IRC used in KISS III?

Heya

I've been doing some reading on various counting systems and I've run up against something with the KISS III system. I have the book on order but I just need to clear up something so I can go to sleep.

I first stumbled across the system on lolblackjack where it said:

Quote:

This is also an unbalanced system, which means you do not have to do conversions between the true count and the running count, which depends on the number of decks being played. The strategy in an unbalanced system such as the KISS III, you need to multiply -2 by the number of decks you will be playing with. For example, if you are playing at a table with four decks, the initial starting count would just be -8. Then you just continue to count as you normally would. The general rule is when your total count eventually goes above 0, you will have a 1% edge over the house. This is actually easier for beginners since there is less to keep track of and you know exactly when you have the edge.

So for a 6 deck shoe it would start with a count of -12. And it would take a change of +12 to get to a 0 count.

But over at bjinfo someone posted info on the KISS III strategy that said:

Quote:

6 DECK
IRC = 9

and Renzy himself said over at hitorstand:

Quote:

If you're referring to the starting counts, or "IRC's"; they're all different. ...six deck at "9"

Still, the count at which you begin raising your bets, or your "key count" will always be "20"

So it would take a change of +11 to get to the 'key count.'

It seems as if the lolblackjack page was using some rule of thumb for unbalanced count systems. Or maybe that page is just wrong and the +11 vs +12 is just a coincidence. Or maybe there has been some tweaking so the index number is 0 instead of 20. Or maybe....

The official IRC as described in Blackjack Bluebook II is 21 - (6 x [Number of decks]), so 9 for a 6 deck game, 17 for a 2-deck game, and there is an exception for single deck, starting at 18 (but really you shouldn't use an unbalanced count for single deck anyway). Using those IRCs, you begin ramping your bets at a count of 20 regardless of the shoe size.

I'm not sure what the guys at lolblackjack are doing, but they probably have their own system that starts at the negative number (similar to Red 7). I prefer Renzey's original IRCs as I find it difficult to keep a running count with negative numbers (which is probably why he designed it that way). You can do it either way as long as you are consistent. If you want to use -12, you should actually start ramping your bets at -1 if you want to follow Renzey's advice.

What they say about a 1% edge over the house is sketchy at best. I believe that Renzey says at a count of 20, the advantage is about 1% flipped in the player's favor from whatever it was when you started (which varies by rules). Anyway, when the edges in counting are so small, and the rules so various, making a blanket statement like that is ill-advised.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. I'll dive deeper into the system when the book arrives.

Cheers,

You could probably ask Renzy himself. He's on a few forums and I can give you the name of a good one if you need it.