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+-----------------------------------------+ | | | BlackJack! | | | | Your Key To Winning Casino Play | | | +-----------------------------------------+ Version 2.20D Copyright 1988 - 1991 Donald L. Granger dba Glencoe Computing All rights reserved T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S BlackJack! License Provisions........i Acknowledgments.....................ii Introduction........................ii General Information..................1 System Requirements..............1 User Support.....................1 Description......................1 Backing Up BlackJack!............1 Installation.....................1 Running BlackJack!...............2 Startup Options - Australian Play2 Blackjack Basics.....................3 The BlackJack! Main Menu.............5 At The Casino........................6 Casino Table Set-Up..............6 Automated Play...................7 Placing Bets.....................8 Playing The Hand.................8 Game Statistics.................10 Error Tracking..................11 Editing The Casinos.................11 Setup BlackJack!....................12 Card Counting...................12 Strategy Tables.................13 Auto Players....................14 Basic Strategy Practice.............16 Card Counting.......................17 Why Count?......................17 Counting Basics.................18 The 'True Count'................18 Card Counting Practice..............19 Betting & Money Management..........20 Tournament Play.....................22 Appendixes..........................23 The Casinos.....................23 Problems........................23 Strategy Tables.................24 BlackJack! Registration Form........31 BlackJack! i BlackJack! License Provisions BlackJack! IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE ---------------------------------------- BlackJack! is the copyrighted property of Donald L. Granger, Glencoe Computing. You are granted a limited license to use BlackJack! for evaluation purposes, and to copy and distribute it, provided the following conditions are met: 1. No fee may be charged for such copying and distribution other than a reasonable distribution fee. 2. BlackJack! may ONLY be distributed in its original, unmodified state complete with data files and documentation. 3. BlackJack! may be distributed as part of a package or group of programs provided it is properly labeled and marketed so as to retain its individual identity. 4. You may not make any changes or modifications to this software. GLENCOE COMPUTING DONALD L. GRANGER 1100 HIGHWAY C GLENCOE, MISSOURI 63038-1404 CompuServe EMAIL 72416,1362 NOTICE ------ If you paid a shareware vendor for this program, you paid for their service of copying and distribution, and not for the program itself. None of these proceeds ever get to the originator of this product. You may evaluate this product, but if you make use of it, you should register your copy. +----------------------------------------------------+ | The benifits of registration include: | | | | - The latest version of BlackJack! | | - User defined Basic & True Count strategy tables. | | - The ability to save and restart a casino session.| | - Full product support. | | - Printer formatted documentation. | | (HP LaserJet, Epson-FX and Plain) | | - An overall good feeling! | +----------------------------------------------------+ BlackJack! ii The ShareWare Concept The ShareWare concept is an attempt to provide quality soft- ware at low cost. The cost of offering a new product by conventional channels is staggering, and hence dissuades many independent authors and small companies from developing and promoting their ideas. ShareWare is an attempt to de- velop a marketing channel where products can be introduced at low cost. If the ShareWare concept works, then everyone benefits. The user will benefit by receiving quality products at low cost, and by being able to "test drive" software before purchasing it. The author benefits by being able to enter the commer- cial software arena without first needing large sources of venture capital. But it can only work with your support. We're not just talking about BlackJack! here, but about all user supported software. If you find that you are still us- ing a program after a couple of weeks, then pretty obviously it is worth something to you, and you should register. Acknowledgments My special thanks to the following: Bally's Park Place Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, NJ The Peppermill Hotel & Casino, Reno, NV Caesar's Palace Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV The many users who have offered suggestions for new features and enhancements. Leslie Granger, a very special and very patient person. Introduction The most popular casino game today, both for players and casino owners, is unquestionably Blackjack. For the player the attraction is the simplicity of the rules (just about everyone knows how to play "21") and the friendly atmosphere of the table. For the owners the popularity is due to the fact that the Blackjack tables have become the most profitable real estate in the casino. It is the purpose of BlackJack! to do something about the latter! First, let's make sure that the object of the game is clear. You are not out to see who can get closest to 21 without going over... you are out to BEAT THE DEALER! This concept is overlooked by many novice players, and it leads to fatter wallets for the casino bosses. Although getting close to 21 is often the best strategy, it's just as important to know when to sit back and let the dealer beat himself. BlackJack! iii With Blackjack you always know exactly how the dealer is going to play his hand. This is the key feature that has allowed the development of Basic Strategy Tables, the most important tool at your disposal when at the tables. The importance of learning the Basic Strategy Tables cannot be over stressed. You cannot play blackjack by the seat of your pants and expect to win. These tables are your key to winning! By utilizing these strategies you can lower the house percentage (sometimes called vigorish) from around 6% to close to 0%! Often in a session the money is made on the secondary bets (splitting and doubling down) while the regular play ends up in a push. With a firm knowledge of the basic strategy you will know when to make these bets. The basic strategy tables are found at the end of this manual. I recommend printing these tables for reference when using BlackJack!. In the early seventies card counting became quite a publicized subject, with many feature stories appearing on television and in magazines. System sellers were quick to exploit this new awareness and a plethora of "sure win" systems were touted and sold. Curiously during this period the casino profits began to rise at a disproportional rate to the increase in table activity. Hmmmm, how could this be? The answer is simple, too many casual players armed with too small bankrolls were attempting to apply extremely complex systems without the necessary long hours of preparation. The only sure winners were the system sellers themselves and, of course, the casinos! Card counting, when properly utilized, can actually give the player up to a 1.5% edge over the house. The biggest problem with most counting systems is that they are quite complex and far too difficult for the casual player to master. Casinos also frown heavily on card counters and with certainty will ask a player suspected of counting to leave the tables (and maybe the casino). This adds to the difficulty since the counter must go unnoticed. Of the numerous counting systems being touted and sold the simple "Plus / Minus" (+-) type is one of the best choices for the average player. BlackJack! will concentrate primarily on the +- system of counting in this discussion (although program provisions exist for implementing a user defined counting system). Counting systems are discussed under the Card Counting Practice heading of this manual. In spite of the apparent simplicity, you should not even consider employing a counting system until you know the basic strategy tables inside out, being able to make the correct decision 100% of the time. I hope that you find BlackJack! a useful and fun to use tool in gaining the skill and confidence to be a winner. The next time you return from the tables, I hope it takes a truck to carry home your winnings. Donald L. Granger BlackJack! 