Any trick to help me estimate the number of decks in the shoe?

[positiveEV]

Hi guys,

I know that to get the running count you have to look at the discard tray and then estimate the number of decks there is in it at 1/4 to 1/2 deck, but does any of you have any trick to help me with that? I tried to look at a deck for a while and then look at 2 decks for a while but I still can't estimate well when I see a discard tray

Thanks in advance!

 

[sagefr0g]

Hi guys,

I know that to get the running count you have to look at the discard tray and then estimate the number of decks there is in it at 1/4 to 1/2 deck, but does any of you have any trick to help me with that? I tried to look at a deck for a while and then look at 2 decks for a while but I still can't estimate well when I see a discard tray

Thanks in advance!

do you mean to get the true count that you have to look at the discard tray to determine a divisor to use on the running count?

i guess i'm lucky that deck estimation is fairly easy for me. i once had excellent eye sight but now it's crapy but i can still accurately determine one deck, two decks, three decks and four decks which is about all i have to do to determine a true count for a six deck game.
i do have to practice at it however. just looking at some decks for a while isn't going to get it. i look at the various decks a lot, three times a day almost every day. i got two sets of stacked decks in several places in my home that i normally hang around a lot. the decks are stacked one deck, two decks, three decks and four decks. what i do is just look at them and concentrate on them. then i internally verbalize what size deck i'm looking at and i internally verbalize what divisor that represents.

 

[Preston]

Grab about 4 decks of cards.

Stack them like they would be in the discard tray.

Pull out what you think would be exactly 1 deck. Half deck. 2 decks. Etc.

See how accurate you are.

Keep practicing until you are consistently within a few cards of where you want to be.

 

[Automatic Monkey]

Hi guys,

I know that to get the running count you have to look at the discard tray and then estimate the number of decks there is in it at 1/4 to 1/2 deck, but does any of you have any trick to help me with that? I tried to look at a deck for a while and then look at 2 decks for a while but I still can't estimate well when I see a discard tray

Thanks in advance!

Wait you don't have to estimate to 1/4 or 1/2 decks in a normal 6D or 8D game. One deck is sufficient. Just run the simulations and you will see only insignificant differences between estimating to 1 and 1/4 decks.

One thing that might help is to carefully mark up a cigarette pack with half-deck markings and lay it on the table next to you when you play, to give you something to compare it to.

 

[sagefr0g]

One thing that might help is to carefully mark up a cigarette pack with half-deck markings and lay it on the table next to you when you play, to give you something to compare it to.

yep i used to do that.... worked pretty good.

 

[jimpenn]

I also started with a pack of smokes..lol