Rules Menu

Decks - Drop-down menu indicating number of decks to use in game (1 to 8).

Penetration - Pull-down menu indicating the percent of cards dealt in the deck/shoe before the dealer reshuffles. Penetration is important to card counters since the knowledge of what cards remain to be played rises proportionally to the amount of cards dealt before the shuffle. Penetration levels of 50% or less are considered horrible, 60% is acceptable, 65% is good, 70% or more is very good.

Shuffle Type - The player can select either a random, computer-generated shuffle or a casino-type shuffle where the deck is shuffled in a similar fashion to the procedures followed in a casino. The casino shuffle is a more realistic shuffle since it approximates more closely actual casino conditions. As such, there is generally more variablity in player results because cards tend to "clump" or mass together which produce uneven results (either more favorable or less favorable). The random shuffle is good when performing simulations since it eliminates the card clumping variable thereby allowing more accurate evaluation of various playing strategies in a "perfect world".  If the player selects the casino shuffling option button, then several input boxes become enabled that allow changes in the characteristics of the shuffle. Riffle Size refers to the size in number of cards for each small card slice that is created during a single shuffle. When a deck of cards is shuffled, riffles (or small clumps of cards) are created as the dealer cuts the deck in half, and shuffles. One half of the cut deck form riffles which overlap with riffles on the other half of the deck as the dealer shuffles. A perfectly shuffled deck would have a uniform riffle size of one (meaning one card from each half of the deck is mixed in with the other half of the deck). In the real world however, the riffle size varies widely and is usually not uniform. The larger the riffle size, the more likely that the cards will clump together. A riffle size of 3 to 7 is generally a good number to use. Shuffle Loops refer to the number of times a dealer shuffle the cards before dealing the cards. Three shuffle loops is generally the average case in most casinos. Wash Cards refers to the number of hands that are played before a new deck of cards is introduced. Generally casinos introduce new cards every 100 to 200 hands played (which equates to one to three hours of casino play). Using the BBJ simulator to evaluate the effects of casino shuffling, the following generalizations can be made:

• Shuffle loops of  3 to 5 times with a riffle size in the range of 2 to 5 cards yields an expectation improvement of 0.1 to 0.2 percent versus shuffle loops of 1 to 3 times and riffle sizes of 4 to 7 cards.
• The expectation of the first 50 hands following a washed deck is lower by 0.1 to 0.3 percent versus the 2nd 50 hands of a newly washed deck with a wash interval of 100 hands.

Doubling - Option button choice of doubling on any 2 cards , doubling on any 2 cards totaling 9,10, or 11, or doubling on just any 2 cards totaling 10 or 11.

Splitting - Option buttons offering choice of splitting only once (e.g. two hands) or multiple times (up to three hands in this game).

Double After Split - If checked, allows player to double down after splitting a hand.

Dealer Hits S17 - If checked, dealer hits a soft 17(e.g. Ace-Six).  If not, dealer stands on all soft 17's.

Insurance - If checked, the BBJ Playing Tutor will prompt the player for insurance when the dealer's up-card is an Ace. Computer players will take insurance based on the insurance count value set in the betting strategy menu.

What effect do the various rules have in terms of a players advantage or disadvantage?
The Casino house-rules can have a very significant effect in terms of a a players advantage/disadvantage. Table 1 lists the players advantage (positive numbers) or disadvantage (negative numbers) based on each rule variation. The numbers are expressed in percentages, so for example the early surrender rule yields a 0.62% advantage to the player. To compute the players advantage or disadvantage for a given game, simply sum up the values for each rule variation. In general, most casinos have a 1% to 2% edge against the player, meaning that the house will win 50.5% to 51% percent of the time.

Rule Variation	% Effect on Player's Advantage
Early Surrender	+0.62
Late Surrender (single deck)	+0.02
Late Surrender (multi deck)	+0.07
Double Down after splitting	+0.13
Drawing to split aces	+0.14
Re-splitting of aces	+0.03
Double Down any number of cards	+0.20
No doubling on hard 11	-0.89
No doubling on hard 10	-0.56
No doubling on hard 9	-0.14
No doubling on hard 8	-0.00
No doubling on soft hands	-0.14
Dealer hits soft 17	-0.20
Dealer takes no hole card	-0.13
Two deck (vs. single deck)	-0.35
Four deck (vs. single deck)	-0.51
Six deck (vs. single deck)	-0.60
No re-splitting of pairs	-0.05