More BS Advantages
Following only the BS presented in chapter 3, you will win more, lose less, and sometimes even win instead of losing in the long run, as the following situation illustrates.
When you are holding a pair of 6s versus 4, you will win only 42.5% of the time by standing. The dealer will win 57.5%, which means that your overall losses would be 15%. By splitting your 6s, you increase your win percentage to 51%. Since the dealer’s win rate after this split will be 49%, your gain is 2% x 2, because you will have doubled your total amount of money on the table. Therefore, by splitting you turn a losing situation ( 15%) into a winning one (+ 4%), which results in an overall gain of 19%.
BS also insures that you will lose less on certain hands. When you are dealt A,7 versus T, you are stuck with a losing hand no matter how you play it. By standing, your win rate is only 41%, while hitting this soft 18 will beat the dealer’s final total just 43% of the time. Standing results in a net loss of 18% (dealer’s win rate of 59% minus your 41%), while hitting provides a net loss of only 14%. You will generally lose in this situation, but you will lose less (4% to be exact) by following BS.
Multiple-parameter Tables
In chapter 6 a number of counting systems are described in which various cards are assigned a value of zero. In the Hi-Low system 7s, 8s, and 9s are ignored. Other systems count Aces as 0 in the running count (RC) but keep track of them separately, since they are too important to ignore. By keeping track of the cards that count zero, however, it is possible to increase the playing efficiency of a counting system by using such information.
In 1975, Professor Peter Griffin devised tables that compensate for ignoring zero-valued cards. For example: On one of Griffin’s tables, 9s have an index value of 1, Ace’s = 2, and 8s = 0. Therefore, in a single-deck game if a counter noticed that three 9s were seen in the first half deck, he should add 1 to the normal RC, because one extra 9 appeared (beyond the normal distribution expectation). Similarly, if no Aces had appeared, + 4 would necessarily be added to the RC (- 2 x 2 = 4, which is subtracted from the RC).
Although multiple-parameter tables may be useful for a few professional players who have learned certain counting systems, the additional effort required to keep the necessary side-counts in one’s head and adjust the RC accordingly does not justify the tiny gain of only .4% that such tables can provide. They are mentioned here not as an endorsement but merely to inform readers that such sophisticated research has been done and is available to those who might be interested in purchasing it.
