True Count

Much like the charts and counting cards with effort I have improved much , thanks.
I realy have trouble with mutipling a fraction,actualy more like determining the correct fraction to multiply.With a six deck shoe, say like 1/3 of a deck used.help,help please
Thought maybe you hot shot mathematicians have a system that could help determine the fraction. maybe a chart with frequent helpful fractions would be more helpful or something to be more familure with.
I realize there is much redundency in answering quetions, but remember it is appreciated by thoese who are enthusiastic.hope you can help because it is essential I master the true count.thanks

There is a link their entitled "Blackjack School".

There are ten lessons, scan through them, one of them deals with taking the running count and converting it to the true count.

Also, in a 6 deck game, estimating to the nearest half deck is good enough. So in your example, 1/3 of a deck dealt, you are still in the first half of the first deck, so you are still basically playing against 6 decks. Just take your running count and divide it by 6.

So if the running count on that 1/3 deck played was +3, your true count is 3/6 or .5, round down, you have a true count of +0 (stand on 16 vs 10). If your running count was +7, then your true count is 7/6 or 1.16666, don't worry about that, round down, 7/6 = +1. At this point you would increase your bet, double down on 9 vs 2 or 11 vs A.

A different example: you have played thru one whole deck of a 6 deck shoe and you have an incredible running count of +18. Well, hold on. 18 divided by 5 decks left = 18/5 = 3.6 = true count +3. So you should be making a bigger bet, but certainly not a max bet (which should happen at +5 or +6). Of course if you get 12 vs 2, you stand instead of hit, at this point.

Confused? Go thru the "Blackjack School" links and post questions here.

I have always liked the "True Edge" idea that Arnold Snyder outlined in his book Blackbelt in Blackjack. Roughly, rather than go through the two step process of calc'ng the true count and then equate that TC number to a playing advantage .. you do a single calc and go straight to the playing advantage (.5% 1.0% 1.5% etc)

It's really great.

TC'ing is not unlike first learning BS or keeping the running count. After awhile, it to will become second nature. You'll look at the discards and just feel (know) the advantage.

Pratice makes perfect!

Good luck.

I posted about this recently, it doesn't need to be difficult. First, just estimate discards to the nearest full deck that is definately in the discard tray. Estimating to half decks improves overall performance very little over full deck estimates. Next, just round "down" the running count to the closest number that is evenly divisible by the number of decks remaining... no fractional division required. I say round down becuse if your RC is +4 with a deck in the tray you are not quite at +1TC.

So you "round up" the remaining decks to the nearest whole number. Then you "round down" the running count to the nearest number that is evenly divisible by the adjusted number of decks remaining.

Example: You have a running count of 12 with 1.2 decks in the discard tray. You round the number of decks remaining to 5. You divide the RC, which you round down to 10, by 5. The TC is +2, and that is close enough for betting or play strategy.

Using this method should improve your performance if you use standard indeces as it automatically adds some risk aversion by slightly underestimating the tc, plus speeding up your game.

Once you become more advanced and counting & tc conversion are very easy, then you might start estimating discards to the nearest half deck when in the second half of the shoe. More accurate estimates in the first half of the shoe will gain you nothing and actually make more counters over play the count with both betting and with play variations as they jump to use those rare strategy variations that don't really ever quite get there.

Figuring TC is very, very easy. Just don't be taken in by discussions that mention .0000001 differences. Playing quickly with 95% accuracy will make you much more money than playing slowly with 100% accuracy. This is why most of the big money players are hi-lo players. Its quick and easy.

I never thought of doing it that way, but DD' is right.
He outlines a very simple method.

When I tested for the MIT team, years ago, they required estimates to a quarter of a deck. They also required a complex method of determining the correct bet based on these estimates. Since then, I have realized that such accuracy requirements were strictly esoteric, and were seldom employed in the casino. DD' is totally correct that full-deck estimates are typically good enough at least until at the half-shoe level, where I try fro a little more precision. Bonne chance, PV

lots of casinos in vegas cut their shoe games to the 1.5 cut mark. I am not definite but i'm sure in other casinos around the country some must also have these kinds of shoes. Almost always the dealers cut the shoes right at this point, unless u are lucky and notice that they go even deeper. But i just drew up a little chart for myself using a calculator with running counts converted to true counts at the 1.5 deck level. It took about 5 minutes to memorize and comes in handy many many times when you will want to make an accurate playing or betting decision deeper in the shoe when your bigger money is out. I honestly say just estimate to the nearest deck for the whole shoe cause u will be fine with that. Plus just adding what i mentioned will help you out even more. Measuring out 3.5 decks isn't that big of a deal and shit, how many times have u played a 6 deck game dealt to the 5.5 level anyways??? Plus even if u don't play a shoe game with that 1.5 cut notch, many casinos direct their dealers to deal 4.5/6 out and u will learn that spot in the shoe good anyways. Good luck to you!!!

regards,

table

after a short time and seeing the pattern counters don't do division at all any more. You round up decks remaining and then just think in multiples of that number. If there are 4 decks remaining you just think: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, for true counts 1,2,3,4, & 5. You don't have to divide the running count at all. You know what range it is in thus you know the TC as soon as you glance at the discard tray. At the half shoe point I'm thinking: 3,6,9,12,15. The running count has to fully reach the target number to equal that TC, otherwise you consider it the lower TC. Simple. No divisions, no fractions.