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Chapter 14. Voodoo Charts
| Unfortunately, there appears to be more misinformation available
about Blackjack and gambling in general than accurate information.
This chapter explores some common misconceptions.
"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired
by age eighteen." — Albert Einstein
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 How
do targets and stop losses affect us?
Setting a target means that you will play until you win a specified
amount. A stop loss is playing until you lose a specified amount.
Many Basic Strategy players believe that targets and stop losses
can improve their odds. Many card counters believe they have no
effect. They can both be wrong. In fact, targets and stop losses
do have no effect on Basic Strategy players. But it is important
to understand that strictly enforced stops do have an effect on
card counters. And this can be a hefty negative effect.
This chart displays the results of seven Hi-Lo sims with 200-hand
sessions max betting $25-$400. I set win targets and stop losses
of $1,500 and $2,500. By target I mean you immediately end a session
when you hit the target, and by stop loss I mean you immediately
end a session when you hit the stop loss. SCOREs are charted.
The SCORE decreases are a result of leaving the shoe when the count
is high. Unfortunately, the count is very likely to be high when
you reach either a target or stop loss. Obviously, if you play out
the shoe or wait for the count to drop back before ending the session,
you won't see any decrease. And of course if you hit your stop loss
and simply have no ability to continue betting, your SCORE is lower
than you think.
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Sim details
- Six decks, S17, DAS, 1 player, Hi-Lo, truncate, Sweet 16 indexes,
half-deck resolution, 5/6 penetration, Spread $25-$400
- Two billion rounds each
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