Blackjack decision hierarchy

The way I understand it is BS < Illustrious 18 < multi card/composition dependent strategy. If I have a 16 vs a ten, BS says hit, but if the count is positive I stay, unless my hand is made of three or more cards and falls into one of the "exception" hands (6-6-4). This is based on the Wizard's comment of "Some of these plays will not agree with even the best card counting strategies. These tables are always right while card counting is an estimate of the best play. Counting cards does not take into consideration the exact composition of the remaining deck as this analysis does".

Am I interpreting this correctly? It seems counterintuitive to me that the value of knowing the deck is rich in tens is less valuable than knowing my hand doesn't contain one of the 5s that could help me.

This may be addressed in an earlier thread but I haven't seen it. Feel free to link if that's the case.

Composition dependent strategy is best when it is the first hand of a shuffled deck in a heads up game.
If you know additional cards (i.e. from the previous round or cards of other players), then I18 is better.

Off subject a bit. Deck penetration vs bet spread: what is better 1-200 spread with 50% penetration 4-6 decks or 70% penetration with 1-7 spread?

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Quote: AxelWolf

Off subject a bit. Deck penetration vs bet spread: what is better 1-200 spread with 50% penetration 4-6 decks or 70% penetration with 1-7 spread?

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Quote: gts4ever

The way I understand it is BS < Illustrious 18 < multi card/composition dependent strategy. If I have a 16 vs a ten, BS says hit, but if the count is positive I stay, unless my hand is made of three or more cards and falls into one of the "exception" hands (6-6-4). This is based on the Wizard's comment of "Some of these plays will not agree with even the best card counting strategies. These tables are always right while card counting is an estimate of the best play. Counting cards does not take into consideration the exact composition of the remaining deck as this analysis does".

Am I interpreting this correctly? It seems counterintuitive to me that the value of knowing the deck is rich in tens is less valuable than knowing my hand doesn't contain one of the 5s that could help me.

This may be addressed in an earlier thread but I haven't seen it. Feel free to link if that's the case.

No, you are incorrect.
BS < multi card/composition dependent strategy < I18 or other counting system.

The composition-dependent strategy decisions are based on the cards in play, assuming a freshly-shuffled deck. Essentially they are using a very rudimentary count. 16 vs 10 is the simplest example...if you have a multi-card 16, chances are your hand has a positive count (e.g. 10-4-2 or 10-3-3 or 4-6-6) using Hi-Lo or whatever, and when you are counting, you always stand on 16 if the running count is positive.

The other composition-dependent exceptions are based on similar math. If you are counting, use the index number and forget the composition-dependent strategy.

EDIT: I just read your post carefully...I may be correct only for 16v10. I'm not sure about the other hands given the Wizard's comments that you quoted. He is correct that card counting doesn't track the exact composition of the remaining hands.