1 General Information System Requirements Due to BlackJack!'s very high resolution graphics, an EGA, VGA or Hercules compatible graphics adapter or equivalent is required. BlackJack! will NOT run with the CGA or MDA display adapters. A minimum of 256K display memory is required on EGA type adapters. BlackJack! requires 256K of available system memory. BlackJack! will run on any floppy based system as well as hard disk systems. User Support User support is free to registered users and is available by telephone evenings at (314) 458-2863, via Compuserve Mail (user ID# 72416,1362), or by mail. Description BlackJack! is a fun to use aid to learning Blackjack. It is designed to be a totally accurate simulation of casino play. BlackJack! is capable, with your effort, to take you to any level of play, it IS NOT a sure-win scheme or quickie system for beating the casinos. To become a proficient player you will have to spend many hours practicing basic strategy and if you desire, card counting. If anyone tells you anything different, don't believe it. These skills simply cannot be learned over night. As with any skill, you must "use it or lose it". Once you have reached your desired level of expertise you must periodically spend a few hours with BlackJack! to stay sharp. If you currently are using a playing system, BlackJack! can easily be adapted to support it. You can enter your own basic strategy tables, true count tables(registered version), and counting system. Backing Up BlackJack! Make backup copies of your BlackJack! files. Do this by placing your original BlackJack! diskette in drive A: and a blank formatted diskette in drive B: (for single floppy systems refer to the DOS manual for the correct procedure to make backups). Enter the DOS command COPY A:*.* B: [Enter] or DISKCOPY A: B: [Enter] Always use the backup to run BlackJack! Installation BlackJack! does not require special installation procedures prior to use. If you are using a floppy disk system all files must be on the same diskette and the program must be started from the default drive. BlackJack! 2 If you have a hard disk you can copy the program and data files onto the disk and run the program without the use of floppies. The following is an example for setting up the program on a hard disk (assume drive C:): C>CD \ (switch to root directory) C>MD BJ (create directory named BJ) C>CD \BJ (switch to BJ directory) C>Copy A:*.* C: (copy all files) It is important that all files be in the same directory and that that directory be selected as the default. For more information on hard disks and directories please see your DOS reference manual. BlackJack! uses the files CARDS16.IMG and SUITS16X.IMG with color systems and CARDSHGC.IMG and SUITSHGC.IMG with Hercules systems. To save disk space you can delete the .IMG files not needed. Running BlackJack! From the DOS prompt simply type BJ and press [Enter]. Startup Options - Australian Play BlackJack! has three start up options. /B Prevents "B U S T" message from covering card images. /P Prevents changes to video color palettes - useful to laptop and monochrome VGA users. /A Australian style play. The dealer is not dealt a second card until all players have finished their hands. Example: To invoke all of the above options type BJ /B /P /A [Enter] Prompt Lines Throughout this documentation, and while using BlackJack! Press and Enter have the following meanings: PRESS- just press the key corresponding to your response. ENTER- press the key(s) corresponding to your response and then press the [Enter] key. When BlackJack! is waiting for input you will be prompted (usually across the bottom of the screen) for your response. The available choices are listed with their key letter enclosed in square braces [ ]. You make your selection by pressing the corresponding key. Selections that require pressing a function key have the key represented as the letter F plus the key number. Example prompt lines: [H]it [S]tandspli[T] [F1] Help [F2] Statistics To select split you would press [T]. To get help you would press function key [F1]. Note: [Ctrl] is represented in prompts by the '^' symbol. [Ctrl][S] is shown as [^S] BlackJack! 3 Blackjack Basics In Blackjack players wager against the dealer's hand. The object for the player is to have a hand value that exceeds the value of the dealer's cards without going over 21. The object of the game for the dealer is essentially the same. You win by either having the hand value closest to 21 or by having the dealer exceed 21 (bust). Cards count face value with the King, Queen, and Jack valued as 10. The Ace can count as 1 or 11. Each player is dealt 2 cards, one at a time starting with the player to the dealer's left. In most casinos each player is dealt face up and the player is prohibited from touching the cards. A few still deal face down allowing the player to pick up the cards. The dealer is dealt one card up and one face down. Each player, from dealer left to right, is given the chance to stand (draw no more cards), hit (draw additional cards in hopes of getting closer to 21), or take one of the other options described later. You may hit until you have reached 21 or gone over. If you bust you lose regardless of the outcome of the dealer's hand. The dealer must play his hand according to strict rules. He must always hit on a point total of 16 or less and must stand on a score of 17. Some casinos allow the dealer to hit a "soft 17" (a score of 17 that includes an Ace valued at 11, for example Ace - 6). This is not a common practice and is found mainly in the Tahoe - Reno area of Nevada. If the player is dealt blackjack (a 2 card score of 21) and the dealer does not also have blackjack, you are an automatic winner and are paid at odds of 3:2. If both dealer and player have blackjack, it is a push (tie) and no chips change hands. If the dealer has blackjack and the player has a total of 21 but with more than 2 cards, the dealer wins the hand. This last situation can occur when, for security reasons, the casino only allows the dealer to check his hand for blackjack when his up card is an Ace. In these cases when the dealer does have blackjack only the player's original bets are lost. Double down and split bets are not taken. BlackJack! 4 Splitting Pairs: If your first two cards have the same value, you can split them into separate hands. Note that any two cards with a 10 value may be split. If you elect to split a pair you must place an additional bet equal to your original bet on the second hand. Play is completed on the first hand before any cards are dealt to the second hand. If a pair of Aces are split most casinos do not allow additional cards to be drawn. Note that 2 card totals of 21 on split hands ARE NOT treated as a blackjack and pay only even money. Some casinos allow for resplitting if the original split results in another pair. BlackJack! allows a maximum of one resplit. Doubling Down: After you are dealt your first 2 cards you may elect to double down by making an additional wager up to the amount of your original wager and drawing only one additional card. Note that BlackJack! only allows making the maximum wager on double downs. Most all houses allow doubling down on split hands. Rules vary among casinos on what point totals you may double down, but the most common is any two cards. Insurance: If the dealer's face card is an Ace, you will be offered the opportunity to take insurance. To do this you make an additional wager of 1/2 your original bet. If the dealer has blackjack your insurance bet is paid at 2:1, but your original bet is lost, effectively amounting to a push (unless of course you have blackjack). If the dealer has any score other than blackjack the insurance bet is collected and play continues. Surrender: Some casinos will allow the player to drop out of the hand by giving up (surrendering) 1/2 their original bet. This can be an advantageous move when you hold what amounts to a hopeless hand. For example, the dealer is showing an Ace and your hand count is 16. You must indicate your desire to surrender prior to drawing any cards. Very few casinos still offer this option, but at the ones that do it is an important part of the basic strategy. "Cute" Rules: Some casinos may offer special payoffs for situations such as having 6 cards under 21 or 3 sevens. These are rare and are not addressed in BlackJack!. BlackJack! 