Multi-deck strategy cards (Blackjack)

In Blackjack the exact strategy varies according to the number of decks in the shoe. Thr six deck card is different in a few spots to the eight deck card. Suppose I'm playing an 8 deck shoe, using basic strategy. I get a quarter oif the way through the shoe. Should I now change to six-deck strategy? And then to a four-deck strategy when we get halfway?

No. You have no idea what cards are left in the shoe. The strategy cards take into effect card removal.

Interesting. Do please tell me more. How exactly do they account for card removal?

What about an online casino where the 8 dsecks are freshly shuffled every deal, and there are no cards removed. Is a strategy card that accounts for removed cards going to be the optimal strategy?

A strategy card presumes no card counting. An eight deck shoe has four times the number of cards as a double deck shoe. As cards are removed from a small shoe, the number of future cards change. Removing a 10 or an Ace from a two deck shoe has a much more profound effect than removing a 10 from an eight deck shoe.

When you are four decks into an eight deck shoe, you don't know if exactly half of the available cards have been removed in an even distribution, nor would it be a good idea to make that assumption. For that reason, you use the strategy card for the entire shoe and don't change cards as the shoe is penetrated.

Quote: PeterMorris

Interesting. Do please tell me more. How exactly do they account for card removal?

Thousands and thousands of simulated shoes, probably. I'm sure the Wizard could shed more light on how he did his tables (not to be presumptuous or anything).

Quote: PeterMorris

What about an online casino where the 8 dsecks are freshly shuffled every deal, and there are no cards removed. Is a strategy card that accounts for removed cards going to be the optimal strategy?

I'm not entirely certain on this, but I think you can use an infinite deck strategy card, since every deal, any removed cards are added back in.

All strategy cards are approximations to some extent. There are always small exceptions that are not accounted for in an effort to come up with a strategy that can be remembered.

For instance player 14 against a dealer 2 should actually have different strategies depending on what cards that add up to 14. But it would make it harder to remember a composition dependent strategy.

The difference between 8 decks and infinite decks is probably pretty small.