Counting in a group

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dan) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Anyone seen the math on counting in a group and then splitting the 
> chips after the session? I've been playing with a group for a couple
> of years.

It's a great way to spread out risk. It helps your results get closer
to the expectation in a shorter amount of time. Really, it's the same
number of hands to get to the "long run", but you get X times as many
hands per hour.

> We think we have orchestrated our betting so it doesn't stand out. So
> far  nobody has said anything to us.
> 
> I'm not the math type but it appears that counting with a group of 5
> or 6 people at one table is advantageous. I think if everyone at a
> table counted their would be no blackjack.

Wait. You play at the same table? I find this odd. My feeling is that
you will draw a lot more casino heat this way. One person moving their
bet size up and down is one thing. A whole table doing it in
synchronization with each other could set off alarm bells all over the
place. Furthermore, this undermines your advantage in playing as a
team because it increases risk vs. playing separate tables. It's akin
to playing more than one hand: it spreads out risk vs. a single hand,
but there is still some correlation because all hands are playing
against the same dealer.

Not exactly sure what you mean here, but who plays and how they play
has no effect on the number of blackjacks.

> 
> Usually 1/3 of the group has a big run, 1/3 of the group might double
> their money, and 1/3 will lose some but rarely to their initial
> bankroll.When the count is + the table seems to take heavy losses as a
> whole.

Do not expect these results to be the norm. You have been lucky. In
the end, the numbers should be something like: 1/3 have medium to good
win, 1/3 have small loss to small win and 1/3 have slightly less than
medium to slightly less than bad loss. In other words, if you are
counting very well, only luck will win you more than 1 or 2 percent of
the total amount of dollars bet.

Your losses at + counts further confirms this, since those are the
times when your card counting should actually be paying off. My guess
is that you are either not counting very well, haven't actually played
that much, had a very unlikely run of luck or haven't kept track of
what has actually happened during + counts and in the rest of the game
as a whole.

> We actually see this as practice. One of these days we might go for a
> big touchdown.

Good, if it's just practice and you are getting no heat (don't be sure
that no attention = no heat) then have fun! One big advantage of what
you are doing is being able to size up your teammates. Do you signal
the count to each other to make sure you agree? Or take breaks every
so often and compare notes? Team play, for the purpose of spreading
out risk, seems like a great idea, but you have to trust your
teammates to play well and there's no better way than watching it
first hand.

-M