It seems that nowadays, if you’ve got the cash (or the programming skills), you can automate ... more]]> The Automatic Revolution

It seems that nowadays, if you’ve got the cash (or the programming skills), you can automate almost any part of your life. Your coffee machine can make your cup of joe, automatically, at 6 AM every morning. The lights in your house will switch on to the sound of two claps. Spell Check makes sure your writing is flawless. The age of automation has shoved manual labour into the back seat, enabling those who are so inclined to live lives totally free of mundane and repetitive tasks. Why do something yourself, when a computer can do it for you?

If a task is structured simply enough—that is to say, if it is governed by a set of rules, and free of variation—it can be automated. Apply this to many of the most popular casino card games. Their structures surely fit the automation-friendly criteria, and this is especially so the case of blackjack. Sure, there are some variables involved in the game that aren’t static. For the most part though, a blackjack player can maximize his expectation by following a simple set of instructions.

All of us on this site know, or at least have heard of, basic strategy. Play by the rules, and you can minimize the house edge almost to the point of profitability. Basic strategy is, put bluntly, a set of rules.

“Hey, a set of rules!” you say.

Yes, a set of rules. Have you been following me so far? If so, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking now: “Why not program a software application that plays perfect basic strategy, and use it for blackjack cheating?”

Good idea. So good, in fact, that there already many blackjack ‘bots’ available that do exactly that. It’s never been easier to become a blackjack cheat—all you need is some software.

The Art of the Bot

A good blackjack bot works just like the brain of a good blackjack player. It takes a player’s cards as input, plugs the cards into the basic strategy matrix, and decides how to play them most profitably. A good blackjack bot will know exactly when to hit, when to split, and when to double. A good blackjack bot will make decisions completely free of error. Theoretically, if you find a good blackjack bot, you can simply turn it on and go to bed—it will make money for you while you sleep.

A good blackjack bot will take each online casino’s game structure into account. You can input the number of decks used, the dealer’s hit/stand parameters, and your bet amounts. The bot will then adjust its basic strategy to maximize profit given the type of game you’re playing. Basically put, the best blackjack bots available will play absolutely perfect blackjack. Running one is an exercise in finely-tuned blackjack cheating.

These bots exist, and they work. That guy you know down the street who makes $30 an hour playing cards online—yeah, he probably runs a bot. After all, if it can be automated, why not? Lots of players have figured it out already—being a blackjack cheat is easy with the help of a bot.

Can a Bot Beat the House?

No. A bot will not give you an edge over the house. Playing perfect basic strategy will reduce the house edge to about 0.5%, meaning, in the long run, you’ll still be gambling at a disadvantage. All things considered, this is a pretty good result. Certainly, it’s better than most human players can manage. You see, the problem with us humans is that we’re never consistently rational. We all get tired and make mistakes. We all have one too many drinks every now and then, and make some hazy decisions. We all get stressed out over bad beats, and try to chase our losses. Because of our human qualities, we give up a whole bunch of our edge to the house.

The great thing about blackjack bots is that they’re everything us humans are not—they are totally rational, all the time. They don’t drink wine on Saturday nights. They don’t get stressed out. They just make perfect decisions, repeatedly and endlessly. They turn blackjack cheating into a finely-tuned system.

“Okay, but still… The bot will lose to the house over time… So, what’s the point?” you ask.

Good question. Let’s investigate.

Bonus Hunting

Playing blackjack in a live casino environment has its advantages. It gives skilled players the opportunity to count cards, for instance. This in itself can give a player an edge over the house. However as we all know, playing online is much different from playing live. Blackjack cheating is somewhat limited online. Card counting software does exist, but mostly, it sucks. There is no reliable way to get an edge on an online casino simply by playing the game.

There is, however, a way to profit from online blackjack cheating. Indeed, it involves playing with a blackjack bot.

“But you said blackjack bots will still leave the house with a 0.05% edge! What are you going on about,” you say.

Here’s where it gets interesting. A 0.05% edge is tiny. If there was a way for you to get, oh, let’s say, some free money from a casino just for playing cards, you’d easily be able to make up for the negative expectation.

“Pfffh… What kind of casino is going to give a card player free money?” you ask.

The answer: almost every single one. Pretty much every casino online offers first-time players first deposit bonuses. Most will match your deposit 1-for-1; this means that for every dollar you deposit, the casino will award you a dollar in bonus cash, just for signing up and playing.

“Why on earth would they do that? That makes no sense!” you say.

Think about this for a second—casinos expect you to lose. They know that, for example, they have a 0.05% edge against even the best online blackjack player out there. They believe that they’ll always win in the long run, and usually, they’re right. After all, online blackjack players are human—they never play a perfect game! Using this line of thinking, online casinos have an incentive to give out bonuses. Bonuses are added value to the player, and in the eyes of the casinos, the player never wins. Bonus money is money that the player will never see. Why not hand it out?