5 The BlackJack! Main Menu +---------------------------------+ | CASINOS | | 1 - User Casino | | 2 - Bally's Park Place | | 3 - Caesar's Palace | | 4 - Peppermill Casino | | | | Other Choices | | 5 - View Casino Definitions | | 6 - Edit Casinos | | 7 - Card Counting Drill | | 8 - Basic Strategy Drill | | 9 - Setup BlackJack! | | 0 - History Statistics | | * - Registration Form | +---------------------------------+ - Load A Casino: [1] through [4] The top 4 menu choices represent the different casinos that BlackJack! is programmed to simulate. To select a casino for play press the corresponding number. - Quick Load A Casino: [F1] through [F4] By pressing the function key [F#] that corresponds to the casino you bypass the Casino Table Setup screen and jump directly into casino play. see Save Casino Setup, page 7 - View Casino Definitions: [V] or [5] A screen showing the description and house rules of the available casinos will appear. To scroll the different descriptions press the arrow keys. To play at the displayed casino press [Enter], to exit to the main menu press [Esc]. - Edit Casinos: [E] or [6] Edit the configuration of the casinos. - Card Counting Practice: [C] or [7] Sharpen your card counting skills. - Basic Strategy Practice: [B] or [8] Practice drills on Basic Strategy. - Setup BlackJack!: [S] or [9] Configure BlackJack! options and settings. - History Statistics: [H] or [0] View cumulative statistics for the casino play. - Program Exit: [Q] or [Esc] To exit BlackJack! and return to DOS. - Quick Exit: [Ctrl][Q] Pressing [Ctrl][Q] at any time will quickly exit BlackJack! to DOS. This can be handy should someone be practicing when one should be working. BlackJack! 6 At The Casino BlackJack! allows for multiple players. Although most likely you will be playing alone, it is possible to play more than one hand giving you the opportunity to try out different betting strategies at the same sitting. Multiple players also offers a more realistic setting for practicing your card counting skills. Casino Table Set-Up After selecting a casino you will need to provide the fol- lowing information for the table. An input form will be displayed and you will be prompted for the following data. Note that items shown in () are only used as needed. [T]ournament / [N]ormal: Select style of play. Default: Normal. (Number Of Players:) Enter the total number of players at the table. Default: 1. Number Of Auto Players: Enter the number of automatic players. Default: 1 less that total number of players. (Hands remaining in round): Enter number of hands remaining in the tournament when play begins. See Tournament Play for more information. Default: 60. (Number Of Auto Hands): If the number of automatic players is the same as the total number of players you will be prompted to enter the number of fully automated hands to be played. Minimum Bet: Enter the minimum bet allowed for each hand. Default: $5 Table Limit: Enter the maximum bet allowed for each hand. Default: 100 times minimum bet ($300 for tournament). Player's Stake: Enter the amount of money each player has. Default: 1/2 the table limit ($500 for tournament). (Status Box:) Press [Y]es or [N]o for the Status Box display. Default: YES (not used with full auto play) (Seating Arrangement): If the table contains a mix of human and automatic players you will prompted for the seat placements. Seat #1 is to the dealers left (screen right). Default: Always seats auto players first. [A]bandon [R]edo [^S]ave [P]lay After completing the setup form you have the choice to abandon play and return to the main menu, re-enter the data, save the casino setup or play. Default: Play. BlackJack! 7 Save Casino Setup:[Ctrl][S] / [S] BlackJack! allows you to save a default set of parameters for the casino setup. This enables you to bypass the Casino Table Setup Screen and jump directly into casino play. Pressing [S] will save the setup information and move you into the casino. Pressing [Ctrl][S] saves the setup without moving into the casino. Once you have saved your favorite setup you can go directly to the casino by pressing the 'F' key that corresponds to the casino number from the Main Menu. For example, to jump directly into casino number 3, you would press [F3] from the Main Menu. If you want to make changes in the setup you can use the regular method of just pressing the casino number. The default responses in the setup screen will be your saved setup data. BlackJack! keeps separate setup data for each of the four casinos. Automated Play Any or all of the players can be made AUTO players making BlackJack! capable of fully automated play. Simply specify the number of AUTO players desired from the Casino Table Setup screen. This feature can make for a more accurate simulation and is particularly useful when practicing tour- nament style play. If in normal casino mode (not tourn- ament) the AUTO players will use the currently selected playing style. Tournament AUTO players play a style unique to that form of Blackjack. Full Auto Play: When you set the number of AUTO players equal to the total players everything will be automated. Play will proceed un- attended for the number of hands specified. Full automated play can be interrupted by pressing any key between hands. Accelerated Full Auto Play: Accelerated full automatic play is implemented by setting the automatic playing speed to INSTANT and designating all players as AUTO players. Set the number of hands to play at the Casino Table Setup. There will be no card display and hands will be played at a rate of approximately 2000 per minute.** To interrupt accelerated automatic play Press and HOLD any key, release the key as soon as play has halted. For fully automated tournament play, set the hands remaining in round to 0 during Casino Table Setup. See the SETUP BlackJack! section, page 12, for more informa- tion on configuring automatic players. See TOURNAMENT PLAY, page 22, for more information on tournaments. ____________________ ** Speed on 10mhz AT class computer w/EGA BlackJack! 8 Placing Bets The Wager Box: The Wager Box shows the amount in your bankroll and an input field for your wager. The default value on the opening hand is the minimum table bet. On subsequent hands the default is your previous wager or the remaining balance of your funds, which ever is lower. You can enter any amount (provided you have the funds) between the table limit and the minimum wager. You can sit out a hand by placing a bet of $0. You will not be dealt any cards but any AUTO players will continue play. Drop Out of Game: [Ctrl][D] You can quit while in the Wager Box by pressing [Ctrl][D]. If there are multiple players only the current player is dropped and play continues. AUTO players cannot drop out. Playing The Hand After all players have placed their bets the hands are dealt, one card at a time from the dealer's left to right. After all players have received their cards the hands are played in the same order. The following are the possible actions available to the player: [H]it Draw another card. [S]tand Stand on the cards you have. [D]ouble down Double your bet and draw one card. Spli[T] Split a pair into two separate hands. This requires an additional wager that is equal to the original. Sur[R]ender Drop out of the hand by yielding 1/2 your original bet. [I]insurance If the dealer's up card is an Ace, each player will be offered the chance to make an insurance bet. If the dealer does have blackjack the insurance is paid and the original bets are collected (effectively amounting to a "push"). Otherwise the insurance bets are collected and play continues. After all players have finished the dealer plays his hand and the bets are settled. Advice Help: [F1] Advice is available by pressing [F1]. When playing a hand you are advised of the correct action to take based on the Basic Strategy Table for the casino rules under which you are playing. When making a wager you are advised on the type of bet to make based on the active card counting system. BlackJack! 