Monday, October 26, 2009

Could blackjack high count could mean you should stand everything on 16 -- could a low count mean you should hit some on 18?


Could blackjack high count could mean you should stand everything on 16 -- could a low count mean you should hit some on 18?

High count means the dealer is more likely to bust -- and you too. Could this mean you should alter your card play as well as your betting?

Got this idea when learning hold'em poker -- the constant calculation between what to play and what the pot odds are.

Maybe you could keep a side count on 7s or 5s. Illegal (in the casinos) blackjack computers supposedly give a 5% edge by keeping track of every card and telling you how to adjust your card play not your betting.

Adjusting your card play might even be enough to beat the casino and would be relatively undetectable. Adjusting your card play could conceivably throw off the casinos about your betting adjustments -- making you look less like a counter because you are deviating from perfect strategy.

Think: the 17 we stand everything on might really be fractional if we could possibly stand on 16.45. It is extremely unlikely that the math just happens to hit on all even numbers -- right? :-) Only the propeller heads know -- or could figure this out. It is possible the count could push the "true" (fractional) stand everything number up to 18 or down to 16. (Separate question: if the "true" [fractional] stand everything number were 17.5, for example, might it be correct to vary your card play between 17 and 18 -- which option I presume was never considered when testing perfect strategy programs -- another concept borrowed from poker?)

Card play adjustment counting might even lead to wholly different cards being considered as small (7 and under or 5 and under). Have no ability to do the math at all. Just got the general idea.

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