Going to try BJ someday

After practicing with real cards and with the Wizard's free game, I'm now pretty sure now I'll give BlackJack a go the next time I'm somewhere that has table games with a $25 or less table available. I am not kidding when I say my knowledge of how to play the game was limited to "stand on 17", plus knowing what the card values were. All the other business of insurance, surrender, doubling, you name it, were quite mysterious to me. I think I have it down now and can play a bit better than the Wizard's Simple Strategy without maybe just a few errors now and then.

I occurs to me that there is little reason to not soon be using the simple Ace Five card counting, if it is possible to get a low limit game without CSM. This unavailability is probably going to be the problem, but if I find it isn't, I do have some questions.

*why does the five suffice for establishing that the count is favorable. OK, it is a low card, does that mean there is something arbitrary though, about the choice of the five? Would counting two's not work for some reason?

*why the aces count in the opposite way is a bit of mystery for me too.

*the recommendation is to stick with basic strategy, but just alter the bet size in a favorable count. It seems to me you would discontinue any doubling down in a bad count though?

Quote: odiousgambit

*why does the five suffice for establishing that the count is favorable. OK, it is a low card, does that mean there is something arbitrary though, about the choice of the five? Would counting two's not work for some reason?

*why the aces count in the opposite way is a bit of mystery for me too.

*the recommendation is to stick with basic strategy, but just alter the bet size in a favorable count. It seems to me you would discontinue any doubling down in a bad count though?

I think the 5s are counted because they have the highest probability of resulting in 2 card hands totalling 12-16. Hitting from there is bad for the player.

The aces are the opposite situation. You need aces to get the 3:2 bonus payout on blackjack. Fewer aces means lower chances for the bonus payout.

I'm not sure about the ace-5 count, but in other methods I think you double fewer hands in a bad count. No more 9 against a 3 or 4, no more 10 against a 9, etc. But I think soft doubles get better. If you happen to get ace-4 in a bad count, you're relatively happier to make that double knowing there are more small cards to come.

Quote: odiousgambit

*why does the five suffice for establishing that the count is favorable. OK, it is a low card, does that mean there is something arbitrary though, about the choice of the five? Would counting two's not work for some reason?

In "Beat The Dealer", Edward Thorp showed that removing fives from the deck had the largest positive advantage for the player. See Table 4.1 (and chapter 4 in general). Removing 2s is good; removing 5s is about 2.5x better.

Fives suck because they turn the dealers worst stiffs into 20s and 21s. Fours are almost as bad. The dealer and you are both going to get 15s and 16s, and other stiffs. The difference is he has to hit them. You don't.

Aces are great because you can get 3-2 BJ payouts, and he can't. Also, you can double down on soft hands, although that's not a huge advantage--same with splitting aces.

I would completely master basic strategy before you try the Ace-Five count. I've been playing for years and still don't think I'm good enough to count yet.

Yes, master basic strategy. Ideally, for the exact game you plan to play, or as close to it as you can get. I'd been playing on a single-deck H17 no-DAS chart for almost 20 years, but since I'm usually playing DD H17 DAS now, I have learned that chart too.

The counting scheme I use is very basic, I think it's called Super-Simple Hi-Opt I which I found back in the usenet rec.gambling days. I don't vary my bet tremendously when I count (no more than the random bet variation of others at the table), and I don't think it helps my results very much. Just often enough to keep doing it, it seems. But playing correct BS is much more important.

thanks for the tips

of course I am in for some surprises with an actual dealer, always happens. One thing not sure about is how blackjack is paid on a $25 table, typically anyway? $37.50 conceivably could get rounded off?

any local $10 table seems to be a pipe dream, although as a beginner much to be desired

There's a pink chip worth $2.50. You get one bj, you get one. You get a second bj, you trade a pink for a red.

It`s curious... Here in south america the $2.50 chips are light blue! Sometimes dealers get messed up when they have to pay using that chips! LOL
Also it`s not allowed to bet a single light blue chip in our casinos, e.g: $27.50, $32.50, $52.50... You can only bet them in pairs, so that the dealer will trade it for a red one.

I was going to make a joke about bjs turning pink into red, but I decided not to.

Quote: Mosca

I was going to make a joke about bjs turning pink into red, but I decided not to.

Hooo.... awwww...

But seriously, you are allowed to take a strategy card to the table with you. Look at it. Play enough, and you will memorize it.

Good luck!