Set the rules. Record the cards. Read the calculation.
This guide explains the controls already available in OddsOfBlackjack. You can read it without an account. Using the application requires an approved account and active access. Free trial requests are reviewed manually; no card is required.
Open the application after your access has been activated. In “Select your game”, choose the number of decks and the rules that match the game you want to examine. Check the dealer rule, hole-card procedure, doubling, splitting, surrender and blackjack payout before selecting “Start with these rules”. Each setting is explained in Blackjack Rules Explained.
Under “Bankroll management”, choose Graduated or Selective. Selective is the default when no preference has been saved. These are two different rules for the suggested initial bet, not two versions of the action-EV model.
Use “CHANGE GAME” to return to these settings. A bet-policy-only change applies from the next hand if a hand is already in progress. Applying game rules resets the recorded shoe, count and current hand; read the confirmation before continuing.
Enter the balance you want to use in “Balance”, then confirm it with the checkmark or Enter. Check the confirmed value before recording the next hand.
“Start Balance” and “Starting Bet Size” belong to the session record. Filling those fields does not confirm the balance used for the suggested bet.
Before a round starts, the display shows “Suggested bet”. Once the first recorded card of that round is accepted, the bet guidance is fixed and shown as “Bet this hand”. This also applies when that first card is entered under “Other Cards”. Changing the policy or confirmed balance during the round affects the next round, not the bet already fixed for this one.
If you are first recording cards exposed earlier in the shoe, enter them under “Other Cards”, then use “CLEAR HAND” to end that recorded round while keeping the shoe composition. Check the balance and suggested bet before starting the next hand.
Choose the destination before pressing a rank:
Use the 10 button for 10, J, Q and K; use A for an ace. Do not enter the same physical card in two places. A card entered in your hand or the dealer hand has already been counted as exposed.
Do not guess hidden cards, unseen burns or future cards. OOB tracks the composition you have recorded. Missing or incorrect inputs mean it may not match the physical shoe.
Wait until the current calculation has finished. “Updating…” or an ellipsis is not a completed recommendation.
The “Action EV” panel compares the available actions for the active hand. “Highest-EV” identifies the action with the highest calculated EV under OOB’s published model and the inputs you recorded. The highest value can still be negative. An action marked “Unavailable” is not a zero-EV action.
Action EVs are displayed relative to the original bet, including the additional stakes involved in doubling or splitting. The choice is made from the unrounded values, not only the displayed decimals.
The separate “Expected Value (EV)” percentage is the pre-bet estimate. “High-Low Card Counting” is a reference count. Neither is the realised result of a hand, and the count alone does not describe the full recorded composition.
For the concepts behind these displays, read Expected Value and True Count vs Exact Composition. For the assumptions and limits, read Methodology.
Graduated and Selective can suggest different initial bets for the same pre-bet estimate. The suggested amount uses the confirmed balance and the selected bet rule. It is not a deposit, an automatic wager or a personalised assessment of what you can afford to lose.
Graduated vs Selective explains the steps of each rule, how the unit is set and when the bet is fixed for the round.
The fixed initial bet is not a cap on the total stake of a hand: doubling and splitting can require additional money. OOB does not place bets for you. You remain responsible for your decisions and the money you risk.
The published fixed-unit simulations do not establish the risk of resizing bets from your balance. The Risk of Ruin and Variance pages explain those concepts; the application does not provide those estimates.
Use “UNDO” to reverse the last recorded card where available. Check the cards, destination and active hand after the change. Do not treat UNDO as a way to restore a cleared hand, a previous shoe or a reset session.
If an action is refused, read the message before trying again. If a connection problem leaves you unsure whether a card was recorded, check the displayed cards and last action first. Repeated clicks can record a card more than once.
When split-hand controls are available, select “Hand One”, “Hand Two” or the additional hand allowed by the configured rules. Check the hand label in the Action EV panel before reading its values.
The original pair cards are already assigned to the split hands. Do not record them again. Record only the additional exposed cards in the correct hand.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| CLEAR HAND | Clears the current player and dealer hands and split-hand state. Cards already recorded remain removed from the shoe; the count is not reset. Use it between hands, not to restore dealt cards. |
| NEW SHOE | Resets the recorded shoe, hands and count for a new full shoe. It is not the normal end-of-hand control. |
| New Session | Starts a new session and resets the live game state. Recheck the game rules and number of decks before continuing. |
To save the completed session record, fill in both “Start Balance” and “End Balance” before selecting “New Session”. “Starting Bet Size” is a session-record field. The Account history contains the recorded session details and the difference between the entered balances; it is not an independently verified casino statement or an automatic record of every hand.
Read Penetration for the distinction between cards already exposed and the remaining shoe.
This is an illustrative input exercise, not a separate practice mode and not a request to play for money. Do not reset a session you want to keep just to follow it.
When you are ready to use a fresh session:
This guide deliberately gives no expected numeric EV or prescribed action for that exercise: the result depends on the selected rules and the recorded state. Read the displayed result and its limits rather than copying a value from a tutorial.
You have completed a useful first walkthrough when you can answer yes to these questions:
This is a learning checklist, not a pass/fail assessment, a profit target or an automatic tracking event.
The Proof Hub separates published states, internal comparisons and simulations. Each has its own scope. These are not independent validation or a guarantee of future results.
Use Reproducible States to inspect published examples, and Same True Count / Different Shoe to examine why the count is not the whole state. The One Million Cards comparison uses fixed units and separate simulated tracks; it is not a balance-based risk forecast.
The Validation Register records findings and open limits, including the incomplete pre-bet audit. A useful first session means understanding the controls and the calculation shown — not proving that a strategy will win.
Request a free trial, then follow this guide after your access is approved. No card required. Access is activated manually after review.
Need help with a control or a recorded state? Contact Support. Do not send passwords, payment-card details or private identification documents.