vpFREE2 Forums

Gambling with an Edge --- April 12

#1

Our guest tomorrow night is Don Schlesinger --- author of
"Blackjack Attack" --- one of the "bibles" all blackjack
players should have.

Schlesinger's most famous article is called the "Illustrious
18", which includes the 18 hands in blackjack that gather well over 90% of
all of the advantage of card counting. And there are two of these (comprising
10% of the total) that Schlesinger advises counters not to use! We'll talk to
him about this.

Schlesinger has an over-the-top outspoken personality. We
basically have no idea what he is going to be saying

GWAE may be heard live from 7-8 p.m. on Thursdays in Las
Vegas on 1230AM or on www.klav1230am.com
from anywhere. On the day after the show, the show is archived on www.bobdancer.com You may subscribe for
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#2

They provide most of the benefit of using the count to make strategy variations.

But the lion's share of the advantage from card counting is the result
of bet variation.

···

On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 9:25 AM, Bob Dancer <bobdancervp@hotmail.com> wrote:

Schlesinger's most famous article is called the "Illustrious
18", which includes the 18 hands in blackjack that gather well over 90% of
all of the advantage of card counting.

#3

vpkingfish wrote (about Don Schlesinger's Illustrious 18):
They provide most of the benefit of using the count to make strategy variations.

But the lion's share of the advantage from card counting is the result
of bet variation.

  .

   Blackjack isn't my game anymore, but I don't think this is true. The top entry in the Illustrous 18 list is Insurance --- which you only take at a Hi-Lo count of +3 or greater. The "value" given to this includes the fact that your bet is 5.26 units (which is the average size of your bet
in the betting strategy given in the article.) The next strategy variation shown, standing on 16 versus a 10, is made when you have a Hi-Lo count of 0 or greater. This is made, on average, with a betsize of 2 units. So the Illustrious 18 includes BOTH bet variation and strategy variation according to the count. Using a different count and/or a different bet variation strategy will change the numbers to the Illustrious 18 --- but I suspect the same 18 rules will come out to be the most important Bob

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#4

Making the strategy change at the index value has little value -
that's the point at which taking insurance and not taking insurance
are about equal (I say about equal because the hi-lo count is not
perfectly efficient for insurance.)

···

On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 8:03 PM, Bob Dancer <bobdancervp@hotmail.com> wrote:

The top entry in the Illustrous 18 list is Insurance --- which you only take at a Hi-Lo count of +3
or greater. The "value" given to this includes the fact that your bet is 5.26 units (which is the
average size of your bet in the betting strategy given in the article.)

#5

I've found especially useful his table on the "absolute cost of deviating from basic strategy" and some rich ideas on camouflage.

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Bob Dancer <bobdancervp@...> wrote:

Our guest tomorrow night is Don Schlesinger --- author of
"Blackjack Attack" --- one of the "bibles" all blackjack
players should have.

Schlesinger's most famous article is called the "Illustrious
18", which includes the 18 hands in blackjack that gather well over 90% of
all of the advantage of card counting. And there are two of these (comprising
10% of the total) that Schlesinger advises counters not to use! We'll talk to
him about this.

<snip>