4 Deck Blackjack

[Blue Efficacy]

I was wondering how much better 4 deck blackjack is for a counter, assuming equal rules and pen vs. 6 deck blackjack. The difference in BS house edge isn't much, but it seems like you'd get higher true counts more frequently. And there's also the fact that it's easier to keep count with fewer decks, but the edge from that would be difficult to quantify.

Anybody have any input?

 

[SystemsTrader]

4 Decks is much better. The edge would also have to depend on the spreads which you would use, the more decks the larger the spread you require to improve your edge. You are always better off with less decks if possible. The BS edge would be about 0.06% over 6 decks and a play-all strategy would give you about a 0.33% edge over 6 decks using an equal spread. That's significant for a counter. Even if the 6 deck game used a 1-16 vs a 1-10 spread for 4 decks you would still have about a 0.09% edge over the 6 deckers.

 

[Blue Efficacy]

Thanks. Another question, all else being equal, should I play a 6D game with 5 decks dealt, or the 8D game with 7 decks dealt?

 

[Warlord]

Thanks. Another question, all else being equal, should I play a 6D game with 5 decks dealt, or the 8D game with 7 decks dealt?

If was not wonging in/out then I would play the 6D with 83% rather than getting stuck in a 8D shoe with a negative count even though the pen is better at 87%. 83% is great pen. I am not sure of the %edge from the difference in pen but everything else constant, 6D has a .03% advantage over 8D. So unless the better pen of the 8D substantially offsets the .03% that 6D has over 8D, then I would stick w/6D.

If I was backcounting and wonging then I would rather be in an 8D at a + count than a 6D in hopes of getting more hands at an advantage.

JMHO

 

[SleightOfHand]

Thanks. Another question, all else being equal, should I play a 6D game with 5 decks dealt, or the 8D game with 7 decks dealt?

For BS players, LESS pen is actually better. If you can find a CSM, that would be the best. The 6D game has 83.3% pen while the 8D has 87.5%. However, you will also want to consider shuffle time. Since the pen is pretty close, I would say that the 8D game is better.

However, CCs would rather play the 6D game. Just doing some quick figures in CVCX, comparing the 6D and 8D spreading 1:10 in a S17 DAS NS, the SCORE gain in going from 8D to 6D is about 20% in play all, wonging out (-1), and backcounting (+1) and wonging out. The 8D game with backcounting and wonging out has almost the same SCORE as the 6D with only wonging out.

 

[Blue Efficacy]

For BS players, LESS pen is actually better. If you can find a CSM, that would be the best. The 6D game has 83.3% pen while the 8D has 87.5%. However, you will also want to consider shuffle time. Since the pen is pretty close, I would say that the 8D game is better.

However, CCs would rather play the 6D game. Just doing some quick figures in CVCX, comparing the 6D and 8D spreading 1:10 in a S17 DAS NS, the SCORE gain in going from 8D to 6D is about 20% in play all, wonging out (-1), and backcounting (+1) and wonging out. The 8D game with backcounting and wonging out has almost the same SCORE as the 6D with only wonging out.

Thanks, I don't like backcounting and thus only wong out. Plus counting 8 decks is laborious! I'll stick to 6D or 4D when it has limits less than $15.