Simple question.

[PlayHunter]

Hand 3 out of 10, BR2 1800 chips bet 103, BR1 1801 chips bet 103.

BR2 gets hard 16, BR1 hard 12 and dealer up card 7. BR2 surrender.

- Should BR1 correlate and surrender too or not ?

- Does it matter if the bet is something bigger ?

- Does it matter who will be last to act on the last hand ?

 

[gronbog]

On any hand (early or late) and heads up I would gladly correlate by surrendering any weak or marginal hand. One less hand to maintain the lead. That includes any hand 18 or less, hard or soft.

I would definitely stand on 21 (push is the worst outcome).

19 and 20 are the grey area. This early, I would probably stand with any bet, but definitely with a big bet. I can't fall behind by more than a 1/2 max bet, but I could gain that much of a lead if the bet was big enough. If it was late in the round, I would probably correlate with any bet, especially if acting first on the final hand.

 

[London Colin]

especially if acting first on the final hand.

Surely that's when you have more of an incentive not to correlate. You have an opportunity to increase your lead, and hopefully pass one of the milestone sizes of lead, such as 1/2 or 1/3 of a max bet (if not on this hand, then by the time you get to the last hand).

If you'll be acting second on the final hand, then maintaining your one-chip lead is much more attractive, as you will just match your opponent's bet on the final hand.

 

[gronbog]

Surely that's when you have more of an incentive not to correlate. You have an opportunity to increase your lead, and hopefully pass one of the milestone sizes of lead, such as 1/2 or 1/3 of a max bet (if not on this hand, then by the time you get to the last hand).

If you'll be acting second on the final hand, then maintaining your one-chip lead is much more attractive, as you will just match your opponent's bet on the final hand.

Hmmm, then I guess I'll change my answer to simply "I would correlate" without the qualification This seems similar to the situation in http://www.blackjacktournaments.com/bb/showthread.php?t=7907 where, unless you could gain a lock by not correlating, it seemed that correlating was still the better choice.

Nice to see a flurry of activity here today, by the way. I was beginning to think that PlayHunter and I were the only two still here

 

[PlayHunter]

19 and 20 are the grey area. This early, I would probably stand with any bet, but definitely with a big bet. I can't fall behind by more than a 1/2 max bet, but I could gain that much of a lead if the bet was big enough. If it was late in the round, I would probably correlate with any bet, especially if acting first on the final hand.

Not sure if I got this one right, so I better ask with an example. Just let`s say it is the hand 9 out of 10, BR2 surrendered his hard 16, you have 20 and dealer up card 7 to 9 (or any other card). The bet is small, say under 155. Yo go to correlate and surrender your 20 ? (if yes, I surely learn something big for my win ratio!)

 

[gronbog]

Not sure if I got this one right, so I better ask with an example. Just let`s say it is the hand 9 out of 10, BR2 surrendered his hard 16, you have 20 and dealer up card 7 to 9 (or any other card). The bet is small, say under 155. Yo go to correlate and surrender your 20 ? (if yes, I surely learn something big for my win ratio!)

Yes, I believe that I would take the guaranteed lead into the final hand in this case.

 

[S. Yama]

basic strategy in early rounds

I would hit my 12 vs. d’s upcard 7 and not surrender.
The difference between the two plays would be minimal in either case but here is what influences the decision.
The importance of results is paramount on the last hand, less so but still big on the next to last, and quickly reverts to somewhat less than the bankrolls ratios (excluding build in position advantage) on hands earlier than five to go.
This applies especially when the bets proportions to max bet and total bankroll is small (here the bet is less than 1/17th of brl).
For the same reason, as in the case above, if I was trailing my opponent on hand 3 of 10 by let’s say 250 (brl about 2000) and he had bet 100 I would also bet 100, waiting to make a bet that winning it gives me the lead until it has lasting impact.

S. Yama