multiple-card 16 and 12 to 3

http://wizardofodds.com/askthewizard/numbered/askthewizard57.html
At the above link Michael Shakelford says that you should stand on a multiple-card 16 against a 10. My question is what about multiple-card 16 against a 7, 8, or 9? Where I normally play, the rules are as follows: dealer stands on a soft 17, six decks, the player may not double after a split, split up to two times including aces, and draw only one card to split aces.

He also said that you should stand on 12 to 3 sometimes. When should I stand on 12 to 3?

1. Did you notice that the difference between hitting and standing was .0001? :) I doubt you will play enough to notice that difference in actual dollars.

2. standing on 12 vs 3 is an index play. Using Hi-Lo, stand if the count is +2 or higher.

I notice that you use CVBJ quite extensively. I play Hi-Lo myself and was wondering if you could give me some drills and/or tests that you use to enhance your BJ skills.

I play shoe games and any CVBJ tips whether they be for BS or counting would be most helpful. Also, the speeds and parameters you play at would help to give me a benchmark of where I am at and how to get better. Even if you could direct me to a post where the info can be found would be great. The problem with software is that it cannot accurately replicate a real discard tray. Everything else CVBJ is good for. Then again, accurate deck estimation is a critical part of playing!!

IS COUNTING IN THE CASINO REALLY LIKE SLOW MOTION FOR YOU??? Thanks for any tips.

-MJ

Here is what I do daily, starting at least a month before a big trip like my recent sally out to Vegas:

I use cvdrills.

I run 60 BS hands (all types of hands, no counts) just to keep BS on my "fingertips") I shoot to complete this drill in under 60 seconds, which means that they have to be automatic with no real time to think since it takes that long to move the mouse curser to the right action and "click".

Next I run a 6 deck 2-at-a-time countdown, with the interval set to .61 or less. This counts down 6 decks in under two minutes total. Even though I don't play 6D very often, this is a pretty good "stress test" since the running count can go way up or way negative.

Next I run a full-table drill, starting hands. Again for 6 decks, again shooting for less than two minutes for the entire drill. This is useful for those occasional 21's by the dealer where the hole card is an ace rather than the up-card, and everyone just tosses their hands.

If I were playing 6D I would also do the discard tray drills, but I am mainly a DD/SD player and I don't find any benefit to the discard drills there, I prefer using real decks of cards for that.

Finally I set up my playing strategy (hi-lo, I18, F4, you can add any other indices you choose to use as well of course) and my betting ramp, and then play for 30 minutes to an hour. Goal is to play with _zero_ "nags". A "nag" is where Cassie complains about a bet too high or low, or an incorrect BS departure based on the count. If you can do this, then you are counting and doing the TC coversion pretty well. On occasion I will do a "stress test" where I try to play well beyond 300 rounds per hour which is pretty easy heads-up if you can keep up.

When I can do all of those, with no errors, I am done for the day. If I get an error on any of the first three drills, I restart that drill and do it until I get it right.

Now I know that the "counting" is not going to be a problem, that all I have to deal with is the other distractions of waitresses, boobs, chatting with others, and occasionally having to do stupid things like tell the dealer what his/her hand total is. :)

Hope that helps. I'm a fan of this program. My counting skills are so much better one year after starting to use this, as opposed to the previous 4 years without CVBJ, that it isn't funny.

Don't forget CVCX either, as you need to know the best bet ramp for your bankroll and specific game rules you are playing against. I think I have learned more about the actual game by fiddling with CVCX than by reading any single book. Because when you come up with a question, you can just compute the answer yourself...

Hope that helps, feel free to ask further if you have more questions...

Thanks for the response. When you practice playing with the software do you use ulra-real mode? If not which table format do you use and how many players are at the table?

I also prefer to use real cards and discard tray to practice deck estimation. I find the TC conversion on CVBJ difficult to do because the size of the discard rack is proportional to the size of your screen.
When I play a shoe game the discard rack is about 2 inches tall in ultra -real mode. I dont know how that can help somebody using a true counted system to calibrate their eyes. Any thoughts on that? I think the software is great for practicing in all the other aspects you mentioned.