9 The Status Box: [F2] The Status Box is located in the upper left corner of the screen. It shows pertinent information to the game in progress. Included in the Status Box are the casino name, the table limits, the size of the shoe in decks, number of hands played, number of cards played from the current deck, the number of aces played, and the current plus/minus and true count card count value. You can toggle the display of the Status Box at any time by pressing the [F2] key. Borrowing Funds: [F3] Players automatically have a line of credit established for them at 1/2 their original stake. For example, if you begin a session with a stake of $500, you will have $250 available for borrowing. Players are not allowed to borrow past this amount. If a player has exhausted both his original stake and his line of credit they will be asked to leave the table. At the beginning of each hand you are given the opportunity to borrow money from the house. To obtain a loan press [F3] prior to placing your bet. A window will open showing the money you have available for borrowing and you will be prompted to enter the amount you desire. The default re- sponse is the maximum loan. If at any time your current funds fall below the minimum bet the loan window will open automatically. Advances are not allowed during play so plan ahead to have enough funds for splits and double downs. Display Hand Values: [F4] BlackJack! normally displays the value of each hand. If you wish to add up your own hands this feature can be disabled by pressing [F4]. Discard Pile Graph: [F5] A bar graph is displayed in the upper right corner of the casino screen. It shows the percentage of the deck or shoe that has been played. This feature is offered as an aid in estimating the number of cards remaining to be played. For shoe games (more than two decks) yellow lines are shown indicating each deck. A red line is shown to indicate the re-shuffle marker. The graph can be toggled on and off by pressing [F5] during casino play. The default condition is ON. Strategy Deviation Error (Play Watch): [F6] A short beep will sound whenever a player deviates from basic strategy, including true count variations when Use True Count is active. The correct action is briefly displayed above the hand. The warning can be toggled on and off by pressing [F6] during casino play. A tone will sound to confirm activation of this feature. The default condition is OFF BlackJack! 10 Reshuffle: [Ctrl][R] You can force a reshuffle between hands by pressing [Ctrl][R]. Fast Shuffle: [Ctrl][F] You can eliminate the sound (and delay) of deck shuffling by pressing [Ctrl][F] during casino play. Each press toggles Fast Shuffle on or off. A short beep confirms the keypress. The default condition is normal (with sound) shuffling. Game Statistics At the end of each session the following statistical infor- mation is provided on different screens: finances, peaks & valleys of the session, streaks, winning percentages; number of hands played, wins, losses, pushes, surrenders, blackjacks, splits, doubles, and a report on your basic strategy play. Streaks are counted using the following system: Win Zero the loss count & increment win count. Push No effect. Surrender Decrement win count if > 0, otherwise no effect. Loss Zero the win count & increment the loss count. Split Each hand of the split is treated as a distinct hand and is scored from right to left. Double Treated as a regular hand. You can jump to the statistics screens from casino play by pressing [Ctrl][V]iew between hands. The arrow keys will scroll among the screens, and [Esc] will return you to the casino, or the main menu if the session has ended. Note that cumulative totals are not updated History Statistics: [H] or [0] from the Main Menu BlackJack! keeps track of all statistics between play sessions. The statistics are accumulated only for "human" players. In the event of more than one human player in a session the first human player is used for the history statistics. Tournament play is never counted regardles of player type. In the event of playing a saved game, only the new plays are added to the history file and the number of sessions played is not incremented. The History Statistics are viewed by pressing either [H] or [0] from the Main Menu. History Statistics are seperatly kept for each of the four casinos plus a grand total reflecting cumulative totals of play at all casinos. The History Statistics are also included as part of the suite of statistical screens accesable after a casino session, or by pressing [Ctrl][V] between casino play hands. When accessed via [Ctrl][V] only the active casino is shown and the values DO NOT reflect the current session's play. BlackJack! 11 To reset the History Statistics values press [Ctrl][R] while viewing the History Statistics screen. You are also given the option of resettng the values when editing casino configurations. Alternatly, to reset all 4 casino History Statistics at once delete the file BJ-HIST.DAT, a new one will be created with zero values. Error Tracking BlackJack! keeps track of your strategy errors as you play. At the end of a casino session, or the end of Basic Strategy Practice you are shown the strategy table segments where you have made errors. The specific positions where errors occurred are highlighted and the total number of errors made in the segment are shown. A | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |10 --|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---- Count 8,8 S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S | S 2 - - The above example indicates two errors were made when the player was dealt a pair of 8s. One against a dealer 9, the other against a dealer 10. The underscored letters are actually highlighted on the screen. Editing The Casinos After selecting "Edit Casinos" from the Main Menu you will be able to scroll through the Casino Definition screens. To select the casino for editing press [Enter]. You will be presented an editing window allowing you to define the name, location, and house rules for the casino as you wish. Answer each prompt with the indicated type of response. To retain the current value of an item simply press [Enter]. Here are a couple of examples: Number of decks Surrender allowed? For "Number of decks" press a number between 1-8. For "Surrender allowed?" press either [Y] or [N]. BlackJack! 12 Setup BlackJack! This selection pops up the Setup Menu. The illustration below shows the menu layout. The currently active settings of choices 1, 4, 7 and 9 are shown to the right under the heading CURRENT. +---------------------------------------+ | CARD COUNTING CURRENT | | 1 - Active System [User] | | 2 - Edit User System | | 3 - View Active System | | | | STRATEGY TABLES | | 4 - Incorporate True Count [Yes] | | | | AUTO PLAYER | | 5 - Play Speed [Med] | | 6 - Style [Bold] | | 7 - Wager Progression | | | | OTHER | | 8 - BlackJack! Colors | | + - Mode Of Play [Normal] | | * - Configuration Save | | | +---------------------------------------+ Card Counting - Active Count System: [A] or [1] Selects which counting system is active. Each press toggles between USER and DEFAULT and the active selecting is dis- played under the CURRENT heading. The active system will be used for all BlackJack! features that involve card counting. - View Active System: [V] or [2] To review the card values and breakpoints for the active count system press [2] or [V]iew. A window will display all of the current settings. - Edit User System: [E] or [3] Define your own counting system. For help press [F1]. Card Values: A window will open and you will be prompted to enter the count value for each of the 10 card values in the deck. The current value of each card will be shown blinking. To retain the same value simply press [Enter]. A running total is shown indicating the total count value of single deck. BlackJack! 