Most card counters determine the best bets to make at each count before sitting at the table. We know that we should bet more at higher counts. For example you might bet 1 unit at counts of zero and below, 2 units at a count of +1, 5 units at a count of +2, etc. Can we improve on this by creating a table based on half counts? That is, can we improve our SCORE by betting 3 units at a count of +1.5? As in most areas of Blackjack, the answer is — it depends.
In this chart we show the SCOREs for all reasonable penetrations in a six-deck game using Hi-Lo. The red area represents the SCOREs using bets based only on integer counts. The green area is the gain realized in a more complex table using different bets for each half count. The difference is so slight that you can barely see a hint of green above the red area. There is no appreciable gain. But as we can see from the next page, this does not tell the whole story.
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© 2009 Norman Wattenberger
