Apple pulled Blackjack X. New app: Blackjack Shark
I make (made) an app for iOS called Blackjack X. Maybe some of you use it. It had a lot of features, including a hand analyzer where you could type in scenarios and see EVs for all possible actions. Unfortunately, a couple months ago, Apple pulled the app from the App Store without warning because they changed their policies and no longer allow apps that simulate gambling to be submitted by individuals. Corporations are still allowed to submit such apps, which I think is ridiculous and unfair, but there's no way to fight Apple on this stuff.
Anyway, I've reworked the app and took out all the simulated gambling. The new app is called "Blackjack Shark." It is no longer a game, just a blackjack reference tool. The new app has the following features:
- Basic strategy. The app contains a database with the correct basic strategy for all possible combinations of rules. (If memory serves, I calculated basic strategy for ~10,300 combinations. Took several days.) It has a feature where you can email yourself a basic strategy table and then print it out from a computer if you want to refer to it while playing, or you can print it out directly from the app via AirPlay. Since you're reading a forum on blackjack, I suspect that anything to do with basic strategy is probably too elementary for you, but the app could be a quick reference to make sure BS doesn't change according to some particular rule change.
- Flash cards. This quizzes you on scenarios from the basic strategy table. It uses the Leitner system to focus on scenarios that you have trouble with. Again, if you're a blackjack expert, this feature will be fairly useless to you, but maybe you could point friends and family to it if they're looking for a training method.
- House advantage. I came up with a way to calculate the house advantage for any given set of rules that gives you 4+ digits of accuracy and it only takes about ~10 seconds to run on an iPhone. (Assuming basic strategy and continuous shuffle.) I must have spent a week debugging this feature and confirming its accuracy and I'm pretty proud of it. To get a similar level of accuracy I think it would take several minutes of Monte Carlo simulation (at least!).
- Session simulator. This is a feature where you enter an initial buy-in, a bet amount, and a number of hands, and then it runs simulations where you bet the same amount on every hand and play basic strategy and it gives you probabilities of various things happening. Namely, doubling your money, busting, and finishing the session ahead. I had the idea for this after a couple quick sessions of buying in with $100, betting $10 per hand, and losing all of my money very quickly. Seemed very unlikely but according to my session simulator feature, the odds of that happening are around 21.5% assuming favorable rules.
- Hand analyzer. This lets you type in a scenario (e.g., pair of 8s vs. an ace) and it calculates and shows you EVs for every possible action. It also lets you enter high-low counts and shows you EVs accordingly. So you can use it to confirm where strategy changes according to count. (And how important it is to follow those strategy changes.)
Anyway, that's the new app. I know there are already a bunch of blackjack books, software programs, apps, etc. out there but this is another one and if it sounds interesting to you then I hope you download it and get some good use out of it. I'm also open to suggestions and feedback about it so let me know. Thanks!
Quote: unJonCouldn’t you also cheaply create an LLC and contribute Blackjack X?
That's not completely clear. Reports vary from other developers. It's unclear if an LLC can distribute gambling apps or if it has to be an S-Corp or a C-Corp (the latter two of which are enormously complicated to set up and maintain). Some people are saying that the corporation has to have some kind of special legal permission for doing business related to gambling. I'm not sure. But the unfortunate fact is that I wasn't making enough money with Blackjack X to make it worthwhile to go to the cost and [recurring, perpetual] trouble of setting up and maintaining an LLC (including setting up a new bank account for the LLC, etc. etc.).
Since there are already a lot of blackjack games out there, many of which are free, maybe this is a good thing for me. I think there might have been some confusion with Blackjack X about whether it was supposed to be a game, or a reference tool, or both, or what. With Blackjack Shark, its purpose should be more clear.
Quote: motrek<snip>- Hand analyzer. This lets you type in a scenario (e.g., pair of 8s vs. an ace) and it calculates and shows you EVs for every possible action. It also lets you enter high-low counts and shows you EVs accordingly. So you can use it to confirm where strategy changes according to count. (And how important it is to follow those strategy changes.)<snip>
motrek,
How does your app calculate the various EV's at a particular HiLo TC? To use your example, how does the app know (or find?) the Split EV for 8-8 vs. A when the HiLo TC is, say, -3 or +5?
Dog Hand
Quote: motrekThat's not completely clear. Reports vary from other developers. It's unclear if an LLC can distribute gambling apps or if it has to be an S-Corp or a C-Corp (the latter two of which are enormously complicated to set up and maintain). Some people are saying that the corporation has to have some kind of special legal permission for doing business related to gambling. I'm not sure. But the unfortunate fact is that I wasn't making enough money with Blackjack X to make it worthwhile to go to the cost and [recurring, perpetual] trouble of setting up and maintaining an LLC (including setting up a new bank account for the LLC, etc. etc.).
Since there are already a lot of blackjack games out there, many of which are free, maybe this is a good thing for me. I think there might have been some confusion with Blackjack X about whether it was supposed to be a game, or a reference tool, or both, or what. With Blackjack Shark, its purpose should be more clear.
Look again at an S-corp. It's really very simple and straightforward. Doesn't cost that much. Even if you use a business lawyer, as I did, you can form one for less than $5k, and then a couple hundred a year to maintain it.
Quote: DogHand...
How does your app calculate the various EV's at a particular HiLo TC? To use your example, how does the app know (or find?) the Split EV for 8-8 vs. A when the HiLo TC is, say, -3 or +5?
...
It does Monte Carlo simulation (i.e., it plays out the scenario hundreds of thousands of times and averages the results) and before each simulated hand, it randomly removes the appropriate cards from the virtual deck in order to hit the desired high-low count.
The screen that shows the EVs refreshes every 0.25 seconds and the calculation runs for 10 seconds, so you can watch the EVs converge. The EVs are accurate to ~0.02 almost instantly and after 2-3 seconds they're accurate enough to confirm close decisions, like the Illustrious 18.
For fresh deck and infinite deck EVs, I use an analytical engine that can calculate exact EVs almost instantly by summing outcomes and probabilities. Unfortunately I can't do this when you specify a count though because there are so many different possible initial states.
Quote: beachbumbabs...
Look again at an S-corp. It's really very simple and straightforward. Doesn't cost that much. Even if you use a business lawyer, as I did, you can form one for less than $5k, and then a couple hundred a year to maintain it.
Sadly I think I've made less than $2000 from Blackjack X over the years so starting an S-Corp to sell it is still cost-prohibitive. I was hoping the app would be more successful but it seems I overestimated demand. At this point I'm just working to keep the app in the App Store because I spent maybe 3 months of my life working on the core algorithms and I think it'd be a shame if they weren't accessible to the public.
