Hit/Stay on 16 with a true count of 0

I was debating this with a friend this afternoon and couldn't come up with a plausible answer, so I'm turning to the good folks of this forum.

Basic strategy says to hit a 16 vs. a 10 in a six deck game. However, according to the "Illustrious 18" chart, it says you should stand on a hand of 16 with a true count of 0.

I assume basic strategy does not invoke card counting at all and that it is pure mathematics. However, what is the correlation between the two?

BS takes into account the composition of the hand. Therefore, when you have 16 and the dealer has ten, you have to have one of these hands:
X6 v X
97 v X

both of these have Rc = -1, and a TC of less than 0.

Therefore, we hit.

You will notice a more advanced BS may say to stand on 16 v X if your 16 is made up of 3 or more cards.

Make sense?

Quote: dmmx3

BS takes into account the composition of the hand. Therefore, when you have 16 and the dealer has ten, you have to have one of these hands:
X6 v X
97 v X

both of these have Rc = -1, and a TC of less than 0.

Therefore, we hit.

You will notice a more advanced BS may say to stand on 16 v X if your 16 is made up of 3 or more cards.

Make sense?

Mostly correct, however, you don't HAVE to have t-6 or 9-7 vs t. You could also have 3-3-3-3-3-A vs. T. It's just so much more likely that you have t-6 or 9-7 that the basic strategy says to hit.

Basic strategy was developed not for 2-card hands but for totals vs upcards. It's agnostic to how many cards are in your hand.

Now if you have a 3-card 16 vs T you know to hit because that is an exception to basic strategy, because BS has to say hit for its more common totals of 16 that have 2 cards.

And remember that you hit a 16 vs. 10 because you don't LOSE as much than if you stay. But it's only by 5 hands in a thousand or so.

This is a question debated to death.

First you should take into account how the indices for I18 were generated. By rounding, flooring or truncating?

Well, the indices are floored, this means that true count of 0 includes all indices greater than or equal to 0 and smaller than 1 (1>tc>=0).

According to ET Fan's methodology, the precise index for 6-deck game is 0.0442806163789197.

And the easiest and most accurate approach is using the running count alone.

Hit if the count is 0 or negative and stand if the count is positive.

Hope this helps.

Quote: dmmx3

both of these have Rc = -1, and a TC of less than 0.

Correct.