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Ray
04-08-2004, 01:16 PM
Yesterday I played two 3 hr. sessions at a Riverboat and started my play
at the $25 tables. I played the first 3 hrs. and went no where with the
attempt to "Engineering" a good situation. I was no different from anyone
at the table because at least 95% of the time I played basic strategy and
lost money for the session.

While I was having something to eat, I decided to try a method that I
ran accross at BJMATH. It's a concept recommended as an alternative
to backcounting for short deck games, say double deck. The idea is to
enter the game at the start, play two hands at 70% and avoid playing
the negative counts. The numbers quoted were 65% with two hands at
70% and 55% playing one hand. All that you need is some good excuse
to go to the john,call home,etc; not to hard to do because of the limited
number of hands.

Six deck shoes games, is a different matter all together. What to do about
all those cards/decks? I had put some thought into this and here is what I
decided to do: Play the $10 dollar tables and backcount at least one deck
and more if you can. What I was after was a running start and the removal
of some cards. On average the best I did was about +3,4 "running" and
one or one and half decks played. I played two at 20 which is a little over
70%. The first hour I could do no wrong and got my money back plus 25
units. Situational Blackjack? I think you would have to say yes, because
the next two hrs. I went nowhere up or down and could have went home
two hrs. earlier. I might add: With the running start I still had to leave the
table a lot, but table hopping helps to hide some of that.

Ray

Walter Thomason
04-23-2004, 01:46 PM
Ray: Re. Wonging an 8 deck game for the first deck out... Played on one of the local boats last night .. 9 spots, six players, all spots taken. On the second shoe of the night not a single face card or Ace appeared in the first two rounds of play, and only two high cards on the next round! I jumped up my initial bet from $20 to $50 (two hands each round), and the dealer murdered the table in spite of the count! Everyone lost their shirt! I'm sure the count stayed positive throughout most of the shoe but the dealer won at least three out of four hands.
This is one reason why I'm a progression player: I'd rather win when I don't expect it than lose when I expect to win!
Things pretty well returned to normal for the rest of the evening and my little progression system made a very healthy profit -- in spite of the count!

Ray
04-23-2004, 04:18 PM
Walter: Yes it's that kind of game. I've had situations where everything
works and others were nothing I did was right. One thing about progressions is the fact that they seem to work for so many people and
while I may not agree with the logic, how can I disregard their success?
It's like I told "BUG" in another post, I think I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Ray