CV Blackjack Version 4 Announcement

This is the ninth major upgrade since CVBJ came out in 1993. As always, an upgrade path is available. Please see the end of this page for upgrade pricing and demo downloads. If you are not familiar with the previous release, you should probably go to the CVBJ Main Page.

Changes

Below you will find a list of the major changes:

Table - A new table format has been added with six seats, ultra-real graphics and cards dealt diagonally. This replaces the five-seat ultra-real format. The four seat format is still available.

Seats - Animation changes have been made that allow you to use any or all of the seats in the six and four seat ultra-real formats.

Heat - A ridiculously complex algorithm is included in an attempt to indicate the amount of casino attention that your play is drawing. Different casino heat profiles can be created to differentiate between burn joints like Barbary Coast and more counter friendly casinos like Barona's, or casinos that use counter-catcher software versus those that don't. A subtle form of preferential shuffling will take place if heat grows too high. Certainly there is no way to do this perfectly. Much of heat has to do with your act. But numerous actions have been taken into account. This is a first shot and will be tuned as suggestions come in. If popular, I expect to add heat generation from shuffle-tracking, sequencing and what I call fortuitous happenstance.

The Gamemaster 24 lesson Blackjack tutorial has been added for beginners that wish to use the course without signing on to the web or experiencing Internet delays.

Lucky Ladies and Blackjack Switch have been added to the Unusual Games and Unusual Games now support more variations. Every casino seems to have its own ideas.

The ability to add strategies for Lucky Ladies, Royal Match and Red/Black has been added. Balanced and unbalanced counts are supported. The strategies may use the primary counting system or a side count. Errors are tracked and Cassie warns when you make an error.

The Knock-Out Blackjack, KISS I and Mentor strategies have been added. You can now specify counting systems where Tens do not count the same as face cards - required for KISS I.

Three additional types of dealer errors have been added making a total of seven. Your ability to notice these errors is tested. I believe this remains an important, overlooked area of practice.

A new method of calculating True Counts has been added to the standard methods. This uses a table of cards remaining versus multipliers and/or divisors. This allows exact specification of a TC conversion technique and allows unusual divisors. For example, Mentor uses remaining double decks. And some people rationalize to 100 cards.

And yet another method of TC calculation has been added. Here, a table of rounds and players can be used to specify a conversion factor based on rounds. This is commonly used in single deck games. A new remove discard tray option forces you to use this type of technique. This can be useful in casinos that hide the discards.

True Edge betting has also been added with the ability to specify in detail how bets are calculated.

Double Exposure strategies are now supported. These are quite a bit more complex as you need to look at both dealer cards. A double exposure strategy has been included compliments of Mike Shackleford. This is a basic strategy, but counting strategies are also supported.

Hole-carding (seeing the dealer's card) has been supported for 12 years. In V4, hole-card strategies are also supported. These are more complex than double-exposure strategies since it matters which card is the upcard even though you see both. In fact one to three strategies can optionally be used: hole-carding with a high dealer upcard, hole carding with a low dealer upcard, and the strategy used when you don't see the downcard. Your decisions are checked against all strategies, errors tracked and warnings provided by Cassie. Counting and indexes are also supported if desired. The included strategy is quite conservative but can be modified.

Processor time has been significantly reduced to reduce heat, fan noise, electricity costs and battery usage. This also gets rid of freeze-ups on poorly built or dust clogged PCs.

There is now greater control over the seats and other players. You can select annoying strategies for other players as a distraction. You can also set players to randomly change their playing styles.

As an added distraction, the randomize player speed feature has been changed. Now, other players are each assigned different playing speeds; as you would expect in a real casino. Periodically these speeds change. This is designed to throw off your rhythm.

Two new types of deck biases have been added. The problem with playing a BJ PC game, or in a casino or with hand dealt cards at your kitchen table is that 95% of hands are easy. You really don't make great use of your practice time. Biases force unusual conditions more often than would normally occur. Version 3 has high positive and negative counts and hands with many cards. Version 4 adds difficult hands and automatic repetition of hands that you have had trouble with in the past. So, the game adapts to your errors making better use of your time. A randomize bias option is also available that periodically switches randomly between the five bias types to give you a real workout.

Composition Dependent indexes can now be specified. Up to 400 per strategy. They are used in both the play and the drills.

Hand Interaction strategies are now allowed. Here, you are given the ability to buy other players' Splits and Doubles. Cassie will warn you when you make an error.

You can now specify Double Down for Less strategies. The card counter catching programs do not take note of whether you are doubling for the full amount or for less. Making a DD for Less bet when a DD is not the correct move is inexpensive and can throw the software. Cassie will warn you when you make a DDLess and it is not called for or vice-versa.

Redouble, Triple Down, and the UK No 4,5,10 Split rules have been added.

The Show Last Hand function now resets the discard tray and shoe graphics to their earlier states and provides the Running Count and True Count as of the previous hand.

The new Show Last Error function resets the graphics and displays the error hand and dealer hand as of the last error. You can click on a button to see the strategy tables and the counts and modify the counting calculation options to see the effects of changes.

A Repeat function has been added to the Full Table, Flashcard and Counting drills. This provides the ability to exactly repeat a drill that gave you problems.

You can now set the number of hands in Full Table drills including the Backcounting two tables drill.

Two new True Count Conversion drills have been added to the Discard Tray Drills.

A new Flashcards drill Count Down and Halt mode has been added to determine how many hands you can evaluate in a specified time.

The Flashcard dills have long included an undocumented feature used by one of the famous teams. Gorilla Mode is now available in V4. In this mode, a Gorilla Player is tested on the correct times to look for a playing decision signal from a counting partner.

A Blurred cards option literally makes the cards look as though you are wearing incorrect prescription glasses. This is designed to improve your ability to play quickly and with distractions. This can be used in conjunction with the V3 No numbers on cards feature for additional difficulty.

Many people alter their Wong-in and Wong-out points depending on deck depth. A new easy method of specifying different points is provided. This was possible in V3 but required use of the complex Multi-Betting strategies.

You can now specify that Running Count is used for decisions with indexes that are zero. This can be more accurate and mirrors the way many people play.

Every few years I redesign the drills to keep them from becoming too boring. This release I tried something new. ITests (Internet Tests) are a set of standardized, pre-configured drills. When you complete an ITest you will be able to see how your Rating compares to other people using the same ITest. The top 20 ratings for each ITest are kept on the Internet and can be downloaded and displayed at the touch of a button. At the same time, your rating and nickname will be added to the list if you are in the top 20. If this proves popular, I will add additional ITests.

You can now alter Cassie's voice.

Various other minor changes to enhance realism and adjustments from suggestions over the last year.

NOTE: All tournament features have been removed from V4. A new Tournament Edition is under development that is a complete rewrite of tourny functionality. In the meantime, V4 includes a copy of V3 which can be used until this new application is released.

Other features are planned but must await publication of a couple of books. My current plan is to provide free upgrades when available.

Demo Downloads

• Warning, the full install is 22MB.
• CVBJ V4 is a new application. If it is installed on a PC that has CVBJ V3, a new icon will appear.
• Downloads can be found on the Downloads Page.

Pricing

CVBJ price remains at $90. Upgrades from Version 3 are $35 and are delivered on a CD. Anyone purchasing prior to that all the way back to V1 in 1993 can purchase an upgrade for $45 that will include a new CD and manual. See the Orders Page for more info. Upgrades are at the end of the catalog.