13 Breakpoints: After all cards have been assigned a count value you will be asked to enter the NORMAL and XLARGE breakpoints for your system. These are the values which indicate a 'favorable' deck. Deck values at or below NORMAL warrant only your standard bet. Values between NORMAL and XLARGE indicate a favorable deck and warrant an increased bet. Values above XLARGE indicate an extremely favorable deck and should warrant an even larger increase in your wager. For example, if your system indicates a favorable deck when the count is 25 you would enter 24 for the NORMAL value. Activation Point: Counting systems generally are not effective in the early stages of a deck. You need to enter the percentage of the deck that needs to have been played before your counting system becomes active. For example, if you feel that your system is reliable after 2/3 of the cards have been dealt you would enter 66. These breakpoint values are used by BlackJack! when giving betting advice during casino play, and by the Automatic Players when making betting decisions. They have no effect on the Card Counting Practice drill. True Count Breakpoints: Finally you will be prompted for the true count breakpoints. Enter the NORMAL and XLARGE values as described above based on true count values. By its nature, the true count does not require an activation point. If you are not using the true count (see Strategy Tables-True Count below) just press enter to keep the current values. They will have no effect. Count System Start Point: A new value has been added to the User Defined Counting System to define the starting count of the system. This is the card count at the beginning of a new deck or shoe. Normally this value is 0. This value is reflected in both the running count and the true count. The initial values of the user defined count system are an alternate to the pluse/minus system. Once a system has been defined it is saved and is available for future sessions. Strategy Tables - Incorporate True Count: [I] or [4] Toggles between [Yes] and [No]. When set to [Yes] the true count variations will be used for casino play help and by the automated players. BlackJack! 14 Auto Players - Play Speed: [P] or [5] To adjust the speed of the automatic players press [6] or [P]lay Speed. The CURRENT heading will toggle among the four speeds available for automatic players. Instant: This is the fastest setting, there are no delays. Fast: Slight delays between cards and betting. Medium: Default setting, play is brisk but easy to follow. Slow: Plenty of time allowed to watch each play. - Style: [S] or [6] Toggles among the available playing styles of the automatic players. The active style is shown in the CURRENT column. Prudent: The most conservative setting. The player never increases the wager from the table minimum and does not count cards. Plays strict Basic Strategy. Normal: The normal player bets according to the system outlined under Betting & Money Management. He does count cards but only makes increases under the most favorable conditions. Plays strict Basic Strategy. Bold: The bold player is a more aggressive bettor. He increases wagers more frequently. He counts cards and will make larger increases whenever faced with a 'rich' deck. Basic Strategy is used, but when "playing with the Houses' money" (ahead) the bold player often makes the following exceptions with a favorable card count. Split 10s against dealer 2 - 7 Double 9 against dealer 2 or 7 Double soft 19 against dealer 3 - 6 Daring: Not for the faint of heart! The daring player doesn't know the meaning of minimum bet. He counts cards and will make substantial increases with favorable counts. The daring player ALWAYS makes the exceptions to Basic Strategy listed above. User: Selecting User will cause the user betting progression (see below) to be used by the AUTO players. The AUTO player will make play decisions the same as the NORMAL player while using the user defined betting progression for wagers. All auto players take insurance when the count is favorable. BlackJack! 15 User Defined Betting Progression: [9] or [W] You can define the betting progression used by the AUTO players and you can also establish a "stop loss point". A window will pop up and you will be able to enter up to 10 levels of the progression. If your particular system does not use this many levels simply use the same value for the final entries. The last entry on the screen is the stop loss, or drop out point. For example, if your betting system dictates quitting after 6 consecutive losses you would enter 6 as the stop loss point. Once an AUTO player has dropped out, they cannot rejoin the game. The stop loss point is monitored using the method described for Streak Stats. It is possible that the stop loss point can be exceeded by one hand. This occurs when a player splits a hand and loses both when consecutive losses are one less than the stop loss point. The user progression is activated by selecting USER as playing style (see above). The progression table is saved with CONFIGURATION SAVE. Other Choices - BlackJack! Colors: [B] or [8] You can customize the color palettes used in BlackJack!. When saved, these palettes will be used whenever you run BlackJack!. There are two phases to this option, selection of the graphics mode palette and selection of the text mode palette. You can assign any of the 64 available EGA/VGA colors to any of the 16 palette colors. For example, you can assign a shade of dark green (EGA/VGA #16) to the BLACK palette register which is the one used as the background color. This will give the appearance of the green felt used in casinos. A side effect in this example is that spades and clubs will also have their spots this same shade of green (although it is barely noticeable). Sample screens are shown so that you can immediately see the effects of your changes. The editors offer the option of resetting the user values to the BlackJack! defaults, so you can experiment without fear. Keyboard instructions are provided on screen. Your selections will become active upon exiting the palette editor and will remain in effect throughout the current play session. To make these choices permanent for future play you MUST do a CONFIGURATION SAVE prior to exiting BlackJack! to DOS. The color editor will not activate on Hercules Mono systems BlackJack! 16 Mode Of Play: [M] or [+] BlackJack! provided two modes of play, NORMAL and REALISTIC. Realistic Mode more accurately simulates the flow of play in an actual casino setting. Player's cards are retrieved, and bets settled in the order of play. Bust and surrendered hands are immediately removed from the table before play progresses to the next player. All cards are cleared prior to the Press Any Key To Continue message. Realistic Mode is provided to better simulate the amount of time that card counters have to asses the values of cards on the table. Normal Mode settles bets after all play has been completed and leaves all cards on the table until you begin the next hand. Normal Mode is significantly faster than Realistic. You toggle between Normal and Realistic play by pressing either [M] or [+] ([=] works too) while in the Setup Menu. The currently active mode of play is displayed in brackets to the right. The speed of Realistic Mode corresponds to the AUTO PLAYER - SPEED setting. You may need to experiment to find a speed that you like, but for most the NORMAL setting should be good. As with all play options, the play mode is saved with Configuration Save. - Configuration Save: [C] or [*] The settings for the auto players, count system selections, and color palettes are saved to disk. When BlackJack! is started these values are read become active. Basic Strategy Practice This is the biggie! You should know basic strategy inside- out before ever considering sitting down in a casino. Extensive research and work was done by Dr. Edward Thorp and Julian N. Braun in the early 1960s to develop these tables. They represent, based on millions of computer simulated hands, the optimum method of play. When followed they yield the best decisions for all of the blackjack options. As you will note from the tables there are subtle differ- ences depending on the number of decks used. For the casual player it recommended that you concentrate on the multi-deck table. The slight difference in performance when using multi-deck strategy in a single deck game (about 0.05%) is worthwhile considering the confusion that can result from using multiple strategies. The multi-deck strategies are also more conservative with fewer splits and double downs. On the subject of the insurance bet, there is one simple rule... NEVER BUY INSURANCE! As with any rule there is an exception: When counting cards insurance can be a profitable wager. See The 'True Count' below for more information. BlackJack! 