In BJBBII (my personal blackjack bible) Fred discusses table layouts,specifically babies vs others. I'm not sure if 6 is a baby or an other. My guess is it's an other.
Really have little idea of what Fred wrote, but if you're asking whether a 6 is considered a small card, or a neutral one, compared to tens, it is most definitely a small card.
Don
http://www.hitorstand.net/forum/discussion/1124/hitting-12-vs-4-article-by-fred-renzey-/p1
Renzey said: As for you, don't be like the average loser who believes that hitting 12 against a 4 is a sucker play. Hitting it can never be that big a mistake (you can only BUST 31% of the time), and when there are just as many (or more) 10s in sight as "babies" (2s thru 5s), hitting is actually the right play!
And this one: http://renzey.casinocitytimes.com/article/a-deeper-look-at-those-odds-n-ends-in-blackjack-23686
Renzey said: Something the common player doesn't realize is that doubling with A/8 vs. 5 isn't far from being a proper basic strategy play. And when the rest of the board is 8/6, 5/4/3 and 2/4/7 the way this one was, doubling is the best move. The thing to understand about basic strategy is it assumes all cards are equally available. In this case, they weren't. Anytime at least five more "babies" (2s thru 5s) have been killed than 10s, doubling down with A/8 against a 5 or 6, as well as with 9 against a deuce, all become correct.
Thanks to you both!
Of course this is more meaningful in SD and DD games. I've been playing a lot of 6/8-deck of late. Good games, but one observation is that there aren't a ton of deviations from basic strategy. The remaining decks just don't swing far from standard, except for very late in the deck.
First denomination-specific strategy I read about was in Thorp:
* In SD, 7-7 vs 10, best play is to stand b/c you've already burnt half of your direct routes to 21.
* Very simple adjustment on 16 vs 10, b/c it's so close. Normally, in SD, 2-card 16 is a hit. 3-card 16 is a stand, b/c you've burnt some of the small cards.
Would love to hear some other denomination-specific tricks.
... composition-dependent strategies.
Go here: http://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/ and see Appendixes 3a, 3b, 3c, and 9.
Don
Fred calls 2-5 babies (even though 6 could be considered a baby also) because in that section he advocates comparing tens to babies in order to play the hands a better than only basic strategy.
If you called 2-6 babies there would be a baby card (low card) imbalance. The number of 2-5's and ten value cards are equal in each deck. Basically you are reading the board, comparing babies to tens, and he lists a few hands that benefit from "counting only the board." For example he says 16 vs. 10 is one of those. He says "more babies than tens on the board" means stand on 16 vs. 10 instead of the basic strategy hit.
Thanks. Good explanation. Of course, in a sense, what he's advocating is counting the single round that is lying before you, in order to make your decision. In essence, he's saying that, if the count is positive for that ROUND, stand on 16 v. 10. While this might be better than nothing at all, it certainly isn't terribly accurate. It's the kind of thing that can be right on average, but with such huge deviations as to be not very useful.
Don
That's right. I have read most (that I know of) high quality and technically accurate advantage play systems blackjack books over the last 20 years including Thorp, Griffin, Revere, Humble and Cooper, Wong, Snyder, Blackwood, Carlson, the MIT Hi-Lo system material, and last but certainly not least Schlesinger.
By the way I would love to see another revision of BJA or some completely new material from you. Emphasis added!
If you read Renzey's BJBBII it has a completely different flavor than all other systems books and it is technically accurate.
It really does have something for everyone that wants to reduce the edge during recreational play, or get the edge for the more serious blackjack aficionado.
He explains some of the plays aren't that strong but the range of strategies he published are from easy but admittedly weak (board reading), to professional level systems like the Mentor Count and his unbalanced KISS strategies. The ace/ten front count he explains could be taught and employed by someone with even a marginal degree of motivation and aptitude.
Personally, I'm a recreational counter. I first learned the RPC and have many fond memories of solo counting the reservation casinos in MN when I was younger. After a long hiatus during the military and college I regrouped and switched to Snyder's Hi-Lo Lite because it's easier for me to get up to speed after my breaks from blackjack due to life's circumstances.
I've been using the KISS III count for some years now and am extremely happy with my results. I've said it before-if I had to keep just one of all the blackjack books I've learned from I'd keep BJBBII.
The section in BJBBII on board counting was presented in the chapter entitled, "What comes after Basic Strategy?". It was nestled in between basic strategy and card counting, and merely outlined ways to improve the game of a basic strategy player. Cancelling out the babies vs. 10s among a dozen or so cards on board is indeed far less useful than knowing what's come out since the shoe began. However, if you're not a card counter, it is more useful than ignoring them when you have one of the 7 borderline hands named. Little help, I know. But it might get a ploppy to begin thinking like an honest-to-goodness card player.
The 2s thru 5s were chosen as "babies" in the Babies vs. Tens board counting exercise because a key holding among the 7 borderline hands is 16 vs. 10. Essentially, with that hand, counting 6s as a baby would corrupt your play.
Is definitely on my list of recommendations.
It would be fantastic to get some more material from you Fred!
I'd be a buyer!
Like BBBB II ? Why don't you buy it and read it and reference it.
Robbie
The two books that I liked the most when I was trying to learn blackjack and still do are "The World's Greatest Blackjack Book" , by Humble and Cooper and "Million Dollar Blackjack", by Uston. They are both very comprehensive. There are also others that I like. Don's Blackjack Attack and Blackbelt in Blackjack which I just bought recently. I also like "Getting The Best Of It", by David Sklansky, who gets into the advantage that you have with certain card combinations and explains the Key Card concept.
Robbie
I have it, I've read it, and I referenced it in my first post above. I'm saying it would be fantastic if Renzey wrote a new edition of BJBBII or another AP book. I like his style and I've watched him graciously answer questions on all the good BJ forums over the last several years.
I too really enjoyed Million Dollar Blackjack, in addition to the books I mentioned in a post above.
Thanks, of course hitting with 6's would bust your 16 in a board-sensitive situtation.
Fred, I do have I guess your BJBBI book and your poker book. Hope to meet U one day at a Chicagoland casino. Still working on Mentor count.
