True count conversion necessity for halves system

many people have problems with the fractions...you can just double the tag values of the cards (so a 2 counts at +1 instead of +0.5 and a 5 counts at +3 instead of +1.5) Then when doing the TC conversion divide by the number of half decks remaining instead of whole decks. You will wind up with the correct TC per deck number and be able to use the indexes in Professional Blackjack with no problem.

You should read PR�s post. He answered your question about Halves, and he also made an excellent recommendation: consider using KO. I agree with that.

I have read some of your posts, and you make it clear that you are just starting out. You should first master a simple system. After doing that, you can consider moving up to a more advanced system.
There are a lot of strong players who stay at a simple system all their career. Conversely there are weak players who use an advanced count.

As a general rule, I see the use of an advanced count as sign of weakness. Please do not get me wrong. There are some good players who use advanced counts, such as BP who also addressed your post.

However, of all the things for a player to learn, an advanced count system is way down on the list of the thins to master. I saw you asking about betting theory below. Learning how to bet properly is far more important than using an advanced counts.

There are two good candidates for simple counts to use: KO and High-Low. If you don�t like true-counting, you can use KO. Otherwise you can use High-Low.

not the rack size but you could definitely look at the cards in the discard rack and estimate the remaining decks in the shoe.

MathProf's & PR's advice is good. Your posts indicate that you seem to be sort of on the on-ramp to the whole bj/ap highway. Do not get caught up in the whole "my system is better than your system" bs. A simple system like HiLo or KO will get the money if everything else about your game is sound. And it's the "everything else" part that you should be concentrating on right now.

I started using HiLo and then switched to halves about 1.5 years later.
I still sometimes revert back to HiLo when I'm doing more advanced things requiring more concentration. When I first started halves, I used integer values for the tags (instead of halves), but then I switched back to the base values, because, for me in my head, the half/whole number mixture was the same as the odd/even number mixture.

you don't need to divide by half decks remaining. You can use the double-halves and still divide by whole decks. Of course, your original indices should be doubled as well or recalculated with any commercial simulator.

Regards,
Tim

you will lose some accuracy. If you divide by 1/2 decks you remain fully accurate.

The correct way is to let the index generator to calculate the right indices (whole-deck precision). Doubling indices is simply an approach.
Run the sims and you will see that going to half-deck precision is not worth the mental effort.

Regards,
Tim

Whether you divide by whole, half, or quarter decks.

if it wasnt for easy of use and speed i'd use AO2 with Ace side count.
but when playing multideck ace side count it can become a pain.
side counting is one pain and working out shortage and surplus of aces is the worst part.
but without side aces the BC of AO2 makes it not worth using in shoe games.
if BJ is something that you do day in day out, it is worth the efforts to practice and become proficient at a more advanced system.
which system u use is limited by ur ability and time put in to "practice".
in a high speed game with deep pen.. high BC sys will pick out many more favourable situations.
and has less chance of betting into unfav. situations mistaken for fav. situations.
eg high 2 or 5 surplus, shortages of nines..for some1 using hi lo, might give a very very false high count towards the end of the shoe with deep pen.
which means betting really really big into not so fav. situations.

of cos if you've tried and practiced and still cant be accurate using an advanced count,
then fine go on with a simple one, but dont just stop and be satisfied without trying.
simple example.. +count u stand 16vsT -count u hit16vsT
why?? cos ur supposed to lose less.. but that's only marginally.
but u'd do that all the time for the reduction in losts.
so why not use a count with a better BC in shoe game if u can??
i can tell u.. the gain is alot more compared to 16vsT and most other BS variation.
and it sure as hell will make alot of difference to ur annual expected result if u played full time.

i personally use halvesx2, found that i was more comfortable with +6/-4 then working with 0.5's.
i would love to use AO2 with aces but found that i cannot continuously chat with others
unless i counted the aces with chips.(something that u dont want to be doing in casinos)
and that i have to stop to work on the betting count
occasionally would gear back to hi lo when the casino hand shuffled,
makes it alot easier to keep 2 running counts.

i m not saying you have to use an advance system, but just dont limit urself.
dont quit without trying!! (but make sure ur trying at home until u can do it)