High cards (10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace) count as -1 each. Low cards (2 to 6) count as +1 each. The remaining cards (7 to 9) count as 0.
The single most important thing that you need to understand about the game of blackjack is that it is a game of player decisions.
Unlike any other game in the casino, when playing blackjack your decisions can have an outcome on how the hand plays out and thus can contribute to the wins or losses of the players at the table. Because of this fact, there is a mathematically proven strategy that gives you the best advantage when playing, and this should be used every time you play if you want the best odds in the long run.
This strategy is known as basic strategy and is illustrated in the blackjack strategy chart shown below:
As you can see from the diagrams in the chart, basic strategy outlines exactly how you should optimally play when considering what you have been dealt in relation to the dealer’s hand. Many new blackjack players make the mistake of going with gut feeling and being afraid to bust when they play, but using basic strategy every time is the best way to give yourself favorable odds during play.
If you are familiar with casino games, you will know that the house has the advantage in every game in the casino, which is how they turn a profit. Blackjack is no exception, however is one of the lowest house edge games in the casino, which is why it’s such a great game for players to learn and play.
The house edge in a typical blackjack game is around 0.50 percent when a player uses perfect basic strategy during play. This means that for every $100 you bet, the casino expects to win $0.50 from you over an infinite number of hands. The reason why basic strategy is so important is because if you take this same example of a $100 average bet and apply it to an unskilled player, the house advantage can go as high as 2.5 percent or more, meaning that the house would expect to win $2.50 or more over time.
Because of this, it’s easy to see why playing with basic strategy is the best choice for players each and every time.
The first release is finally complete! Download for Android on Google Play now!
If you have an Android device, please feel free to download, learn and win at Blackjack! If you want offer me any feedback to make it better, I also super welcome the feedback.
There is a bug that causes the game to go into a locked state that I cannot seem to recreate and if anyone could give me reliable recreation steps, I would greatly appreciate it.
Additionally, I am going to add a help section to explain all of the abbreviations and interface icons. I hope that some of it is self explanatory, but understand if my UXing skills are terribad.
The gist of playing before I can formally create a tutorial and help:
The yellow icon is the visual guidance to playing basic blackjack strategy with the illustrious 18 variants and counting with hi/lo.
RC = running count
TC = true count
CR = cards remaining in the shoe
OP = optimally played.
You can turn off the hints in the options, the sounds and make various adjustments. The thought is after you learn how to play using the strategy, you can turn off the hints and see on the stats screen whether OP = true. This will be your guidance that you’re still on the right track and then you can adjust your betting to test yourself making money!
For those who are looking for some of an interactive demo, the YouTube video that I made a week or so back still applies.
I really hope all of you enjoy it and find it useful!