Players who are familiar with traditional Hi-Lo strategy tables, or for that matter, with true count strategy tables for any balanced card counting system, may be surprised by the simplicity of the Hi-Lo Lite. Many experts will doubt its strength and playing accuracy. Allow me to describe the history of its development.
Early in 1991,1 attempted to answer via computer simulation whether Stanford Wong's or Julian Braun's version of the Hi-Lo Count was more accurate. Both were respected programmers and blackjack authorities who had devised indices for the Hi-Lo Count that differed on dozens of decisions. Using John Imming's Universal Blackjack Engine software, I ran off 500-million hands of each strategy with a flat bet in single-deck games with Vegas Strip rules, using all indices between -15 and +15. At the end of the test, Wong's indices bettered Braun's result by .009% (less than one-hundredth of one percent), but the margin was within 2 standard errors, not a statistically significant result.
My simulation results led me to theorize that strategy index numbers may not be such precise indicators of when to alter basic strategy, or at least that the borderline for the coin-toss decisions may be fairly wide. I set up another test to see just how wide: I simulated a 6-deck Atlantic City game and ran off 200 million hands using Wong's Professional Blackjack indices. For the second simulation, I converted each of Wong's indices to -1, +1, or +4. I did this systematically—if Wong's index was -1 or -2, I made it -1. If he had an index of 0, +1, or +2,1 made it +1. His +3, +4, and +5 indices all became +4.1 then ran off another 200-million hands testing this simplified version of Wong's strategy. In both simulations, I used a 1 to 8 spread, and I also tested the effect of not betting on negative counts.
These were the results:
Strategy Play All No Neg.
Wong +0.50% +0.98%
Simplified +0.51% +0.99%
In a test of 200 million hands, the fact that the simplified version of the Hi-Lo outperformed the exact version by .01% is not mathematically significant. What is significant is that such an approximate version of the Hi-Lo strategy is equal to the standard, orthodox version.
I wondered how well this approach would work in single-deck games where playing strategy is so much more important, so I set up a Reno one-deck simulation, and used 60 indices from Wong's Professional Blackjack.
Counting Cards Blackjack Cards BlackjackMIT Blackjack Strategy casinoalbuququerque.com
Tags: online casino, professional blackjack, vegas strip rules
Stand only when your true edge is equal to or greater than the number in the table. Double down only when your true edge is equal to or greater than the number in the table. Note that no soft doubling indices are provided here—there is very little value to varying from basic strategy in these situations. If you want to use these indices, you will find them in the Appendix.
Split all pairs according to basic strategy. A few of the ten splits have some dollar value, but there is very little value in varying from basic strategy on other pair-split decisions. You will find extensive pair-split indices, which may be useful camouflage, in the Appendix. Learn these if you want, but they are worth very little in dollars and cents.
Surrender only when your true edge is equal to or greater than the number in the table. Note that these are the late surrender indices. Should you discover an early surrender game, which is rare, you will find the proper indices in the Appendix.
Take insurance only when your true edge is equal to or greater than
+ 2.
The easiest way to learn the Hi-Lo Lite strategy indices is to start with the bold indices and learn them in blocks. Unless you play in games with surrender, you may ignore the bold indices for surrender.
The 0 Block is most important, and after that, learn the +2 Block. Shoe game players need never learn any indices other than these. If you play in hand-held games, these indices are still the most important. Learn the others in blocks, if you want to add an extra few tenths of a percent to your advantage, starting with the positive indices. The negative indices are least important.
Blackjack For Money Play BlackjackTags: blackjack, online casino