8-D Question for math types :: ::

Since I've never played 8-Deck shoes, I've never really paid attention to the math of when it might become worthwhile to spend time on them. Assume it's not in Vegas, so there aren't that many other choices. Assume it's not in Atlantic City, where mostly that's all you've got.

Using Hi-Lo, would it be worth bothering with an 8-decker with a casino edge of .36 (s17, ds, rsa)if the pen were in the range of 1.2 decks cutoff? Or would the other main option (schlepping through 6-deckers with a .34 edge - s17, ds, rsa - and 1.5 decks cut off) be more productive per unit time?

I was just curious as to whether pen that deep in eight decks might counterbalance the disadvantage accrued by grinding through that many cards.

Any info would be appreciated.

The obvious answers will come in but they will be wrong in certain contexts. Earnings will be higher with the 8 decker, damn the simulator is on my laptop and this is a research library computer, and the differences are too close for my BJT version of the Blackjack Formula to really answer, but the long run index is lower (better) for the 6 decker (just off the top of my head).

This is great for illustrating income versus growth games though.

If earnings were everything, and somehow the starting edges were the same (not likely unless one game allowed resplits on certain pairs and one did not---about the only way), profits would come down to the spread and how many cards were cutoff, no matter how many decks are initially shuffled. That would change the answer to the 8 deck game. Wong had a late 80s paper on this. But if your bankroll were still small enough to care about risk of ruin, you would want to include other factors. So this is not a question of game selection as much as it is a question of your goals, whether you are still reaching upward or going to top off your bankroll.

I treat both games the same. The diff between off the top EV is so small I never divide an 8 deck game by 8 to arrive at a TC for betting purposes. For the first 2 decks of an 8 deck game, I use a Betting Count which equals Running Count / 6. If they deal down to around 1.5 on 8 and 6, I would go for the 8. There are two more decks involved that can effect the TC more so in that last deck before the cut card. If you can drop out at TC -1 do so, or better still, only play during TC +2 or better.