17 Select the Basic Strategy Drill by either pressing [7] or [B] from the Main Menu. The drill works much the same way as actual Blackjack play. You and the dealer will be dealt hands. Press the key corresponding to the action you be- lieve should be taken. If you make a wrong play you will hear a short beep and the correct action will be displayed above your hand. Drill Definition The drill definition box is displayed in the upper right of the screen. You can change the configuration (and therefor the strategy needed) by pressing the indicated [F] keys. Definition selections become effective with the next hand. [F1] - Number of decks...(single or multi) [F2] - Double down on...(any 2, 10-11, 9-10-11) [F3] - Double down on splits...(yes, no) [F4] - Surrender allowed...(yes, no) [F5] - Use true count...(yes, no) [F6] - Focus on... ALL - all types of hands SPLITS - only pairs are dealt SOFT - all hands are ace combinations UNDER 17 - only hands valued 16 or less are dealt When "Use true count" is set to [yes] a true count value is displayed above the players hand. Your play decision should be based on the true count variations strategy table that has been selected from the Setup BlackJack! menu. Pressing [P] will toggle the Performance Box display which shows the number of hands dealt, the number of correct plays made, and your accuracy as a percentage. These totals can be reset by pressing [F7]. Save Strategy Drill Setup: Pressing [Ctrl][S] while in the Basic Strategy Drill saves all of the options to disk. These will be the settings used the next time you run the drill. Card Counting Why Count? Accurate card counting allows you to have a picture of what cards remain in the deck, and therefor an idea of the like- lihood of the occurrence of certain hands. Note that I said likelihood, it will NOT allow you to predict actual hands, only the probability of hands. What good is this? If it is known the remaining cards in the shoe are rich in tens and Aces we know that more blackjacks and good standing hands such as 19 or 20 will be dealt. Of course this holds true for the dealer, but the dealer is not paid 3:2 for black- jack, he cannot split pairs, and he must always hit his "stiff" hands (12-16) with an increased probability of breaking. BlackJack! 18 Counting Basics We will use the tried and true Plus/Minus counting system first developed by Harvey Dubner in 1963. This system is easy to learn and one of the most effective. Each card in the deck is given one of 3 count values; either -1, 0, or 1. Count values are assigned as follows: Low Cards 2,3,4,5,6 +1 Middle Cards 7,8,9 0 High Cards 10,J,Q,K,Ace -1 Since the middle cards are valued 0, we only need concern ourselves with the low and high ends of the deck. As each card is played you add the count value to the running total for that deck. When the running count total is high it means that more low cards have been played than high. Note that for counting to be effective you must be near the end of the deck. In a 6 deck shoe a high count total after only 30 of 312 cards have been played is not a good indicator since there are still too many cards remaining for accurate prediction. You want to deploy your card count betting strategy late in the shoe. Simply put, the higher the card count, the bolder your bet- ting should be. This is also a time when bending the basic strategy rules is allowed. For example, the card count is 10 late in the shoe and you are dealt a pair of Jacks with the dealer showing a 6. Basic strategy dictates always standing on 20, but since we know there are many 10s and Aces remaining it becomes our advantage to split this pair. Another popular system, Hi-Opt I***, is as follows: 3,4,5,6 +1 Ace,2,7,8,9 0 10,J,Q,K -1 The 'True Count' As an adjunct to the running count described above many count systems employ what is known as a "true count". The true count takes into account and makes allowances for the number of cards remaining to be played. To obtain the true count the running count is divided by the number of decks remaining to be played. For example, in a 4 deck game a running count of 9 occurs after 1 deck has been played. The true count for this instance is only 3 (running count / decks remaining, 9 / 3 = 3). When using the true count it is not necessary to restrict betting and play adjustments to late in the deck. ____________________ ***The Hi-Opt I system is one of the simplest and most powerful of the advanced methods. A full description is found in "The World's Greatest Blackjack Book" by Lance Humble and Carl Cooper, published by Doubleday (c)1987. BlackJack! 19 The primary advantages of using the true count are the variations to basic strategy. With an accurate true count the basic strategy can be finely tuned to give the player the optimum decision for all play situations based on the cards remaining in the deck. Standard basic strategy is based on the assumption that all hands are played from a complete deck. Insurance becomes a viable bet when keeping a true count. When the true count indicates a deck rich in 10s (a non-10s to 10s ration less than 2) insurance is a good bet. Finally, don't even consider using card counting until you can perfectly complete the Card Counting Drill at a rate of about 30 seconds per 52 card deck. Card Counting Practice Sharpen your card counting ability. The drill will involve all the cards in the shoe being displayed for a short period of time. You should keep a running total of the count. To increase the speed of the drill press the [+] key, to slow the drill press the [-] key. A "speed bar" shows the relative drill speed. The speed indicator will turn green (color) or black (monochrome) when you have selected a rate of approximately 30 seconds per deck or faster. Card Counting Practice uses the currently active counting system as selected from the Setup BlackJack! menu (see ACTIVE SYSTEM for more details). Count Drill setup: Number of decks. Press a number between 1 and 8 to chose the number of decks in the shoe. Auto or Manual deal. If you wish to control the pace of the drill manually it can be done. When manual deal is selected Press any key to view the next card in the deck. Toggle keys will activate the toggle and advance the cards. The default response is Auto. Single or Double deal. If double deal is selected two cards will be dealt side by side with each advance of the deck. This has been added to better simulate the way cards are dealt under actual playing conditions. The default response is Single. BlackJack! 20 Count Drill Options: The following options act as toggles when their key is pressed. [H]elp: As an aid you can have the count value of the current card displayed. [S]tatus Box: Shows the current running and true count and the number of cards that have been displayed. [P]ause: The drill can be paused at any time. The Status Box will be displayed during the pause. [M]ute: Controls the card dealing sound. [Q]uit: Terminates the drill. Note that when using the Plus / Minus system the card count at the end of the shoe will always be 0 since the 20 high cards cancel out the 20 low cards. Other counting systems may yield different results. See Counting Basics for more information. The drill ends with the following options [R]epeat [O]ptions [Q]uit Pressing [R] will restart the drill using the same options, [O] will return you to the setup screen, [Q] of course returns to the Main Menu. Betting & Money Management Along with mastering the strategies of Blackjack you also need to have a money management plan. Nothing is worse than losing your entire bankroll on the first day of a three day junket. Your money management program should contain the following important considerations. Only play with money that you can afford to lose. Losses should be considered a cost of entertainment. Allocate a portion of your total stake for each day of your stay. Do not borrow from tomorrow's funds and do not add todays winnings or surpluses to tomorrow's stake. Establish a minimum and maximum bet size designed to stretch your bankroll over the length of each playing session. There are many different betting strategies and schemes with varying levels of complexity. The best are those based on card counting. In lieu of a sophisticated system the method covered here is my personal favorite. This is by no means the only system available. BlackJack! 