Wonging question/discussion

[learning to count]

If one starts playing at the beggining of a shoe and it goes tc -1 would one leave/wong out or continue playing to see where the count goes. Or if a TC of
-1 isn too low at what TC would one wong out.

If one is backcounting what are suggestions when to jump in at what TC? For six deck, or two deck, where mid shoe entry is allowed of course.

Oppinions please.

 

[Hinoon]

I wouldn't think that a -1 count would be the time to wong out. A -1 count isn't much of a significant disadvantage ...and you're at the beginning of the shoe.

I'm not a seasoned expert, but I would think that you'd wong out at about the same time you'd start to jump your bets up if the count is positive. Or, thinking of the team play model that the teams use in the MIT book...about the time you'd signal a gorrilla (is that a common term, or specific to that book?).

I'd like to know how some people approach wonging. It's a new tactic for me. there's no law that says you can't just sit out a hand. I often do that if I'm ordering a drink or otherwise occupied, and I've seen plenty of people just tell the dealer that they're sitting the hand out with no ill will or stinkeye from the dealer. I've also heard of people getting up to go to the restroom, but that seems like a good plan if the count is really negative towards the end of the shoe as opposed to mid shoe, unless you're a working with a team and can get updated on the continued count when you get back.

That's my layman's logic on the issue...I'll be interested in seeing other replies.

cheers

 

[zengrifter]

Sitting out hands...

...is a valid method of increasing the effective spread - if you were to bet 1u every-other -Ev hand, your ave -Ev bet would be 1/2u, etc.

 

[Abraham de Moivre]

See "Blackjack Attack" by Don Schlesinger, Chapter 12, Part 1.

For practical purposes, it makes no sense to hang around a negative shoe, hoping it will go positive. The tendency is for the true count to remain the same. A negative shoe usually stays negative. What are you hoping for, a -1 shoe to move 3 to +2? It is just as likely for a neutral shoe to move the same 3, 0 to +3. So would you rather play the next round at +2 or +3?

Also the new addition in the Second Edition of the book has more discussion of optimal entry and exit points for wonging shoes, when you have other tables available to go to.

In other words, you might want to exit a shoe, even if the count is slightly positive, and start playing at another table where there has been a fresh shuffle. The reason? In the slightly positive shoe, if you are close to the cut card, there can't be very many cards come out to make the count more positive. Also, you have very few rounds left to take advantage of the slight edge represented by the positive count. At some point it becomes better to enter a freshly shuffled shoe, in the hopes it goes highly positive early, and you have many rounds to take advantage of a big edge.

 

[learning to count]

great thanks!