On iPhone, use Share, then Add to Home Screen. It stays on the phone without an app store.
How a hand works
Blackjack is a race to 21. You and the dealer each get cards. The higher total wins, if it is 21 or less. Go over 21 and that hand loses.
Number cards count as their number. Jack, queen, and king count as 10. An ace counts as 11, or as 1 when 11 would go over 21.
You get two cards face up. The dealer gets one face up and one face down. You decide first.
- Hit takes another card.
- Stand stops. Then the dealer plays.
- Double, on your first two cards, doubles the bet and takes exactly one card.
- Split, when those two cards match, makes two hands and a second bet. Practice allows one split. You play each hand.
The dealer has no choice. They take cards until the total is 17 or more, then stand. In the gear you can switch that so a soft 17, a total of 17 that still counts an ace as 11, takes another card.
If the dealer’s upcard is an ace or a ten, they look at the hole card. An ace and a ten there is a blackjack, and the hand ends. Your own ace and ten on the first two cards is a blackjack too. It pays 3 to 2, so a $10 bet wins $15. The same total as the dealer gives the bet back. That is a push.
This table does not offer insurance or surrender. The other hands are not opponents. They only take cards out of the shoe.
Running count and true count
Low cards 2 through 6 are +1. Sevens, eights, and nines are 0. Tens and aces are −1. Add them as you see them. That total is the running count.
True count is the running count divided by the decks still in the shoe. A +6 with two decks left is a true count of +3. The number that matters for the bet is the true count, not the raw total.
Hide the numbers, say the count, then check it. The answer stays on the server until you ask. The cards stay in shuffled order, the way a shoe is dealt.
Words on this page
- Shoe
- The stack of cards being dealt. A 6-deck shoe has six of every card.
- Upcard
- The dealer’s card that is face up when you decide.
- Hard hand
- A total with no ace counted as 11. A 10 and a 6 is a hard 16.
- Soft hand
- A total with an ace counted as 11. An ace and a 7 is a soft 18.
- Running count
- The +1 / 0 / −1 total since the last shuffle.
- True count
- The running count divided by the decks still in the shoe.
- Unit
- Your normal bet. In practice that is $10.
- Sample bet
- You choose the next bet: $10, $20, $40, or $80. After you reveal the count, the app says whether to raise or lower it.
- Push
- You and the dealer have the same total. Your bet comes back.
- Blackjack
- An ace and a ten on the first two cards. It pays 3 to 2, so a $10 bet wins $15.
What to buy, when you want paper
The chart in this app is the same math as a printed card. The PDF and the pocket card are for the table, where a phone is a bad idea. Links go live once the checkout URLs are pasted into config.js.
You set the next bet yourself: $10, $20, $40, or $80. When you reveal the count, the app says whether to raise or lower it. The sample stays at $10 until the true count reaches +2, then 2 times $10, 4 times at +3, and 8 times at +4 or higher. That is one common way people bet. It does not mean the shoe will pay you. The paid guide explains the few hands where a very high or very low count changes the chart itself.