ubzii question

I am currently studying UBZII and would like someone to explain, in non-technical terms, how to true count an unbalanced system. Do you begin at -U or do you begin at zero?

You begin your running count at -U times the number of decks, for UBZII that's -8 for double-deck, -24 for 6 decks. A truecount of -4 at any times indicates you are at the 'off the top' house edge.

Deck estimation errors are less serious for the unbalanced count since you have a smaller number on top of the fraction when you will be betting above your minimum, and the RC of zero is still there to keep you from going too far wrong on what your edge is.

But doesn't this process proscribe overbetting your advantage near the end of the shoe and underbetting your advantage in the early portions of the shoe? This hasn't bothered me very much because the advantage doesn't begin to really express itself until you reach a half-shoe or better. Presently, I am starting my IRC at zero and when I reach the pivot, raise my bet to five units(conservative)regardless if it's early in the shoe or much later. At the half-way point, whatever number I am beyond the pivot, I begin betting half Kelly according to my edge. What do you think? Have I got it wrong and am I playing a weak game? So far, though I have been cashing more often than not.

What you wrote is true, but you probably didn't mean "proscribe".

Using true-count for betting eliminates the errors of betting according to the true count. Note that the pivot remains the pivot, the suggested IRC puts the pivot at zero so the division by # of decks remaining doesn't change it.

Early example -- with good rules an RC of -11 (13 above IRC) would probably call for a 2 unit bet with 5 1/2 decks remaining, you wouldn't catch that with RC betting. An RC of +4 with 7 decks remaining (28 above IRC) does not call for a larger bet than at your pivot, you'd bet it higher with RC betting.

Late example, RC of +3 (27 above IRC) calls for a larger bet than pivot with 1 1/2 decks remaining (often 4 units more with a 1 - 12 spread).

Betting schedules are more accurate and somewhat more consistent between different size shoes with true-counting. And you can use one set of indexes for BS departures.