yes, your bets should vary with the count, and the optimal bet spread by count has been worked out and pubished by many authors--notable are Blackbelt in Blackjack by Arnold Snyder/Blackjack Attack by Don Schlessinger as books that cover bet/count spread schedules along with other topics in BlackJack (you can often find Blackbelt at a store like Border/Barnes Noble, Blackjack Attack you need to order on line usually or go to a specialty shop like Gamblers Bookstore/Gambers General Store which are both in Las Vegas)...

i think this is a discussion of bet spreading
http://www.gamemasteronline.com/Archive ... read.shtml

just how much to bet by count is a function of the games rules, decks, penetration...for a single deck game one finds in Reno (H12 NDas), a bet spread of 1 unit to 4 units is enough, a two deck H17 Das game needs 1 to 8...but an 8 deck game H17 Das would need something like 1-12 or more if you want to play all (as opposed to sitting out counts with TC below -2)...generally, you should bet the minimum until TC gets above +1 and be maxing at TC +5...

thanks for the reply, I'll check those out

what about having a basic stradegy card with you at the table? wouldn't this be a good tool to make pit staff look at you as an amuter(sp?)?

It might, but there's a problem.

You will need to deviate from it when the count goes high or low, and they will wonder why an amateur would decide to do that. Usually people with the card stick to it like the bible.

I've been practicing counting using the info from the link in Druff's original post and even simulating actual play with me counting and another player playing perfect basic stradegy with 2-6 decks, needless to say this takes awhile just to get through a shoe so my question is this...

is there any software that i can practice on that is coustomizable as far as number of decks, spliting rules, dealer hits/stays on s17 ect?

I thought I'd found somethhing on wizardofodds but that simulater is continiuos suffle so it's pointless.

you can buy Casino Verite blackjack trainer from qfit.com, it costs about $100 and is customizable for any count/rule combination...it is very good, has all kinds of counting systems built in with strategy variations based on count...you might try getting a trail/demo version...i am not sure you would want to buy this now, and maybe never...

At blackjackinfo.com there is a simple basic strategy trainer that allows you to adjust the rules and practice your basic strategy...i don't think it will recommend strategy variations based on true count...really, only 20 or so strategy variations based on true count are significant (the 2 most important are when to take insurance and stand on a 16 v dealer 10)
this trainer would be good for mastering basic strategy...learning to keep the count you need just need a couple of decks of cards to practice counting...and to learn strategy variations all you need is to memorize a chart of 20 or so indices

except for Northern Nevada, most games are 6 deck, so Hi-Lo, KO or Red7 are usually the best count systems to use for those games...simpler with less risk of error...i like Hi-Lo because i could never really understand how to use strategy variations with the unbalanced running counts used by KO & Red7

There are a few apps for iphone/android for count training. Some allow you to adjust the number of decks.

Was wondering about a system to beat 21+3. Where I was playing the other day 21+3 had good penetration, but did have s17 hit. I was reading a few counts for the game, the best one I read was to separately track each suit as -1 and then each 4 cards as +1. If a particular suit got high enough you bet it hard. Any insight on this? I think a team of two could do pretty well with each person tracking 2 suits.

you dont think the BJ online its a big % to lose ?? because in live BJ its totaly diferete..

[player=][/player] this was a very interesting thread to read, but i see it stopped quite a while back,, and noone ever answered whtere they thought online BJ was a losing game to play ??? i think it is tho, and stay away from that online,,, unless its BJ freeroll online,, which they still have one a week or so at cake poker LOL:)))

Thank you for this thread. I'd rather play single deck blackjack than poker anytime. I used to play in the early 80's with the best system published at that time. Good to know I'm out of the stereotype now that I'm over 50

I am currently in central Florida. Anyone know of casinos offering blackjack in the Southeast where they will let you play 80% through the deck?