Hi. Me again . I've been re-reading Kens article on getting a free hit on the BJI and I can't quite get it. Please help! I'm sure you all know the article but to remind you Player A is on the button in the example, meaning he must bet and act before Player B. The tournament allows betting limits of $5 to $500, and surrender is not available. The situation is... Let's say player A has $1300, and player B has $1100. Player A has two good choices for his bet. If he chooses to bet at least $405, he is "taking the high", since no matter what Player B bets he has the bet covered if they both win. Betting $305 actually takes the high as well, but causes problems if Player B has a good double-down hand. So the problem I have is when the article states that... Let's assume Player A bet $405 in this case, perhaps because he thought Player B might make a max-bet behind him. However, let's assume that Player B was more astute than that, and made an optimal bet of $250. Now Player A has the high, and Player B has the low. My problem is I can't see how a 250 bet gives Player B the low. If Player A bets 405 it leaves a BR of 895. If Player B bets 250 he's left with 850. Isn't betting 200 taking the low? Help, I'm confused!!! Here is a link to the actual article if you want to check it out yourself - http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bjtourn-freehit.php Cheers Reachy
Hehe, you think you're confused! How about me?! I recently made a change to that article after Yama pointed out a mistake. However, I wasn't very careful when I fixed it, and now it's goofed up worse than before! (The original version had BR1 betting $455 which was $50 more than necessary. But at least then the rest of it made sense.) I'm in the process of fixing it now. Give me a few minutes and the new version will be posted. Sorry for the confusion, and THANKS for finding the mistake.
OK, I think the current version actually works as intended! http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bjtourn-freehit.php
I think I've got it... Now that the numbers work I want to check my understanding of the free hit concept. Example 2 I think I understand clearly. The only chance that BR2 has to win in this example is BR1 loss and BR2 win therefore BR2 hits until he has at least 20 (BR1 has 18) and hope that the dealer draws to 19. Example 1 seems a lot more complicated so I'll explain my understanding of it and see what you think. If you are BR2 and you take the low (BR1 has the high) you want everybody to lose obviously (you act after BR1). The cards are dealt and BR1 has a pat hand (or draws to a pat hand) and your total is less than BR1. The dealer has to draw another card so could still beat everybody for a BR2 win if the dealer gets a higher total the BR1. In addition a BR2 win would beat a BR1 push. As things stand the only winning position for BR2 is if the dealer draws more than BR1, every other outcome means BR1 win. So in effect the only person who can win the game for you is the dealer and in this example he needs to hit 19, 20 or 21. However if BR2 hits to 19 or more (i.e 1 more than BR1) then he has more chances to win because a BR1 push would win it for BR2 - BR2 wins if the dealer hits 18, 19, 20 or 21. The chances of winning when standing are about 23%; if you hit to 19+ the odds are 31% (I'm not sure whether I've calculated the odds right so please correct me if I'm wrong). Because BR2 has the low a BR2 bust is no different from standing on a total lower than BR1 so you may as well hit until you have a higher total than BR1 or bust regardless of BS? Does this makes sense? Does it demonstrate and understanding of the free hit concept? Cheers in advance for your advice guys. Ps. If you want to see the examples that I'm refering to there is a link in Kens last post.
Yes, you've got it. I didn't verify your percentages, but they look about right, and your description of the free hit idea is right on target.