Here’s where your edge comes in. Using a blackjack cheating program like a bot (a good one that plays perfect strategy) can easily make you a profit, when deposit bonuses are accounted for. Again, a 0.05% edge is very small—you’ll lose about $0.05 for every dollar wagered playing without a bonus to clear. However, when the bonus you’re offered matches your deposit dollar for dollar, your expectation soars. You can expect to win a hefty sum of cash, simply by letting a bot play perfect strategy for you.

Good Bot vs. Bad Bot

The edge that you can potentially gain by hunting bonuses does have a negative side. While if you use a good blackjack bot you’ll surely profit from bonus hunting, using a bad ’scam’ bot can be disastrous for your bankroll. Blackjack cheating has its dark side—some blackjack bots are designed to cheat you from your money!

“A scam bot? Why would anyone make one of those?” you ask.

Well, it’s easiest to understand when you keep this in mind: blackjack, and casino gaming in general, is an industry. Everyone and their mothers are trying to get you to sign up for a casino account, and you can bet they all have an incentive to do so. Gambling affiliates are a main source of clients for casinos and poker rooms. An affiliate’s job is to get players to casinos, and to have sign them up to gamble. In exchange for sending traffic to casinos, affiliates get a cut of their referred players’ profit (rake or losses).

Affiliates come in all shapes and forms—some operate strategy sites complemented by banner ads. Some operate bonus sites that link to their affiliate accounts. Some shamelessly send you spam email, 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. You can be sure that there is an army of affiliates out there in cyberspace creatively thinking of ways to refer you, the blackjack player, to an online casino, in exchange for a cut from the casino’s profits.

In context of blackjack bots, it seems that there might be an incentive for affiliates to develop bots with hopes of referring players to their casinos of choice. It happens all the time. The general pattern is as follows: the affiliate pays a third-rate programmer to develop a shoddily planned bot, and makes sure the bot only works with casino sites they promote. This forces the player to download casino programs through the affiliate’s link, and in turn, guarantees the affiliate will get a cut of the player’s generated profit for the casino site.

The point here is that in the case of affiliate bots, quality strategy comes secondary, while profit for the affiliate comes first. Scam bots don’t play proper blackjack at all—often, they won’t even be able to adjust to different game structures. Profitable blackjack cheating using a bad bot is impossible.

Furthermore, think about it in these terms: an affiliate’s goal is to make as much money off of his players as possible. What better way to do so than to program a blackjack bot that plays crappy blackjack? These bots are a scam and a half, and they’re all over the internet. In your search for a method of blackjack cheating that works, you could end up getting taken for a ride.

How To Identify a Scam Bot

It’s relatively easy to identify scam bots. Often, they’re offered for download on an affiliate site. If you notice text on a page, beside a download for a blackjack bot, beckoning you to “click here now for best blackjack bonus!” or to “sign up now to get casino money!” you should probably run away, and fast. Clearly, these sites are all about getting you to sign up, and lose your cash. Can you really trust a bot from a site like that?

Another key indicator of a scam bot is one advertised as a free download. Don’t get me wrong—there are some free bots out there that are safe to use. However most of them are simply scams aimed at parting you from your money. Think about it—why would anyone offer you free software out of the blue? Either they are extremely generous, or they have ulterior motives… Affiliates pay to have these bots developed, and they clearly expect to make their money back through their casino commissions. They’re banking on their players to lose, and they’re pretty much ensuring the outcome by developing blackjack bots that don’t really work.

Affiliates have no incentive to help you with your blackjack cheating. Make sure you keep an eye out for bad bots when you’re searching for effective blackjack cheats.

Automate—But carefully!

To summarize, it’s entirely possible to craft a blackjack bot that plays perfect cards. There are even a few of them already developed. However, these bots will not give you a natural edge over the house—they’ll simply minimize your losses, leaving the house with a 0.05% edge, which is as minimal as it gets. Blackjack cheating is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but it can make you steady money over time.

You can definitely use these bots to turn a huge profit, by combining their perfect play with your own bonus hunting strategy. Most online casinos will match your initial deposit bonus at a ratio of 1:1 or greater, which gives you an opportunity to make lots of cash. Online blackjack cheating is profitable because of these bonuses, not because of some ‘magic bullet’ program that rakes in the dough.

Although these bots are indeed possible to make, there are lots of them floating around that simply don’t work. In fact, a few of them are designed to make you lose faster than you normally would—they increase the house’s edge. Following the guidelines above, you should be able to identify and avoid these scam bots with relative ease.