Balance between shopping for good pen and Wonging around

[Automatic Monkey]

OK, so you are playing shoe, in a store where pen ranges from 6/1 to 6/2, averaging around 6/1.5. The place is crowded, very crowded, and you find a dealer who is consistently cutting 6/1. Payday, you say, and have a seat.

Now let's say your strategy also calls for Wonging out. Your Wong-out point hits halfway through the shoe, but you know that if you leave this table it is very unlikely you will get back in because of the crowd, and also unlikely you will find another table with penetration so good.

So here's the dilemma- do you bite the bullet and play the next deck or two with a minimum bet? Or do you Wong out and take your chances you'll be playing crap for the rest of the night?

OK, OK, I can hear the scolds- "You shouldn't be playing shoe." "You shouldn't be playing in a crowded casino anyway." I shouldn't drink and I shouldn't strain so hard in the bathroom- point is this game represents the cards I've been dealt (so to speak) and I'm trying to figure out the best way to handle these situations.

The different options I've thought of are: 1) Decrease the Wong out point. 2) Use the running count as the Wong out indicator. That way if I have Wongable true count at the end of a shoe, no need to sweat it because I only have to live with it for a couple of hands. 3) Change my betting unit relative to the table min. If I am spreading $100-1000 at a $10 table, instead of Wonging out I can just drop down to $10. The two disadvantages to that are I am not bankrolled to play a game much over the available table mins, and also that this may look like a 1:100 spread to the pit and will not be tolerated.

Does anybody have any commentary to add to these approaches? Thanks.

 

[learning to count]

Go to the bath room. Pass on a couple of hands becuse of a cell phone call, to order a drink. Or retake your beting strategy. Play positive decks at higher spread then have a lower spread range at low and neg counts. Keep the bets changing; thier spread range should keep them guessing. In a crowded arena the pit and eye will tend to lose sight due to the choas.

 

[john]

I think what is left out here is the fact that you can leave your chips on the table and pretend you have to go to the bathroom. Scan around to see if you like where you are. Not sure where you live, but in my area, people ask the dealers to hold their betting circle until they get back. They put a clear circle on the betting circle to indicate that you can't play that one. It is really annoying to me especially when the count is huge, and I can't play because someone is off somewhere, and they have it reserved.

Someone said that maybe one out of 4 shoes is a decent one, on one of the bad ones, you have to go to the bathroom , then on another you have to phone the wife.

 

[Rob McGarvey]

Stay Put

You've seen the first three decks. What is your Wong out point? If it is TC-2 then those first three decks are TC+2. Not much to follow to the next deal, but something. You will see two more decks before the shuffle. Bet the min, use your - indices, eat some cards by not doubling your soft hands, and see how the rest of the deck turns out. You have to use everything against multideck. If the table min is $5 toss an extra $5 on top of your bets when it is TC+2 for those hands bet into a TC-2 deck. Unorthodox? Damn straight it is. Get used to understanding that the discard tray of a -TC deck is now your best friend. You'll be wishing for a TC-3 (means deck 1 is +15! - think backwards) after one deck in no time ;>

 

[wong out]

wong out; ask the dealer to hjold your spot. Then backcount and wong into a shoe in a different pit; come back at the shuffle if you dont find anything. Playing a large neg count with a small bet doesnt cost much ev but it kills your productivity. Think of it this way; you only make money when you pump the money out there with an edge. Do whatever is necessary to maximize the good hands and sitting around for the shoe to end is down time on the production line ...period. Don S wrote a good article in BJF a few years back about the optimal wong out points. I use his advice to the extent possible; bottom line is your wong out point should move up as the decks depelete. For example - I almost never wong out on the first deck but in the last third of the deck I want positive terrority or I'm gone.

wong out