Your thoughts on this...

House has 4% edge. And regular card counting doesn't help so the continuous shuffler doesn't really matter unless you can keep several side counts of various ranks with a shoe. And that doesn't help much.

Bj w continuous ? Or the mtd bet? And what about mtd bet out the shoe ?

Everything I said was about MTD betting only. With shoe or continuous the house still has 4% edge, but I was saying that with a shoe, if you card count AND keep several side counts, you can reduce the edge. Even go +EV if you can keep a bunch of side counts. Probably not worth trying. If you have that kind of counting ability then you won't want to do the side bets anyway.

The thing about any kind of side bet is that they dramatically slow down the game. As a player who plays for a living, time is money and speed of the game is a top priority. So, while some side bets can be exploited and be advantageous at certain times, it is rare that I will find them beneficial overall.

Take the lucky ladies side bet. It is common knowledge that this game can be beat with a common level one count that many card counters use. (even more so with a specialized count). But the threshold that the game becomes profitable is pretty high, which means it only on a precious few hands is it actually advantageous. However, once you reach that threshold, which is +6 or +7 for the standard hi-lo count, the advantage rises dramatically. So at a count of +10 or +12 the player has a significant advantage that can make a real difference in long-term result.

So if I am playing heads up and sit down at a lucky ladies side bet table and can play my regular game but still take advantage of the side bet at appropriate times, it can add a significant advantage to my game. BUT, if I am playing with other players, even just one or two and they are playing the side bet regularly, it will slow down the game dramatically. The extra advantage of the side bet opportunity will not overcome the cost of reduced overall hands and speed of the game. Bottom line: In the majority of cases (except heads up play) games with side bets are a losing proposition, at least for me.

I personally play match the dealer bet on the continuous shuffle, seems like the odds would b way better.

Q: as a prof bj player do u play 3 hands at a time ? And do u play to win a certain amount ? Or what would end a winning session ?

No, I never play 3 hands at a time and rarely play 2. I would like to, but in Las Vegas, which is my home base, spreading to 2 or 3 hands draws considerable heat. Much more so than other parts of the country for some reason. That is actually one of my biggest disappointments about Vegas. When I was based back east early in my career, spreading to 2 or 3 hands was limited because of crowded conditions. I was really looking forward to less crowded conditions in Vegas and being able to spread hands, but quickly found it to draw mega heat.

Playing longevity is probably my top priority and as such, I play very short sessions and move around a lot, which is why I relocated to a place with an abundance of games. So my sessions are more dictated by time and exposure. I will always exit at the shuffle after a shoe in which the count rose to the point that I placed a large wager, so that the casino never sees me reduce my wager at the start of a new shoe. This, plus the fact that I exit pretty aggressively during negative counts will almost guarantee short sessions, but if neither has occurred, I still exit after about 30 minutes. I just don't want to give much data to review. So money won doesn't enter into it for me.

Really appreciate the info, I'm trying to take my bj game to the next level,what's your thoughts on surrender ?and insurance ?

I have studied a lot about blackjack and read many books and this is the first time I have seen advice like this, excellent post.

Proper Insurance play is big. Learning proper Insurance accounts for 33% of the advantage that can be achieved by learning all strategy change indices. But 'good' pit/surveillance people know that too. I have an acquaintance who is a pit guy that has told me how players play insurance (sometimes taking it and sometimes not) is one of the key things they look for when evaluating a player.

I assume you are talking about late surrender as we rarely see early surrender anymore (at least in the US). Late surrender is very big and often underrated. On paper it looks like the advantage gained from proper late surrender play is .08%. But that is for the basic strategy player. For a counter who varies his wagers, the surrendered hands will often be much larger bets, since the surrender indices will kick in when larger bets are placed. This will make the advantage of surrender play much greater for a counter. As much as an extra .2 - .25%, maybe be more depending on just how big his spread is.