Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 18:38:03 01/29/06
Go up one level in this thread
On January 29, 2006 at 13:02:25, George Speight wrote: > >Try the late Ken Uston's SS counting sytem, where no separate value is given to >aces. It was purported by him to be the strongest available, when you take into >consideration the mistakes made when trying to keep a separate count for aces. >Dr. Stanley Roberts, aka Stanley Sludikoff, concurs with me on this. He and i >talk on a regualar basis. I have also been playing progessionally for 14 years. > Good luck, George All of these are good counting systems, but a few points from a counter with _plenty_ of experience... 1. Teaching someone a multi-level count to use in AC is a total waste. Why? (a) AC is a "shoe city". In shoes, betting efficiency is the name of the game, not playing efficiency. The multi-level counts suffer in betting efficiency and make up for that in playing efficiency. Except that playing efficiency is not important in shoe games (simulations will show why this is true); (b) what newbie would want to learn a multi-level count, and then have to deal with side-counts (most multi-level counts require at least an Ace side-count to be effective). A newbie will make mistakes, lose the count, become fatigued, etc, when a simple system like KO or Hi-Lo (I am a hi-lo user) will actually perform better in shoe games with _far_ less effort and far fewer errors. 2. A good multi-level count is certainly an advantage for SD play, but most SD games have gone to "crapjack" format where snappers pay 6:5 rather than 3:2, which ruins the game. There are still real SD games around (I played a bunch of them from Laughlin to Las Vegas this past Summer), and plenty of good DD games as well. If you look at the difference between a level-1 count like KO/Hi-Lo and a multi-level count (like Hi-opt2, either of Uston's counts, etc) the difference is not enough to offset the errors a non-professional player will make due to lack of practice. In short, learn Hi-Lo and make money. I use it on SD, DD and shoe games everywhere I go with good results. Buy something like qfit's Casino Verite' BlackJack, practice frequently, and the casinos can be beaten, if you avoid getting caught doing it... BTW, this last trip to Vegas was a highlight of my blackjack playing, because I had the chance to meet Arnold Snyder (the Ken Thompson of blackjack card counters / shuffle-trackers) and spent a couple of hours sharing lunch and conversation. I had chatted with him many times thru the net, and we decided to "take a risk" and meet face-to-face and it was a blast... Now, back to computer chess... :)
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