Perhaps a silly question but...

assume_R

Well-Known Member
qfit, in your sims, did you happen to keep track of if, on average, the count stayed the same after you "stopped counting" a little ways into the shoe?? This would either confirm or deny renzey's claim that the count would, on average, center at +2 if that's what it ended up being after 1.5 decks in.
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
assume_R said:
qfit, in your sims, did you happen to keep track of if, on average, the count stayed the same after you "stopped counting" a little ways into the shoe?? This would either confirm or deny renzey's claim that the count would, on average, center at +2 if that's what it ended up being after 1.5 decks in.
No, but the TC Theorem states that the average TC will remain the same.

As a rather dramatic example of the problem, I added a table on page 403 in the second edition of Modern Blackjack of TCs by depth. With four players, at one-quarter through the deck, only 0.23% of rounds start at TC +4 or greater. 70% into the shoe, TC +4 and up exist over 10% of rounds. If you stop counting one-quarter into the shoe, you will have only identified a tiny fraction of these max bet opportunities.
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
As an aside, we need to be careful when using the TC Theorem. Yes, it states that the TC tends to remain the same -- on average. But, this does not mean that the TC mean tends to remain the same. There is some explanation on Modern Blackjack pages 427-429.
 

assume_R

Well-Known Member
In your book you said "The True Count Theorem tells us that at the end of every
round, on average, the true count will be zero". But I thought it said that it remains the same as the previous round on average, not 0.
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
assume_R said:
In your book you said "The True Count Theorem tells us that at the end of every
round, on average, the true count will be zero". But I thought it said that it remains the same as the previous round on average, not 0.
Not a contradiction. The shoe starts at zero. The TC average tends to remain the same as the previous round. So, the overall average is zero. Of course if it does go to +2, then the average from then on will tend to be +2.
 
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muppet

Well-Known Member
http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/counting/tcproof.htm (Archive copy)

is that last corollary correct?:
Abdul Jalib said:
The expected true count after a round is the same as before the round, for any balanced count, provided you do not run out of cards.
if you replace 'round' with 'card is dealt' then it looks fine, but as it is written, i think it conflicts with this statement here?:
k_c said:
I believe the average pre-round HiLo RC is always negative due to the way blackjack is dealt so I think there is a preponderance of negative RCs particularly when a cut card is used. However, it's hard to believe count frequency would be <= -1 ~3.6%, = 0 ~60%, >= +1 ~36.4%.

Pre-round is when player must determine bet size. I think post shoe, when all rounds are dealt, would pretty much match the calculated RC count frequencies.
 

muppet

Well-Known Member
if the average pre-round rc is negative, then wouldn't the average pre-round tc also be negative?
 

assume_R

Well-Known Member
QFIT said:
No conflict here. That's what is explained in Modern Blackjack pages 427-429.
The average is zero. BUT, that does not mean that distribution is symmetrical. The latter is a common misconception about the TC Theorem.
Yes, it is a common misconception in many parts of statistics. The distribution is skewed to the left due to flooring. Statistical rounding would presumably make it very close to symmetrical.

muppet said:
if the average pre-round rc is negative, then wouldn't the average pre-round tc also be negative?
Why do you say the average pre-round rc is negative?

Not sure if this is related to what you're asking, but in qfit's book, he explains that just because TC -1 and -2 occur more than TC +1 and +2, doesn't mean that you are playing at more of a disadvantage. It's just how the "actual advantages" are "clumped" if that makes sense. For example, if you floor, your advantage at +1 would be more than if you rounded. But if you rounded, then that "extra advantage" would be more spread out over the other counts. Make sense?
 

assume_R

Well-Known Member
QFIT said:
Not a contradiction. The shoe starts at zero. The TC average tends to remain the same as the previous round. So, the overall average is zero. Of course if it does go to +2, then the average from then on will tend to be +2.
Okay we're on the same page here.
 
QFIT said:
Sorry, but this is incorrect. You ARE playing with 1.5 penetration and the assumption is anything but "moderately" inaccurate. If you stop counting after the first round, is that still "full penetration?" Suppose the dealer dealt to the last card. Are you saying that you are playing with 100% penetration?
It's kind of a hybrid of both. You don't get the information associated with deep penetration, but you do get the increased number of hands. It becomes like playing a slight player-edge game from a CSM.