-MJ

When I am purely training, which is 99% of the time, I use the "table format - special games - heads up" format. Just me vs the dealer with decent-sized cards that don't drive me nuts with my progressive-lens glasses. I do, on occasion, play with 1-2-3 other players as well, but less often as this slows the game down and speed is what I am working on. I always use the "ultra-real" type tables, my sony laptop works just fine with them. I also ramp up all the "animation" sliders to where I can just barely keep up. I usually have "animation speed" wide open, and adjust the dealer action speeds (payoff, etc) to where I can't afford to look away or I will miss cards...

That help???

Thanks for the training tips...I'll try them out.

Is there an ultra-real mode for heads up play? Im surprised you spend most of your training playing heads up...when you play in the casino most of the time arent there other players sitting at the table? Wouldnt you want to practice counting the hands of the other players?

Also, can you adjust the card thickness if the discard tray is set up to "full height" where the exact number of decks fit in tray option is NOT selected? For some reason if I select "full height" under customize in heads up play I cannot adjust the card thickness. Any ideas? Thanks.

-MJ

First, the "heads up game" is about as real as it can get. The discard tray is life-size, the cards are very big. In fact, the chips are close to normal sized. :)

As far as heads-up goes, remember that this is just another angle of advantage play. If you play late afternoon or nights, you are going to see crowds. If you play graveyard (say 4am until noon) you have a good chance of getting into a heads-up game, or a game with one other player (make sure that extra player isn't me. :) ) The reason I play heads up on CVBJ is speed. It is possible to play at 600 rounds per hour. But it is up to you to do the counting, the TC conversion, get the right bet out, play the correct BS departures, and so forth. When you can play at that speed by yourself, you can be pretty confident that at the table, you are not going to be using massive amounts of brainpower counting so that you can carry on conversations, look at the "scenery" when she walks by, etc. :)

Also, counting other player's hands is not a problem once you get your speed up. I've given my method of which cards to count when here in the past, and that works for me. I've not had any problems counting at all, except for the occasional case where I have to sit at 1st or 3rd and reading the cards across the table can be a chore with my progressive lenses. If I can sit anywhere near the middle three seats, I have no problems at all. And thankfully, it seems that the casinos where I have been playing seem to be using cards designed for the visually impaired where the ranks are very large. :) If I played more 6D games, I would probably practice more with more players, but at SD/DD mainly, you have to remember that less is more, when counting the number of players... Not much point in playing a SD game at a full table, as you often get just one round which is not playable.

As far as card thickness goes, I will plead ignorance. There is an adjustment for it, but I don't bother since different monitor sizes change the card thickness automatically since pixel sizes vary, screen resolutions vary, etc. You want to calibrate your eyes to real cards. Since most places use a discard tray, watch when the dealer shuffles and inserts the shuffle card, assuming the discard tray has the locating slot (common for DD games, not for 6D games). Note how full the tray is with all the decks inserted. I deal with 1/2 deck accuracy at DD, 1/4 deck at SD. For shoes when I play them (rarely) I use 1 deck and since we never get into the last deck, I will resort to 1/2 deck accuracy if we get to within 2 decks of the end... A couple of decks of cards and for SD/DD you will be accurate enough very quickly...

One final note. To be successful (and I hardly call myself successful, just a happy amateur) your main priority has to be to choose the best games and conditions. Not play whatever you see when you walk in. I walked up and down Fremont street last week, going into every last casino on both sides, looking at every BJ table I could find, before choosing to play the Plaza DD and Binion's SD games. If you start off with a good game, your advantage is going to be better. If you play crappy games, you get the shaft. My brother found a SD game last year that was dealt to the bottom. He said "go tear it up, you ought to be able to crush that..." I looked. BJ payed even money. That turns it into a -2% (maybe a bit more) game that just isn't playable IMHO. Arnold Snyder made a big point about this very thing a while back. Being card counters doesn't put a big "S" on our chests. :) It just gives us a cape, but we have to use it wisely. :)