Insurance

The index number for taking insurance on an 8-deck shoe is 3.1 for the hi-lo count. Wong says to just use 3 for multi-deck games, since it is not possibleto discern the TC within a tenth of a point. Schlesinger specifically says on p. 108 of "Blackjack Attack" not to do this, and to not take insurance if you estimate the count to be exactly 3. How do you guys deal with this issue? It seems the most logical thing to do is to take insurance if the count exceeds 3, as anything over 3 is probably 3.1 or greater...

Any thoughts?

Generally, when you have a good hand like 20 or 19, be more inclined to take insurance. If it close on the count, take it. If you have a poor hand like a 15 or 16 and it's close on the count don't insure. This will reduce your variance a bit.

As a general rule of thumb for playing decisions, if it's close on the count you should play BS because it is generally more costly to deviate from BS too often than not often enough.

Don't worry about exact precision, it is not that important.

Bert

Chris, it sounds like you are still learning. If so, you may be even more confused now. What you have is three different insurance strategies to choose from, all of which are correct depending on how you look at the problem:

• Stanford Wong's advice (take insurance at a TC of 3 or more) is optimal given only the truncated TC, with respect to maximising EV.


• Don Schlesinger's advice (to take insurance at a TC of more than 3) is optimal given that you can differentiate between a TC of exactly 3 and a TC of more than 3, with respect to maximising EV.


• Bert Nommel's advice (to be more inclined to take insurance with 19/20/BJ and less inclined with a poor hand at TC of 3) is an improvement given the TC and starting hand, when taking variance into consideration ("risk averse" strategy).

Maybe others will chime in with their own variations. A more advanced strategy will improve your long-term results, but probably not by very much. Choose whatever you are most comfortable with. (If Bert's strategy intrigues you, check out his thread on advantageplayer.com - link below).