Deck Estimation TC

I hear some card counters claiming they can measure in quarter deck increments on a six deck shoe game. What is the difference in EV if you can estimate at less than half deck increments? Does it even matter for a shoe game? I generally use a half deck or even deck increment to convert to a true count. In a fast paced real life casino environment it is tough otherwise it looks really obvious that you are focusing on the discard tray. A quick glance and rounding off seems to be the best.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Peter Griffin states that it's far more hazardous to make mistakes on a half or quarter deck increment than to accurately assess whole decks.

My own opinion is that if you are using a level 1 system then half decks could be beneficial.

I use a level 3 system. The index plays are higher which means less rounding off of odd index plays. I feel the index plays are more accurate that way. It also allows you to accurately proportion your bets as the advantage per TC is smaller.

I can count in quarter deck increments pretty well, but usually I have so much going on that I choose to stick to half deck increments. The whole idea of course is the more exact your TC is, the more exact your betting and playing efficiency will be.

Not counting quarter decks isn't exactly giving up EV... It's just that "every so often" when your half deck measurement results in a TC of +1.5, well maybe the quarter deck measurement would have resulted in TC +2, and thus a different bet or a different index play.

If you can proficiently do quarter decks, do. If you can not (and you know if you can't do it 'proficiently') then don't. You'll cost yourself a lot more making mistakes to your TC/betting/playing/EV by estimating poorly.

Half decks are fine for 6 deck games. If you're playing single or DD, you really should learn to do quarter decks.