Thorp Ultimate

[SystemsTrader]

I came across this old count called the Thorp Ultimate. It's a level 9 balanced count, the tags are 5 6 8 11 6 4 0 -3 -7 -9. It's BC is .99 and PE is .52. I'm willing to bet even EO Thorp had trouble using this count effectively. I imagine smoke would be coming out of my brain by the end of the shoe if I tried this count. Has anyone heard of it before or know anyone who has tried it?

 

[Sonny]

Thorp published that system in the first edition of Beat the Dealer. He removed it from the second edition because it is not very practical. By that time he had developed his simple point count system which was much simpler than the Ultimate and his Tens/Others count. I think he intended the Ultimate system to be more of a mathematical excercize than an actual tool. It was one of those "I'm going to develop the most powerful system there will ever be and I don't care how rediculous it is" kind of moments.

The old David (aka George, Casey, etc.) blackjack computers used that system for betting decisions but other than that I don't think it has ever been used in a casino. Frankly, that extra 0.01% advantage isn't worth switching from Hi-Opt II (or any other system for that matter).

-Sonny-

 

[Automatic Monkey]

I came across this old count called the Thorp Ultimate. It's a level 9 balanced count, the tags are 5 6 8 11 6 4 0 -3 -7 -9. It's BC is .99 and PE is .52. I'm willing to bet even EO Thorp had trouble using this count effectively. I imagine smoke would be coming out of my brain by the end of the shoe if I tried this count. Has anyone heard of it before or know anyone who has tried it?

Actually it kind of stinks compared to the alternatives. If you count High-Low, then add +0.5 for the 7 and -0.5 for the 9 (I don't know if this count has a name, but it slightly underperforms most other level 2 systems) , you get a BC of 0.99 and a PE of 0.55. Halves gets the PE up to a whopping 0.57.