At least for beginners and rookies (who are learning so many aspects of the game more or less simultaneously), simplifying KO Preferred even further seems to be a legitimate option. In addition to dispensing with variations for rules as does KO Preferred, one can also dispense with variations for the number of decks and simply use one set of indices for all rules and decks.
I analyzed the 13 best $5 and $10 games in Vegas (based on the pen levels reported in CBJN, with no adjustment for the way CBJN reports pen differently for games with a shuffle card), running 60M rounds with no-cover bet strategies of 1/2/4 at 1/2/3 at SD and 1/2/4/8 at 1/2/3/4 at DD (three games were SD and ten were DD, with similar patterns) on CVData Beta.
The averages for these games using the official KO indices were:
DI: 7.97; Win Rate: 2.64.
The averages using only my single simplified set were:
DI: 7.85; Win Rate: 2.60.
Thus, on these games, one loses only an average of 0.04 units per hour using the simplified strategy, which eliminates having to learn variations for a total of six card combinations. Although experienced players who�ve learned more complicated systems may scoff at declining to learn ONLY six such variations, many beginners and rookies might benefit from this approach. I believe I have.
I sense that I make fewer mistakes, feel more confident and more relaxed, and enjoy the game more. I suspect that fewer mistakes in actual play make the EV from the simplified approach at least equal to the EV from the standard strategy. Regardless, subjectively, I like it easy.
So far, using this approach, I�ve played 65 hours and won 550 units, or 8.5 units per hour.
--Heywood
