Originally Posted by kewlJ View Post
Originally Posted by MisterV View Post
I'm not a blackjack player, have read no books on the subject, and what little I've gleaned about the subject has come from these boards.

KJ, I read you explanation as to counting two tables simultaneously, and it is interesting.

But here is my question, applicable to all blackjack play: for counting to work correctly, shouldn't the counting begin and continue without interruption from the time the newly shuffled deck begins to be dealt?

Stated differently, if a counter starts counting mid-shoe, how can he account for the cards previously dealt, unless there is some sort of what I'd call "averaging," for lack of a better word?
Short answer is no MrV. A player can walk by a table that where 4 of 6 decks have already been played and see a bunch of small cards (2through 6) on the table and would be at an advantage the next round, even not having the slightest clue to what cards were played in those unseen 4 decks. It is not desirable. Desirable is to have as much information as possible. But the fact is it takes relatively little to identify an advantage.

Munchkin alluded to this. Unseen cards just serve the same as more shallow (or shallower?) penetration, which again, is not the most desirable. The math type guys are probably much better at explaining this than I.
That's called "situational betting", and is a load of crap. Post up how a count translates into an advantage.