A counter should be more interested in the information than just playing a lot of hands without counting, so I can't think of any reason for a counter to use the Front Count. But I do like the way it illustrates true count theory.
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
Even with statistical rounding, the average TC (assuming we integerize TCs) will be very slightly negative. This is an affectation of integerizing numbers when the distribution curve has a non-zero skew. It should not occur if we did not integerize TCs.
 

assume_R

Well-Known Member
QFIT said:
Even with statistical rounding, the average TC (assuming we integerize TCs) will be very slightly negative. This is an affectation of integerizing numbers when the distribution curve has a non-zero skew. It should not occur if we did not integerize TCs.
Maybe this is getting off topic and is essentially useless to actual playing, but wouldn't the skew of the distribution depend on the tag values one uses? Some tag values, while balanced, could possibly be skewed to the right? Also how people decide whether or not to hit could slightly skew the distribution I think.
 

QFIT

Well-Known Member
The skew is always in the same direction due to the factors in the Modern Blackjack article.
 

muppet

Well-Known Member
assume_R said:
Not sure if this is related to what you're asking, but in qfit's book, he explains that just because TC -1 and -2 occur more than TC +1 and +2, doesn't mean that you are playing at more of a disadvantage. It's just how the "actual advantages" are "clumped" if that makes sense. For example, if you floor, your advantage at +1 would be more than if you rounded. But if you rounded, then that "extra advantage" would be more spread out over the other counts. Make sense?
QFIT said:
Even with statistical rounding, the average TC (assuming we integerize TCs) will be very slightly negative. This is an affectation of integerizing numbers when the distribution curve has a non-zero skew. It should not occur if we did not integerize TCs.
i would think though that for any these methods of performing the true count division (round, truncate, floor, stat. round), the true count will on average be negative before each round (although flooring would be a trivial case)?

as long as you are integerizing the tc (which everyone does in practice..), the average tc will be very slightly negative.

i'm not sure what a 'non-zero skew' means :eek:
 

Fun_at_21

Well-Known Member
assume_R said:
fun_at_21, take some time to really look over the last response qfit posted and the sim results. No offense, but while you claim this to be a hypothetical situation, it sounds to me like you're trying to bypass the hard work required to become good and natural at counting. If it's hypothetical, I certainly apologize, but if it's laziness then I don't. Take the time to work hard and study, and the results will show.
Actually, you're correct on both counts - it was hypothetical AND I don't desire to go through the hard work of being a true serious counter!

I think you may have me all wrong. Or perhaps I just gave the wrong impression bringing up the surface possibilities of counting and how an early deck awareness may still help a BS player like myself who, indeed, doesnt wish to (seriously) count.

If you see any of my other posts here, you'll notice I readily admit to being one of these odd traditional-style players who just loves blackjack for the pure fun of the game and its basic probabilities. My first love has always been in the fascination of the hand probabilities themselves and those (Baldwin, Cantey, Maisel, McDermott, Thorp) who first discovered you could play these hands a right way to minimize the house edge. So I'm really more a lover of the game from a historian's approach rather than a counter's.

Yet, a BS player can still strive to learn and utilize the "awareness" of card removal yet not desire to seriously want to count (accurately). So sometimes its not so much a case of laziness as its just that the HARD work involved isn't "worthwhile" to someone who simply wishes to play as dead even a game as possible while still preserving the casual "love of the game" to begin with.

But I apologize if I kept sounding like I was going in circles. I did (and have) read QFIT's (and everyone's) thoughts here. But I think sometimes I'm getting answers to questions I wasn't necessarily asking. Or maybe I'm just asking un-practical questions that can't really be answered and so I'm getting more helpful alternate answers instead. Which I do appreciate. :)

But I do thank you (and everyone) for the help. As mentioned earlier, sometimes us non-serious counter's aren't meaning to be lazy as much as we're just simply trying to learn what "surface" benefits a happy but imaginative BS player might be able to utilize by having a general knowledge of card removal effects etc.

Thanks again and my apologies again if I'm wearing out my welcome here...
 
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sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
Fun_at_21 said:
......
Thanks again and my apologies again if I'm wearing out my welcome here...
heck you shouldn't apologize, yer thinkin man! that's great!
there's more than one way to skin a cat.:)
your thoughts on these matters are interesting.
 

Fun_at_21

Well-Known Member
sagefr0g said:
heck you shouldn't apologize, yer thinkin man! that's great!
there's more than one way to skin a cat.:)
your thoughts on these matters are interesting.
Thanks! I wasn't sure if they were, indeed, interesting or just illogical...:) Or perhaps both? :)
 
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