Settings - Speeds/Biases
Click on one of the ten tabs at the top of the screen for different folders containing sets of option settings. If you have difficulty finding an option, press the Locator button. This screen is entered from menu OPTIONS - SETTINGS and contains game speeds and deck bias parameters as follows:
Speeds
Default speeds are set fairly slow irrespective of the Speed of the PC model that you have. You can change the speeds as follows:
Ø Dealer - This option sets the speed at which the dealer deals cards.
Ø Players - This option sets the speed at which the other plays bet and make decisions.
Ø Bet/Insure - With this option, you can set the amount of time that you have to make an insurance or Bust Out decision. Also, if the "Dealer doesn't wait for bet" option is set, the amount of time that you have to bet before the deal starts. This is not a fixed speed, but is extended if you are moving your chips with the mouse. The movement of chips back to the chip box also is affected by this setting.
Ø Payoffs - This option sets the speed at which the dealer resolves bets.
Ø Animation - Controls the speed of dealer card and chip animation.
Ø Randomize player Speed - This option causes the computer players' speed to vary. In CV version 3, the speeds constantly changed. In version 4, each player is assigned a different random speed. But, occasionally a player is replaced by another player with a different speed. This more closely mimics actual casino play and can be very distracting as it interferes with your rhythm. .
Ø Animate Cards - When this option is set, the dealer card movements are animated. This option is only supported when the dealer is at the top of the screen.
Ø Animate Chips - When this option is set, the chip movements are animated. This gives a better idea of the flow of money.
Deck Bias
Drills are very useful for practicing one aspect of BJ at a time. The game is good for practicing all aspects at once. The problem is that random play does not present you with difficult situations very often. Most of your time is wasted playing easy hands. The point of these options is to make better use of your practice time. The Bias options can be used to greatly increase the difficulty of play by forcing more difficult situations as follows:
Ø No Bias - Cards are dealt randomly.
Ø Positive Counts - When set, the dealer will deal more cards with positive counts early in the shoe. This forces a counter to count high counts and then to count positive numbers downward in the second half of the shoe.
Ø Negative Counts - When set, the dealer will deal more cards with negative counts early in the shoe. This forces a counter to count large negative numbers and then to count negative numbers upward in the second half of the shoe.
Ø Many Card Hands - When set, the dealer will deal more small cards forcing you to count both the hand value and card count at the same time. Many people find this difficult.
Ø Repeat Errors - If this option is set, playing errors will be tracked and the dealer is more likely to deal hands that you have not handled correctly in the past.
Ø Difficult Hands - When set, the dealer increases the number of hands with close decisions.
Ø Randomize Bias - Set this option and the bias will be randomly switched to one of the five above. This will give you a real workout.
Ø Bias Level - The farther to the right, the greater the bias level. That is, the more biased the dealing.
Ø Switch Point - Used only for Positive and Negative Count biases, this is the percentage of the deck dealt where the bias ends. If you have set Positive Count bias and this is set to 50%, the positive bias will be active only for the first half of the shoe. After that, the remaining cards will be dealt without a bias - but they will be mostly negative.
