Peter Griffin on why KO users suck.

Great title, huh?

"The ability to keep separate densities of aces, sevens, eights, and nines as well as the Einstein point count itself is not beyond a motivated and disciplined intellect. The memorization of strategy tables for the basic Einstein system as well as proper point values for the separated denominations in different strategic situations should be no problem for an individual who is so inclined."

- Theory of BJ, Peter A. Griffin

Just came across that passage again, and thought it was worth posting.

Best,
Syph

Peter Griffin on why KO users suck.
Great title, huh?

No, it's not. If anything sucks, it's taking a quote from one of the blackjack greats, and misinterpreting it to insult a large portion of the community.

Even though I no longer use KO, but have switched to a balanced count, I must point this out:

The memorization of strategy tables for the basic Einstein system as well as proper point values for the separated denominations in different strategic situations should be no problem for an individual who is so inclined.

1) You do all of that to a certain degree with KO. The only thing you don't do is convert from RC to TC, which he does not mention in that quote.

2) There is a big difference in not being inclined to doing something and sucking.

Once you know you are good enough to beat the casinos and have the bullets to do it, your inclination to spend huge amounts of time and energy in order to scalp another fraction of a percent disappears.

That said, I remember Arnold once posted the "Headache Count" on BJFonline. I think it had 4 or 5 different counts and indice sets. I quickly saved a copy to my email, which consequently disappeared without a trace.

Never trust free email providers.

At the time, I was having a tough time not getting backed off. And the games I played were predominately pitch. In Northern Nevada, I came across many single decks dealing 7+ rounds.

I always pondered how profitable (and for how long) they would be, flat betting, with a multi-parameter count from hell.

Best,
Syph

... KO didn't even exist at the time Griffin wrote that. It's true, Griffin poked some good natured fun at Snyder for his unbalanced red-seven, but he was just worried about the math getting "too messy" -- similar to his comment about cheating on either side of the table.

Second, there are a whole range of very simple techniques "beyond counting" that can double or quadruple a counter's win rate. Griffin was so enamored by the math, I doubt he even considered 5% of that crass stuff. He was above all that. The fact he was one of the top three or four BJ theorists of all time doesn't mean we take his advice on mundane stuff like padding a paycheck.

ETF