21 It is based on a system know as Anti-Martingale and is de- signed to take advantage of "hot" streaks and minimize losses when faced with an unfriendly deck. It can be con- sidered quite conservative. This first decision that needs to be made is how much risk capital you want to put into play for a particular session at a table. Once an amount has been decided upon DO NOT make any increases. This amount will be referred to as your "opening stake". Your opening stake will influence your table selection at the casino. The minimum bet allowed will vary from table to table, if you have decided on an opening stake of $100 you should seek out a table with a low minimum bet such as $2 or $5. The obvious reason being that you will be able to stay in the game longer than at a $25 table. For the sake of this discussion we will use the term "betting unit" to refer to the minimum amount you will wager. Each session will begin by wagering one betting unit. If that hand wins the bet remains at one unit. After a second consecutive win increase to two betting units. This is the only time that the bet will be doubled. All subsequent increases will be in an amount equal to 1/2 the amount just won. In cases where a fraction of a betting unit would be in- volved you should round down to the nearest whole unit. As soon as a bet is lost return to betting one unit. Here is an example session showing six consecutive winning hands and the amount of winnings withheld from the previous hand. Hand Bet Withheld 1 1 0 2 1 1 3 2 0 4 4 1 5 6 2 6 9 3 7 13 5 A loss at the seventh hand results in a net gain of 12 bet- ting units. Amounts won as a result of splits or doubles should NOT be included in the increased bet. If you reach your personal maximum bet, stop there and con- tinue play at that level until a loss. There are many variations that can be derived from this sys- tem. For example you can increase each bet by a fixed amount rather than a percentage of the winnings. Finally, you should only keep an amount equal to your origi- nal stake on the table. In the above example, any funds above $100 should be taken out of play. Any time that the original stake has been lost play should be discontinued... No matter how much of the casino's money you have won. Disciplined play is a secret to success. BlackJack! 22 Tournament Play BlackJack! is capable of simulating tournament style play. Tournaments are becoming a popular form of Blackjack play. A large jackpot, generally based on a percentage of the entry fees collected, is awarded the winner along with any winnings accumulated during play. Tournaments are played in rounds, with one or two players from each table advancing to the next round. There are usually four rounds per tournament. Rounds are played for either a fixed length of time, or for a preset number of hands, usually 60. It is important to note that players compete against each other and not the casino. The winner of a round is the player with the most money, even if it represents a loss from the opening stake. All players 'buy in' to the tournament for a preset amount, wins and losses do not carry over from round to round. This gives all participants an equal chance at the start of each round. Some tournaments offer eliminated players the option of re-entry on the first round. The 'buy in' for each round is typically $500 - $600 with a minimum bet of $5 - $10 and a maximum allowed bet of $300. To eliminate seat location advantages betting and play ro- tate clockwise. Example: Hand #1, player 1 is the first to bet, and the first to play. Hand #2, player 2 becomes the first to bet and play, and player #1 becomes the last. Tournament play often deviates from Basic Strategy. For example when a player has a substantial lead it is prudent not to split or double down no matter what the hand so as to minimize the funds at risk. On the other hand a player may be behind late in the game making it worth the risk to make splits or doubles that are contrary to Basic Strategy. A detailed description of tournament strategy and play is beyond the scope of these instructions. For more infor- mation consult the casino running the tournament and any of the excellent books available on the subject. To play tournament style press [T]ournament as the first item during Casino Table Setup. BlackJack! supports auto- mated opponents. Rounds consist of 60 hands. You can either play a full 60 hand round or enter 'mid stream'. Specify the number of hands remaining in the round during Casino Table Setup. The skipped over hands will be automatically played placing you in a realistic game situation. Example: You wish to practice your play for the final 10 hands of the round (often the most crucial). From the Casino Table Setup you enter 10 for number of hands remaining. The computer will automatically play 50 hands using a tournament style of betting and play. At this point normal play will begin and all current game statistics will be displayed. Prior to placing bets all players' funds and relative funds (current lead or deficit) are displayed along the bottom of the screen as follows... $475.00 $610.00 $535.00 <- current funds -$135.00 $75.00 -$75.00 <- relative funds BlackJack! 23 Appendixes The Casinos Following are the initial casino rule settings used in BlackJack!. They can all be easily modified to suit your particular needs. Bally's Pepper- Caesar's CASINO User Atlantic mill Las City Reno Vegas Number of Decks 6 6 1 2 Splitting Rules Resplitting Allowed YES NO NO YES Double Down on Splits YES YES YES YES Hit Split Aces NO NO NO NO Double Down Rules Double Down On... ANY 2 ANY 2 10/11 ANY 2 Double Down on more Than 2 Cards NO NO NO NO Miscellaneous Rules Insurance Offered YES YES YES YES Surrender Allowed YES NO NO NO Dealer Hits Soft 17 NO NO YES NO Problems Every attempt has been made to eliminate programming errors (bugs), and to assure that the information presented is accurate and correct. If you encounter ANY problems or inaccuracies please contact Glencoe Computing and provide a thorough description of the problem. My goal is your satisfaction. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Share- ware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the share- ware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman, 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49422 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex - ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536 Strategy Tables TABLE ONE Multi-Deck, Double After Split, Double On Any Two Cards Player's Hand Strategy For Dealer Up-Card Simple Hands 5...8 Always Hit 9 Double on 3 - 6, Otherwise Hit 10 Double on 2 - 9, Otherwise Hit 11 Double on 2 -10, Otherwise Hit 12 Stand on 4 - 6, Otherwise Hit 13...16 Stand on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 17...21 Always Stand Ace Combinations A-2, A-3 Double on 5 - 6, Otherwise Hit A-4, A-5 Double on 4 - 6, Otherwise Hit A-6 Double on 3 - 6, Otherwise Hit A-7 Double on 3 - 6, Hit 9, 10, Ace Stand 2, 7, 8 A-8...A-10 Always Stand Pairs A-A Always Split 2-2, 3-3 Split on 2 - 7, Otherwise Hit 4-4 Split on 5 - 6, Otherwise Hit 5-5 Double on 2 - 9, Otherwise Hit 6-6 Split on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 7-7 Split on 2 - 7, Otherwise Hit 8-8 Always Split 9-9 Split on 2 - 6, 8, 9 Stand on 7, 10, Ace 10-10 Always Stand TABLE TWO Single-Deck, Double On 10 Or 11 Only Player's Hand Strategy For Dealer Up-Card Simple Hands 5...9 Always Hit 10 Double on 2 - 9, Otherwise Hit 11 Always Double 12 Stand on 4 - 6, Otherwise Hit 13...16 Stand on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 17...21 Always Stand Ace Combinations A-2...A-6 Always Hit A-7 Stand on 2 - 8, Otherwise Hit A-8...A-10 Always Stand Pairs A-A Always Split 2-2 Split on 3 - 7, Otherwise Hit 3-3 Split on 4 - 7, Otherwise Hit 4-4 Always Hit 5-5 Double on 2 - 9, Otherwise Hit 6-6 Split on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 