Blackjack Game and Computer Software

K

k_c

Well-Known Member
I am releasing some new software. **Blackjack Game and Probability Computer** It has the unique ability to compute expected values on a hand by hand and card by card basis while maintaining any number of counting systems. User can choose to make a count unbalanced. The program can be used as a computer or can deal a random game with display of both pre-deal and post-deal expected values as the game is played.

Many thanks to Sonny for his suggestion to add insurance EV to the program.
Also thanks to sageFr0g for his suggestion to use a surrender button for the user interface in game mode rather than a response to a message box.

Windows Vista users will need support for 32-bit Winhelp installed to view the help files. It may already be installed on your machine but if it isn't it can be easily be downloaded and installed from Microsoft. Google WinHlp32.exe and the top entry is the link to the Microsoft information and download page.

k_c
 
zengrifter said:
Whats it for? zg
Click to expand...

It's a practical view of the expected values in blackjack.

In game mode: Pre-deal total dependent basic strategy overall EV can be computed before each hand is dealt. You can immediately see how well any counting system correlates with the EV. You can also see how much EV insurance is worth before the hand is dealt. This assumes perfect insurance decisions are made and will show the general worth of insurance. Post-deal you can see the actual expected values for each hand as it is played. You can manually override basic strategy to see how well your count's index plays correlate to the actual deal in progress.

In compute mode: You can compute expected values for any shoe state. You can compute pre-deal EVs for any shoe state, post-deal EVs for any shoe state, partially dealt hand EVs for any shoe state and can compute assuming dealer's hole card is unknown at time of strategy decision or is known at time of strategy decision. It could be used to play versus an externally dealt game, such as an online game although it wouldn't be worth much if the game is reshuffled after every deal. If it were used versus an online game, the pre-deal EVs it computes would not be optimal but based on proper basic strategy but it could still show good advantages if the shoe is dealt deeply enough. Optimal EVs could be displayed by using a best play composition dependent algorithm rather than relying on full shoe total dependent basic strategy but that approach would be impractical in relating to play in a brick and mortar casino and I wanted to make a program that was practical for that purpose. Of course it's illegal to use computing devices in an actual casino and that is NOT what the program is for.

Thanks for the question.

k_c
 
compute mode basic & manual

k_c can you explain a little bit about using compute mode basic versus manual. and also i'm a bit lost on the SSN and HSN drop box's.
like here is an excerpt from the help section:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
· Click the 'Reset' button to remove all player and dealer cards and reset to a full shoe

· Click the 'T' in the dealer section to deal dealer an up card of 10. Click the '8' button in the player section twice to deal player a pair of eights.

· Click the 'Calc' button - the expected values for a player hand of 8-8 versus a dealer up card of 10 are displayed. The optimal number of splits displayed is 1 (the default is to allow only 1 split)

· Click the 'Manual' radio button in the Compute mode section. Click the drop down arrow next to the SSN drop down list and select 20 to change the total dependent soft standing number to 20. Click the drop down arrow next to the HSN drop down list and select 12 to change the total dependent hard standing number to 12. Click the 'Calc' button to display the expected values for player hand of 8-8 versus a dealer up card of 10 using the new total dependent strategy.
 
The Best thing I like about his program, is the fact that your able to see two counts at the same time. With this feature you'll always be able to check your accuracy, Especially if your using a secondary count. For example, you can use HI-OPT2 for playing and the RPC for betting. As long as the Secondary count is Neutral the RC of the other Two counts will be the same. I never realized this Before.

Keep up the Good Work K_c !:)
 
sagefr0g said:
k_c can you explain a little bit about using compute mode basic versus manual. and also i'm a bit lost on the SSN and HSN drop box's.
like here is an excerpt from the help section:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
· Click the 'Reset' button to remove all player and dealer cards and reset to a full shoe

· Click the 'T' in the dealer section to deal dealer an up card of 10. Click the '8' button in the player section twice to deal player a pair of eights.

· Click the 'Calc' button - the expected values for a player hand of 8-8 versus a dealer up card of 10 are displayed. The optimal number of splits displayed is 1 (the default is to allow only 1 split)

· Click the 'Manual' radio button in the Compute mode section. Click the drop down arrow next to the SSN drop down list and select 20 to change the total dependent soft standing number to 20. Click the drop down arrow next to the HSN drop down list and select 12 to change the total dependent hard standing number to 12. Click the 'Calc' button to display the expected values for player hand of 8-8 versus a dealer up card of 10 using the new total dependent strategy.
Click to expand...

SSN (soft standing number) and HSN (hard standing number) define player's hit/stand strategy. If his hand is soft and its value is greater than or equal to SSN he stands, otherwise he hits. If his hand is hard and its value is greater than or equal to HSN he stands, otherwise he hits.

You are probably familiar with basic strategy SSN and HSN for the various up cards. (For example if dealer's up card is 10, basic strategy is to hit to a soft total of 19 or more or a hard total of 17 or more.) For single deck S17 these are:
Code: 
Up card     SSN     HSN
2           18      13
3           18      13
4           18      12
5           18      12
6           18      12
7           18      17
8           18      17
9           19      17
T           19      17
A           18      17

When the 'Basic' radio button is selected, the above values are automatically used. When the 'Manual' radio button is used the basic SSN and HSN can be overridden. (They could manually be set to the basic values as well.) For a full shoe using other than basic SSN and HSN values results in a loss of EV. However, for a depleted shoe a different hit/stand strategy may or may not be best. The example in the help file is just meant to show how this works. (After doing a manual calculation you probably want to return to 'Basic' because if you don't all subsequent calcualtions will use what has been manually input.)

Here is something you can try. In another thread jack,jackson was asking about the basic strategy for Spanish 21 hard 14 vs 3. Input 6 decks and remove 24 tens to create the starting comp for a Spanish 21 shoe. Give the player a hand of 10-4 and dealer an up card of 3. Click the 'Calc' button with the 'Basic' radio button selected to compute EVs using standard basic strategy. (Standard basic strategy is to stand on 14 vs 3.) Click the 'Manual' radio button and set HSN to 15. (This means any hard total of less than 15 will be hit.) It doesn't matter what SSN is because in this case no soft hand is possible. Click the 'Calc' button and you will see the proper strategy is to hit. I disagree with Auto Monkey as the strategy for 8-6 vs 3 is also to hit, at least for 6 decks S17.

k_c
 
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