True Count and rounding

[Frank]

In Professional Blackjack, it says that you should truncate the true count when before you use the strategy indices. For example, 3.2 becomes 3. My question is: does this apply to negative indices too?

The situation that comes up often is whether to hit 16 vs. a 10 when the true count is in between -1 and 0. If you truncate the true count, you end up standing. If you round down to -1, you hit. Is there a definite answer about this?

 

[Negative Martingale]

Don't round, FLOOR. If the TC is -.25 (or -.0001 even), Floor it, and play it like -1. Likewise, a TC of +2.995 is +2, not +3.

 

[Sonny]

> The situation that comes up often is whether to hit 16 vs. a 10 when the true
> count is in between -1 and 0. If you truncate the true count, you end up
> standing. If you round down to -1, you hit. Is there a definite answer about
> this?

For this particular situation, you could simply hit with any negative RC, and stand with any positive RC. If the count is exactly zero, flip a coin.

In general, though, truncating your RCs for betting decisions is fine. When it comes to strategy decisions, it doesn't make much difference if you are off by less than 1 point. Indecies are more meant to give you the general area where changes to basic strategy are worthwhile than to indicate a precise pivot in EV. If you change your strategy at a TC of 0.8 instead of exactly 1.0 it will not make much of a difference. Most indecies have been rounded from their exact values to make them easier to use anyway. Maybe the precise index is 0.8 instead of 1.0 after all!

-Sonny-

 

[V-man]

Even though this case 16 vs 10 happens quite often, mistake made around TC ~0 is like Don said 'wouldn't buy you a hot dog on the Board walk!'
If the true count is around 0, I usually flip the coin or play like the ploppies around me, ie follow their advice

 

[Rob McGarvey]

Right on. Great way to make friends and influence people. ;>