7-7 Split on 2 - 7, Otherwise Hit 8-8 Always Split 9-9 Split on 2-6,8,9 Stand on 7,10,Ace 10-10 Always Stand TABLE THREE Single-Deck, Double After Split, Double On Any Two Cards Player's Hand Strategy For Dealer Up-Card Simple Hands 5...8(6-2) Always Hit 8 Double on 5 - 6, Otherwise Hit 9 Double on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 10 Double on 2 - 9, Otherwise Hit 11 Always Double 12 Stand on 4 - 6, Otherwise Hit 13, 14, 15, 16 Stand on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 17...21 Always Stand Ace Combinations A-2...A-5 Double on 4 - 6, Otherwise Hit A-6 Double on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit A-7 Double on 3 - 6, Hit 9,10 Stand 2,7,8, Ace A-8 Double on 6, Otherwise Hit A-9, A-10 Always Stand Pairs A-A Always Split 2-2 Split on 3 - 7, Otherwise Hit 3-3 Split on 4 - 7, Otherwise Hit 4-4 Double on 5 - 6, Otherwise Hit 5-5 Double on 2 - 9, Otherwise Hit 6-6 Split on 2 - 6, Otherwise Hit 7-7 Split on 2 - 7, Otherwise Hit 8-8 Always Split 9-9 Split on 2-6,8,9 Stand on 7,10,Ace 10-10 Always Stand TABLE FOUR General Purpose Basic Strategy Table Dealer -> 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A 5...8 H H H H H H H H H H ------------------------------------------------- 8(5-3) H H H B B H H H H H ------------------------------------------------- S 9 B D D D D H H H H H I ------------------------------------------------- M 10 D D D D D D D D H H P ------------------------------------------------- L 11 D D D D D D D D D B E ------------------------------------------------- 12 H H S S S H H H H H H ------------------------------------------------- A 13, 14 S S S S S H H H H H N ------------------------------------------------- D 15 S S S S S H H H R H S ------------------------------------------------- 16 S S S S S H H H R R ------------------------------------------------- 17 & up S S S S S S S S S S 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A A-2 H H B D D H H H H H A ------------------------------------------------- C A-3 H H B D D H H H H H E ------------------------------------------------- A-4, A-5 H H D D D H H H H H C ------------------------------------------------- O A-6 B D D D D H H H H H M ------------------------------------------------- B A-7 S D D D D S S H H H O ------------------------------------------------- S A-8 S S S S B S S S S S ------------------------------------------------- A-9, A-10 S S S S S S S S S S 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A A-A, 8-8 T T T T T T T T T T ------------------------------------------------- 2-2, 3-3 P P T T T T H H H H ------------------------------------------------- 4-4 H H H L L H H H H H P ------------------------------------------------- A 5-5 D D D D D D D D H H I ------------------------------------------------- R 6-6 T* T T T T H H H H H S ------------------------------------------------- 7-7 T T T T T T H H R H ------------------------------------------------- 9-9 T T T T T S T T S S ------------------------------------------------- 10-10 S S S S S S S S S S TABLE FIVE True Count Variations To Basic Strategy Table Dealer -> 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A S 8 H H 5 3 2 H H H H H D I ------------------------------------------------- B M 9 1 0 -2 -4 -4 3 H H H H L P ------------------------------------------------- L 10 B D D D D -6 -4 -1 5 4 D E ------------------------------------------------- W 11 D D D D D D -5 -4 -3 1 N Double if the true count is greater than or equal to the table value, otherwise hit. 12 2 1 0 -1 -1 D D D D B ------------------------------------------------- 13 -1 -2 -3 -4 -4 H H H H H H ------------------------------------------------- S A 14 -3 -4 -5 S -6 H H H H H T N ------------------------------------------------- A D 15 -5 -6 S S S H H 6 3 H N S ------------------------------------------------- D 16 S S S S S H 6 4 0 R ------------------------------------------------- 17 S S S S S S S S S -6 Stand if the true count greater than or equal to the table value, otherwise hit. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A A-2 H 6 2 -1 -2 H H H H H A ------------------------------------------------- C A-3 H 5 1 -2 -4 H H H H H D E ------------------------------------------------- B A-4 H 5 -1 -4 D H H H H H L C ------------------------------------------------- O A-5 H 3 -1 -5 D H H H H H D M ------------------------------------------------- W B A-6 1 -2 -5 D D H H H H H N O ------------------------------------------------- S A-7 1 -1 -5 S B S S H H H ------------------------------------------------- A-8 6 4 3 1 1 S S S S S ------------------------------------------------- A-9 S S 6 5 5 S S S S S Double if the true count is greater than or equal to the table value, otherwise use Basic Strategy substituting Hit for Double Down. TABLE FIVE (cont) (Without DD after split) Dealer -> 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A A-A T T T T T T T T T -4 ------------------------------------------------- 2-2, 6 1 -3 -6 T T H H H H ------------------------------------------------- 3-3 H 4 0 -2 T T H H H H ------------------------------------------------- 4-4 H H H L L H H H H H P ------------------------------------------------- S A 5-5 D D D D D D D D H H P I ------------------------------------------------- L R 6-6 2 0 -1 -4 -5 H H H H H I S ------------------------------------------------- T 7-7 T T T T T T H H R H ------------------------------------------------- 8-8 T T T T T T T T T T ------------------------------------------------- 9-9 -1 -2 -3 -5 -3 6 T T S S ------------------------------------------------- 10-10 S S 6 4 4 S S S S S (With DD after split) Dealer -> 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A A-A T T T T T T T T T -4 ------------------------------------------------- 2-2, -4 -5 T T T T H H H H ------------------------------------------------- 3-3 -2 -6 T T T T H H H H ------------------------------------------------- 4-4 H H 3 1 0 H H H H H P ------------------------------------------------- S A 5-5 D D D D D D D D H H P I ------------------------------------------------- L R 6-6 -1 -3 -4 -6 T H H H H H I S ------------------------------------------------- T 7-7 T T T T T T 1 H R H ------------------------------------------------- 8-8 T T T T T T T T T T ------------------------------------------------- 9-9 -2 -3 -5 -6 -5 3 T T S 4 ------------------------------------------------- 10-10 S S 6 4 4 S S S S S Split if true count greater than or equal table value, otherwise do not split and follow standard basic strategy for non pairs of same hand value. Matrix Codes: H Hit S Stand T Split D Double if allowed, otherwise hit B Double if allowed & single deck, otherwise hit R Surrender if allowed, otherwise hit P Split if DD after split is allowed, otherwise hit L Split if DD after split, double if single deck, otherwise hit * Hit if no DD after split OK, admittedly this last table is a bit complex, but it will cover just about any set of house rules that you may encounter. With this data you can construct your own Basic Strategy Table for your favorite form of the game. True Count Variations: Table five represents a starting point for true count variations and is provided primarily as an example. This table is the BlackJack! default. Registered users gain the ability to define and modify a user table to suit the particular counting system you are using. It can be selected as the active system and is used in Casino Play and the Basic Strategy Drill. More Information: An excellent source of information on the game of Blackjack is... Gambler's Book Club 630 South 11th Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 1-800-634-6243 Also available from Glencoe Computing: GET LUCKY! = The Adult Entertainment Package = $24.99 Trivia & Poker presented with a risque' flavor, plus The Poker Machine, a Las Vegas style poker machine simulation. Requires 2 diskette drives or a hard disk, CGA or EGA video. +---------+ +-----+---+ | (R) --| |o +------------------ | +-----+---+ | Association of | | +-+ Shareware +---+ o | Professionals ------| | |-------------------- +---------+ MEMBER BlackJack! Registration Form Telephone Orders (314) 458-2863 (evenings) MAIL TO: DONALD L. 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