..after a personal choice to memorize more indexes, I was surprised that a re-read of Stanford Wong's Professional Blackjack, Halves Count vs S17 multi-deck, the index for splitting 7's vs. dealer 8 is at T+2.
For years I would do Basic Strategy, i.e. hit my paired sevens versus a dealer eight, regardless of the count.
Now, armed with my expanded vocabulary of indexes, I encountered the unfortunate event a total of 3 times in the past 3 months. All at tables with 6 decks, S17.
1st time: True count +3. Played alone. Split the 7's vs Dealer 8. Got a 10 on the 1st 7 for a total of 17 and stood. Got a 9 on the 2nd 7 and hit the 16 and busted. Dealer flips over a 10. Result = lost 2 bets.
2nd time: True count +4. Played solo. Split the 7's vs Dealer 8. Got an Ace on the 1st 7 total 18 and stood. Got a 10 on the 2nd 7 total 17 and stood. Dealer flips over a 9 total 17. Result = push 1 bet, win 1 bet.
3rd time: True count +2. Played with an AP friend who does not go beyond the Illustrious 18 indexes. He was shocked as I split my 7s versus the dealer 8. Got an Ace on the first 17 for 18 and stood. Got a 10 on the 2nd 7 for 17 and stood. Dealer flips over a 5, and busts.
Result = win 2 bets. Dealer says to me: that was a good split. AP friend says to me: I think you've been reading too much.
I believe the event, i.e. paired 7's vs. dealer 8, is an unfavorable one. Perhaps at T+2, the opportunity to lose less becomes available by splitting.
RICK
