Blackjack in-between strategy

Where I am with Basic Strategy seems to be this: I can remember Wizard's Simple Strategy pretty well, and go beyond it to some degree. I had some trouble with soft 13 through 18, which seems to come from less chances to practice it on a simulator. You get it dealt to you less often. So what I did was make a real deck with a lot of the other cards taken out and extra Aces put in. That has helped.

Anyway, Simple Strategy lumps Dealer's 2-6 together, and for more advanced strategy you discriminate a little more. As a chance to play some BJ at a Casino comes up pretty soon, and for the amount of practice I am getting in, I think I seem to be able to remember the below OK:

*dealer 2-6 are his bad cards generally, but amongst *this* range only:

*dealt a 9, double except against dealer 2 or 3 [hit]
*dealt a 12 , hit against dealer 2 or 3 [otherwise stand]
*soft 12-16, double except against dealer 2 or 3 [hit]
*soft 17 or 18, same but soft 18 goes to "stand" when you can't double

Bear in mind this is not perfect BS but easy for me to remember, as the discrimination always involves the 2 & 3.

Any thing glaringly inadvisable here?

[edited]

It looks like you are off to a good start. Some of the soft doubles are a little weak so I would spend some time on them. I never double a soft 12 because.....

Kidding aside, I encourage you to use the basic strategy chart right at the table. You'll get nods of approval from your fellow players and you'll probably be the only one playing perfectly.

By all means, use the Wizard of Odds strategies that will print in COLOR. I've had quite a few pit bosses notice mine and ask where I got it.

Quote: benbakdoff

It looks like you are off to a good start. Some of the soft doubles are a little weak so I would spend some time on them. I never double a soft 12 because.....

Kidding aside, I encourage you to use the basic strategy chart right at the table. You'll get nods of approval from your fellow players and you'll probably be the only one playing perfectly.

Quote: dm

By all means, use the Wizard of Odds strategies that will print in COLOR. I've had quite a few pit bosses notice mine and ask where I got it.

Thanks for the encouragement. I will definitely print up and use a handy chart! Something tells me I will still be glad to be able to do intermediate strategy without consulting it. That's gotta help and for that matter I can be bone-headed enough to leave a chart in the room. It's largely the decision on soft this or that that keeps me from fully having it down. That and some of the decisions on splitting.

I was there not too long ago, flash cards really helped me !! Played alot online(bodog) then gotta a BJ table. Dealt myself shoe after shoe, untill it became 2nd nature. Just taking the time to learn BS will help your game alot and you will play better than 95% of the players that have played for years.

99.9 % of the time, there is only 1 play to make, that is the correct BS play !!!

Read, study, and research !! check all the books out at Amazon(very cheap) and read their reviews.

This site is great !!!

Once you got it, time to start counting !!

Quote: odiousgambit

Anyway, Simple Strategy lumps Dealer's 2-6 together, and for more advanced strategy you discriminate a little more. As a chance to play some BJ at a Casino comes up pretty soon, and for the amount of practice I am getting in, I think I seem to be able to remember the below OK:
...

There isn't any need for intermediate strategies between simplified and basic. First get the simplified down, then go straight to basic, don't waste time on "3/4 strategy", "13/16 strategy" and "7/8 strategy". It's called basic for good reasons.

FWIW, dealer upcards can be grouped by strength: 5-6 = weakest (the play is the same), 4-6=weak, 3-6=low. 2 is a special card, as it doesn't play as low as others. Instead of "except 2 or 3", memorize "double against weakest". The latter is simpler and organizes a lot more logically.
It will also help you if/when you start learning composition and count based corrections (FWIW, DON'T try counting before you can play perfect BS drunk and half-asleep while watching TV and chatting on the phone, it's not easy and even small mistakes can and will ruin you).

You actually double 9 against all low cards. For doubling, a good mnemonic rule is "4x4": double A4+ against 4+. To not forget A6-A7 doubles, just remember it's a ladder on the chart. That's really it, chart geometry helps a lot.

A separate rule to remember is that 7 is a high card for playing purposes, but a low card for splitting purposes.

I would never call someone out on it, but I think it's tacky and lame to use a strategy chart at the tables. I don't really feel the need to defend my position because it's one of -those- opinions.

Quote: ahiromu

I would never call someone out on it, but I think it's tacky and lame to use a strategy chart at the tables. I don't really feel the need to defend my position because it's one of -those- opinions.

I'm surprised you feel that way. Most casinos sell the charts and allow them to be used. The chart will not make you a long term winner therefore they don't sweat it.

Here's how I remember when to double or not against the dealer's 3-6 with a soft hand:

Firstly this only applies to A2 through to A7 (i.e the blue boxes on the wizards stategy charts), it shouldn't be too difficult to remember to split aces and stand on soft 19 or more.

1) Decide whether you have a high (A6 or A7) medium (A4 or A5) or low (A2 or A3) soft hand. The high hands are easy to remember quickly as you will have 17 or 18.

2) If you have a high hand (A6 or A7) double against all of the dealers cards from 3-6.

3) If you have a low hand (A2 or A3) only double against the dealers weakest cards 5 or 6.

4) If you have a medium hand (A4 or A5) double against 4,5 and 6. For some reason I find it tricky to see straight away if I have a medium hand and find it easier to remember by working out that I don't have a high or low hand - if that makes any sense.

5) If you can't double i.e. you have 3 or more cards then stand on all soft 18s and hit on all other soft total.

These rules apply only to games where the dealer STANDS on soft 17 with 2-8 decks. It will probably be easiest to remember the doubling strategy in this format and then learn the exceptions for the dealer hits on soft 17 and single deck games.

I hope that was some help.

The rule I used to remember soft doubles (S17) is: "divided the value of the second (non-ace) card by two, rounding down, and add the dealer's upcard. If the result is 6 or more double, else hit"

I can see myself moving in these directions, thanks, it all helps