Is it finally here? When writing this we have no idea! All we know is that it has been promised to be released today. Yet we have heard these promises before. Are hopes high? Ours are! But it seems like not everyone on here is as excited about these as we are. We've seen the Blackjack prices recently soar to a massive 100 points, or even more in some cases, in this past week. But what does this update actually offer?
We at the Buzz have as much knowledge as you do! However a better question might be what would we actually like to see? In our opinions there are a few things that need a serious change!
First:
Splits! One of the best features in real life Blackjack is that lovely addition called the split. For those of you who don't know what this means, if you draw out your cards and have two cards which have the same value, you can double your bet and play each hand separately. An example:
You bet $2,500. The cards are dealt. You have two Aces. You choose to split. The bet is now at $5,000. The cards are dealt again. You have a ten with the first ace. Excellent, that is Blackjack. The other ace has a two dealt. Oh well, thirteen. You hit. Its a five. Great that is eighteen. The dealer has a nine revealed. You choose to stand. The dealer's second card is a queen. So you lose the second hand, losing $2,500. But you got Blackjack on the first hand! That means you won $6,250! That leaves you with $3,750 profit! That is a perfect time to split. But if you get two two's? The odds change and the game really opens up!
Second:
Five Card Charlie! A popular suggestion is the addition of a five card trick, or Charlie as it is known in Blackjack. However, contrary to popular belief, a five card Charlie is not a conmen feature in casinos which run Blackjack. It actually stems from a very similar game called Pontoon, which is also a twenty one game. But that doesn't mean that the Bootleggers casino cannot run it! If you don't understand the rule it is if you have five cards which total under twenty one, regardless of what they actually add to you will win any hand except Blackjack. An example:
You bet $2,500. You have a two and a three. You hit and receive a three. Your total is now eight. You hit again for a four. Your total is now twelve. You hit one final time and receive a six. Your total is eighteen. The dealer has a queen and a king. Even though their total is twenty your five card Charlie beats their result.
Third:
The feature to play with other players at your table. In Roulette you have other players gambling on the table and the owner of the casino can see exactly who is gambling, how much they are winning and how much they are losing. However there is no interaction with other players. It would be very hard to implement as the wheel would have to spin with multiple people playing, at specified times and ghost chips would have to appear on numbers. It would be tricky, but not impossible to code. However it would take away from the overall game. Multiple bets at once would be impossible to work out who would win the Casino. Yet it is a popular suggestion that multiple players should go at once on Blackjack. This is a feature which would add a lot to the game but would probably come with too many issues to be implemented.
Fourth:
Insurance. Insurance is one of the least understood rules of Blackjack. Insurance gives the house a slight advantage compared to the player. A simple way to explain it is that it is a side bet, with 2:1 odds, in case the dealer has Blackjack. The player would make any bet, up to half the value of their original bet, just in case! An example:
You bet $2,500. You have a queen and a jack. The dealer has an Ace. You choose to buy insurance. You bet $1,250. The dealer has a king and had Blackjack. You win the insurance bet, taking $2,500. You lose your bet losing $2,500. You break even.
Fifth:
Doubling Down. This is a very popular feature. The idea is that you hit for one card, and only one card, and double your original bet. You then cannot hit again even if you only have a total of six! You can only double down before you have hit for the first time. If you win, your bet has been doubled so you win double the money. If you lose, you lose everything bet. Risky. But it can have its rewards.
Sixth:
Surrender. The basic idea is that you can surrender, or fold, your hand and only lose half of your original bet. You must choose to surrender before you hit. Many people might wonder why you would fold your bet without even hitting, but sometimes it can be very worthwhile if your in for a long day of Blackjack! This feature actually gives the player the advantage rather then the house!
Seventh:
A timer. Unlike all the other casinos on Bootleggers, with Blackjack you can place a bet and leave it. If you have bad cards you can just ignore your bet and not even worry if you win or lose. As long as the casino is sold or dropped they get their money back, regardless of what their cards were. Some bets on blackjack can be huge! The highest loss has been $20,000,000. Thats a lot to lose. If you know you can't win and the max bet is that high, the casino will drop sooner or later. So you can just walk away and take your money back. The easiest way to fix this is to implement a timer. The only question that remains is how long will that timer be? Is fifteen seconds enough? Or should it be one minute? In our opinion it shouldn't be higher then thirty seconds. If you go over that, you lose your cash and the Casino wins. The only downside to the timer is if your internet connection drops halfway through a game. But if that happens during an OC or a jail bust comp, you lose. So why shouldn't it be so with a Blackjack game?
Finally:
Some re-coding into the house cards. The dealer only hits to four cards, which is just silly. There are no rules that say how many cards the dealer should take, only that the dealer stops on seventeen and hits on sixteen. As well as that some of the hands the dealer has just don't make sense. An Ace can be one or eleven. That figure can change at any time as you need it. It benefits both the player and the casino, not just one. Yet here on Bootleggers the dealer doesn't get to choose. An example:
You bet $2,500. You have a seven and a nine totalling sixteen. You choose to stay. The dealer has a two revealed. An ace is revealed. The dealer has thirteen. They have to hit and receive a ten. The dealer has bust! But in actuality the dealer has thirteen still and should hit again.
It is perhaps that final feature which is the most important of all to code. As most of you will know the odds in Blackjack should favour the Casino. All gambling odds are designed to favour the owner, otherwise why would you want to own one? But here on Bootleggers the odds are actually closer to 48% casino and 52% player.
Will any of these come out? Here is hoping! But if they do, perhaps you will now understand each feature that is in play just a little better. If they don't? You now know how to play Blackjack in the real world! Good luck!
