Bet spread consistency

I have a question about how religeously you need to follow your bet spread. Specifically is it okay to occasionally put out a bet larger than your normal maximum at a large positive count? Is it to the players advantage or is the risk not worth it?

Spreading more than usual will increase your variance. Another factor is your ROR. If you are already playing with a high risk of ruin, extra large bets, even in positive counts can result in losing your bankroll if you encounter that negative variance.

That said, I have very often spread much higher than my normal spread for certain games but I play with a very small ROR. Generally, I do this where I know I can get away with it (for awhile).

As long as your BR can tolerate it, it can be worthwhile if the situation calls for it.

Most of the time spreads are limited by heat, so if you have a particularly good opportunity to spread higher than normal, such as taking over someone else's spot, being on a "streak", etc., you should take it. As long as your BR can handle it, it's a great EV booster.

I tried it for a year, admittedly probably not betting optimally but putting a lot more money on the table in very high counts, and I had the worst year of over 20 years of playing. Call it negative variance, bad luck, overbetting, or whatever, it was terrible. I'm not saying people shouldn't do it, but it really killed me.

I believe - you can either afford the larger bet or you can't. If you can, then that is your Big Bet and your spread is from there downward. Occassionally betting Extra Big doesn't make sense unless you are playing with information - dealer flashed a big card and you'll be getting it. Otherwise, I think this would be defined as overbetting and that is a bad thing increasing variance with very little extra EV. If your BR is renewable, then just up your top bet all the time instead of occassionally.

Thanks for the replies. They kind of follow what I figured, increased ROR and possible higher EV.

I have another question. In PROFESSIONAL BLACKJACK it states that if you enter mid-shoe without knowing the count you can start counting from there and adjust to a true count but the used cards you didn't see would be, for lack of a better term, placed behind the cut card. I think this assumes you are using a balnced count like Hi-Lo. Can I start counting in the middle of a shoe using an unbalanced count? It seems to me it would be just like playing a shoe with worse penetration. Is my thinking correct?

I don't see any reason to do it--unless you have another player at the table telling you it is a monster count. I don't think that is your situation.

don't readjust your starting count to less than the actual amount of decks. You may not hit your pivot but that's probably not to your detriment.

A better choice would be to remember you had to go to get a non-alcoholic drink at the bar or go to the bathroom. Estimate how long it should take to reach the end of the shoe. There are a lot of distractions in the casino, it may coincidentally take you just the right amount of time to return to the table when it's shuffling or just about to ;)

Good Cards,
tripsix