SCOREs with Different Bet Spreads

How much do bet spreads matter?

Here we will use the same chart as on the previous page, but we will vary the bet spread. Bet spread is the ratio between your smallest bet and largest bet. Red indicates the SCORE using a bet spread of 1-8 (e.g. $10 to $80). Green, blue and cyan each add four to the spread. The effect is much like adding indexes on the previous page. But, bet spread adds to your SCORE at every penetration. Extra indexes are far more important at higher penetrations. It should also be noticed that there are diminishing gains as each addition has less impact than the previous.

Of course it is much easier to add to the spread than to learn and use more indexes. On the other hand, the house is unlikely to notice that you are using more indexes, but is very likely to notice a large spread — particularly at higher betting levels.

What about single-deck?

At single-deck, high spreads are not tolerated by the casino. Fortunately, high spreads are not required to obtain a decent SCORE. Here the red area uses a spread of 1 to 1 — that is flat bets. There is just a hint of red at the highest penetration. Gains in SCORE going to 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4 spreads are huge at all penetrations.

Sim details

• Six decks, S17, DAS, LS, Heads-Up, Hi-Lo, truncate, max indexes, half-deck resolution, penetrations from 26-130 cards cutoff by the card
• Single-deck, H17, 3 players, Hi-Lo, truncate, max indexes, quarter-deck resolution, penetrations from 13-26 cards cutoff by the card
• Two billion rounds each, all sims use optimal betting, full Kelly