SCORE ratings

I was recently reading through a copy of Don S.'s BLACKJACK ATTACK. I found it to be a very helpful resource worthy of serious study. The SCORE chapter gives the earnings expectations in dollar-amounts for various games, assuming a $10,000 bankroll and fixed r.o.r. My question is as follows: how can I determine the necessary betting unit that would be required in each game? I could not find any description about how to figure this amount. Any help would be appreciated, so that I can best take advantage of this excellent resource. Perhaps if Don is around he could enlighten me!

Thanks!

I've also read BJA. My guess .. and this is just a guess .. is that since a commercial software product was used, they left a few things out to encourage others to purchase the software.

He gives you some answers to previously unanswered questions .. and leaves many more unanswered (such as the one you posed).

I, for one, see nothing wrong with this practice. It made us think and if we want the answer that sim software gives, we ought to pony up the price.

Give me the the rules and I'll give you the answer.

All you need is the frequencies of the true counts and the advantages at each true count. (You can find this info in the Tables of Chapter 10 at BJA 2). Now, compute the variance of your betting style (per round) and the ev (per round). This is probably the most tricky part, but Chapter 2 of BJA 2 can give you the guidelines. Now you are ready, your unit is given by the following formula:

unit=(-2*E*B)/(var*lnr) where

E: your ev per round (in units)
B: your bankroll (in $)
var: your variance per round (in units)
r: the risk you are willing to take

Here's an example: 6-deck, s17, das, 75% pen, backcounting the way Don suggests 1,2,4,6 and 2x6 units. If you do the computations you find E=0.0575 and var=20.66. Say you have a 10,000$ bank and willing to take 5% risk (in the formula you put 0.05). Plug into the formula and you get: 18.58$ as your unit

Takis

Thanks for the responses!
Let's see- when I'm in Vegas I try to play as much single deck as I can. So let's say single deck, 55% penetration (about 30 cards), H17, no DAS- just the standard downtown game. How much would the unit change if we switched to a decent strip game- let's say 6 decks, s17, DAS, late surrender, 75% penetration? Also, and probably most importantly, how do you come up with these calculations? Is there a way to do it without excessive complexity? Is Don S. just using a standard Kelly method of betting, based on figuring the percent edge the player has at certain times?

Thanks for your help, TG.

The Score is full kelly betting(no adjustments made) with a 10K bank using optimal betting at a "fixed" risk of ruin of 13.58%.

32.96 per hundred rounds is the Score for a 1-12 spread (6D DAS LS).

Here is the optimal betting ramp (Play all).
Note you may have to round your bets for pratical purposes.

TC Bet
___________________
0 and less = $13
+1 = $38
+2 = $88
+3 = $139
+4 and more = $152
___________________

The single deck rules you gave is about an even game off the top, so using a 1-4 spread, you can bet 38$ off the top go to 2 units at TC of 1 ,2 units at 2-3, and 4 units($152) at 4 and higher, your score will be over twice the 6 deck wich leads us to the question of is the single deck game twice as slow as 6 deck? Due to conditions this can very well be. Also 6 deck games are readily available are far out number single deck, so it's a matter of give and take.

Good luck.