Multiplayer: bots always play textbook basic strategy (no splitting, surrender, or insurance) and never wager — they're there purely to fill seats and consume the shoe realistically. When enabled, choosing a fresh shoe first asks how many bots to seat and where you'd like to sit before the cut-card prompt.
Double Down Madness: you start with just one card, can hit or double repeatedly in any order (doubling doesn't end your turn), no splitting — but if your first card is an ace, you get exactly one more card no matter what. Dealer busting on exactly 22 pushes your bets instead of paying them. Free Bet Blackjack: doubles on hard 9/10/11 and splits (except tens) cost nothing extra — in exchange, any dealer bust on exactly 22 pushes your remaining hands instead of paying them. Side bet paytables are common versions — casinos vary.
Set up the table
Choose how many bot players join you — they always play textbook basic strategy and never bet, they just fill seats and work through the shoe like a real table.
Bots at the table
Your seat
Table manners
The strategy matters, but so does not looking like a first-timer. A few real-table habits worth knowing.
Use hand signals along with talking — tap the felt for hit, wave your hand for stand. Dealers rely on the gesture, not just the word.
Once your cards are dealt face up, don't touch them. The dealer moves everything; you only touch chips.
Chips go in the betting circle in front of you — never handed straight to the dealer.
Tipping the dealer (called a "toke") is optional, but common after a win.
Keep drinks and phones off the felt — most dealers will ask you to move them.
Fresh shoe — place the cut card
Move across the back half of the deck to preview, then tap to place it. Once that many cards are dealt, the shoe reshuffles after the current hand.
Dealer
Your hand is below, the dealer's is above — get closer to 21 without going over.
Hidden until the end — that's normal.
Table
You
You're out of chips. This is a free practice table — reset your bankroll to keep going.
Main bet
These are your chips — pick an amount, then hit Deal to start.
Not sure what to do? The chart below always has the right play.
Cards seen this shoe
Session stats
Recent hands
Strategy chart
HitStandDoubleSplitSurrenderCount-based deviation
Play a hand to see your current decision highlighted here.
This is baseline basic strategy for a dealer-stands-on-soft-17 game, checked against the standard S17 table. The insurance, hard 16 vs 10, and hard 15 vs 10 count-based deviations called out live are among the highest-value entries in Don Schlesinger's published "Illustrious 18" (Blackjack Attack). The pair-of-tens-vs-10 double at +6 is a more niche play included for completeness, not one of the core 18.
For education only — a free practice table, not real-money gambling.