are already entered into cells, but
> if I try to change one or create a new one, it doesn't
> work. Whether I right click on a cell and select a
> group or try typing the group code into the cell, I
> seem to always end up with the value "0".
> What am I doing wrong?

Just right-click and select the group number.

[BJ Majish]

Thanks for the usual quick response, Norm.

> Could you explain? The strategies are right out of the
> book.

Okay, here goes....

Since my CD arrived yesterday, I decided to reinstall from the CD just to make sure that the installation wasn't the problem. Interestingly, to do so, I was required to first uninstall earlier versions. When I installed from the downloaded file, this wasn't the case, and as a result, I actually had both versions 3 and 4 installed (although 3 wouldn't run after installing 4).

I uninstalled both, then installed from the CD. The resulting tables were the same. (Also, Cassie causes the program to crash, but fortunately, I don't use Cassie, so once I figured out how to disable her, it wasn't a problem.)

Five sets of tables are included: Rookie, Preferred, Full 1-2 Decks, Full 6 Decks, and Full 8 Decks. Rookie is fine, since it's just Basic Strategy. (The tables are also the same for the Core System, by the way, which you didn't include.)

The Full tables also look okay. I did notice that there are no 1-Deck tables (the 2-Deck tables from my book are renamed 1-2 Deck tables). I have the first edition, though, and it's possible that Vancura and Fuchs combined the two in later editions. I also found a few minor discrepancies in the numbers, which might also be due to differences between the editions.

The problems that I encountered were with the Preferred System, which of course is the one I'm interested in--and the one that gets the major emphasis in the book.

And right after I wrote the above, I realized that I had had a major memory loss: I'd forgotten that the tables that are displayed changed depending on the number of decks in use! I had noticed that, first of all, you hadn't used groups, and second, it appeared that you had used only the Category A/Group I numbers. Of course, I was playing with six decks, and when I checked the single-deck tables just now, I found that they were complete.

I then remembered that Vancura and Fuchs recommended that Category C be omitted for six decks. (I had nevertheless memorized the Category C indexes and expected to see them in the table.) I also realized that what I had taken to be a 4 in the 16 v. 10 cell was really a -4 -- the only Category B value in the six-deck tables!

So, my mistake--sorry! Nevertheless, I feel that the tables would have more value if you had used groups. If one chooses to change the IRC, as the book recommends and as I have done, all the "hard" numbers need to be changed before the tables become useful.

> Just right-click and select the group number.

This doesn't work for me. I see Groups I, II, II, IV, and V in the context menu, but regardless of which one I select, any existing value is cleared from the cell. If I then move out of the cell, a 0 is placed there. This also means that if I try to change an existing group value, the value is cleared and I can't get it back.

I may be doing something wrong, but I can't see what....

[Norm Wattenberger]

> Since my CD arrived yesterday, I decided to reinstall
> from the CD just to make sure that the installation
> wasn't the problem. Interestingly, to do so, I was
> required to first uninstall earlier versions. When I
> installed from the downloaded file, this wasn't the
> case, and as a result, I actually had both versions 3
> and 4 installed (although 3 wouldn't run after
> installing 4).

V3 and V4 are registered in Windows as separate programs. Therefore you do not need to uninstall V3 to install V4; but you do need to uninstall V4 to reinstall V4. In any case; reinstall is almost never required.

> This doesn't work for me. I see Groups I, II, II, IV,
> and V in the context menu, but regardless of which one
> I select, any existing value is cleared from the cell.
> If I then move out of the cell, a 0 is placed there.

My fault. Groups was not in the original V4. It is now. Get the update from www.qfit.com/downloads.htm. I'm adding a feature later that will allow people to add a specified number to all index values without changing a strategy since many people dislike the KO negative numbers.

[BJ Majish]

> V3 and V4 are registered in Windows as separate
> programs. Therefore you do not need to uninstall V3 to
> install V4; but you do need to uninstall V4 to
> reinstall V4. In any case; reinstall is almost never
> required.

Hmmm...I wonder why V3 stopped working after I installed V4. Interestingly, when I installed from CD I installed over the top of V3 (after I thought I had uninstalled) and now find that I have two executables in the folder that run V3 and V4--and V3 now appears to work just fine. Is there a problem with running them this way? Are there DLL differences or other dependencies that make this dangerous?

> My fault. Groups was not in the original V4. It is
> now. Get the update from www.qfit.com/downloads.htm.

That did it! Works perfectly now. Thanks.

> I'm adding a feature later that will allow people to
> add a specified number to all index values without
> changing a strategy since many people dislike the KO
> negative numbers.

Perfect. That would do it.

Thanks again for the quick response.

[Norm Wattenberger]

> Hmmm...I wonder why V3 stopped working after I
> installed V4. Interestingly, when I installed from CD
> I installed over the top of V3 (after I thought I had
> uninstalled) and now find that I have two executables
> in the folder that run V3 and V4--and V3 now appears
> to work just fine. Is there a problem with running
> them this way? Are there DLL differences or other
> dependencies that make this dangerous?

V3 and V4 work together by design. No DLL problems. Note, this is not true for CVData/CVCX as the five simulation engines reside in DLLs.