~~The ILLIG BlackJack Strategy -2~~

The +Plus Perfect^™ Black Jack Strategy Information and fun things about BLACK JACK ~ 21 ~
On the net Since 1994

Insurance

Insure if and only if the count is positive. A positive count means that the deck is richer in tens than normal. It is during those times that the dealer is more likely to have Black Jack. In practice, I use a cut-off of +3 for the single deck game — I insure all hands if the count is above three.

Multiple decks.

The count and the Answer table have been tuned for the one-deck game. It is very simple to scale everything up for two, four or six-deck games. The idea is simple and easy to use in practice. Play and count as in the one deck game described above. When it’s time to do the look-up in the Answer Table, temporarily divide your count by the number of decks in the game. This normalizes the count to the answer table. If your count is +4, for example, and if you are playing against two decks, just act as if the count were +2 and make your decision using the Answer Table. Afterwards, continue to use the count of +4 until it is time to interrogate one of the Answer Tables again.

Where to sit.

Much has been said and written about where to sit at the table. Many are of the opinion that "third base", the last position at the dealer’s right hand is preferable. I doubt it. I usually sit where it is easiest for me to see everyone’s hand. For me, this is the second position from either end. In any case, the +Plus Perfect^™ Strategy doesn’t care where you sit!

How much money to bring.

To minimize your probability of ruin, a good rule of thumb is this: bring one hundred to two hundred times the table’s minimum bet size to the casino.

Losing

There will be times that no matter how well you play, you will lose. This can be especially frustrating, especially if you are pretty sure you’ve done everything correctly. The problem, of course is that you have been getting mostly impossible hands. Noting will protect you from that. Fortunately, the strategy has been able to tell you that you should be betting minimum all along—because the negative count told you that the deck has been bad. So, things could have been worse, had you not been counting. It can happen that the count will go so terribly bad, say minus 12 in a one-deck game, that it’s time to get up, go to the rest room, splash some water on your face, and stretch your legs. Remember: card counters play a waiting game. They are willing to make many small losing bets when the deck is bad, in exchange for the opportunity to make big bets on a hot deck, when they have a better than even chance of winning.

Aces and Fives

Were it not for the fact that Black Jack pays "time-and-a-half", aces would not be very important cards. Sad, but true. For deciding to hit or stand, therefore, aces are counted as ordinary non-tens.

Surprisingly, fives are very important in some situations. Once you become proficient at counting, you may want to keep an eye on the fives. Advanced: When all the fives are gone from the deck(s), bet twice your normal amount. Then, when a dealer up-card of 10 or 9 occurs, temporarily add +3 to the count when making a decision.

You will get the complete answer tables with the full version of the strategy.
You can order it here.

In the menatime, be one leg up by reading this material -- You have it on your screen now. :)

What to Memorize first.

The most unpleasant task for me was to memorize the Answer Tables. But memorize them you must. You can make the task easier by memorizing the most common situations first. This means you should memorize the 10’s column and all those squares, which contain numbers close to 0. Counts close to zero are the most common. (I found it helpful to visualize the values on the tables as if they were altitudes on a map. I formed a mental image of a sort of topography of the table.) Some people find it helpful to color the table, or mark it in some way so as to give them a mental visual reference point.

You may even want to split up the task of memorization by learning and reviewing certain columns on certain days of the week.

Grouping

Counting can get tedious, after a while, even if it’s only "plus one, minus two..." etc. A feature that was designed into the +Plus Perfect^™ Strategy allows some interesting short-cuts. For example: a Black Jack (21), consists of a Ten and an Ace and always counts as (-1). Knowing that, you can save time by not considering and counting them separately. Other common card combinations occur. For example a Ten and two non-Tens don’t even need to be counted, since the sum of these cards is zero. Two Tens and a non-Ten count as (-3). You can make up your own combinations if you want, to help you count without mental arithmetic. Remember, Eight’s can be ignored entirely.