Mantaraya's cheating at blackjack tutorial

[Wheelsim]

Thanks for the guide! Major rep for that!

[Maximvs]

This is a very impressive guide - and I'll be sure to test it out Thanks for doing the work and hope your research continues...

[League]

I tend to lose alot at a blackjack table, so they're of the essence to avoid for me. However, I'm sitting on a 4000 or so buildup with my test pirate from playing poker for about 25 minutes or so over two days.

I find it faster than plunder, less risky than blackjack (as a bust doesn't equal a bust), and funner.

[Bartholomew Foulsteel]

What an EXCELLENT guide! Just last night from following your tipsI went from 4100 gp to over 9000 gp!

Peoples, if you play Blackjack without cheating you are TOTALLY missing the boat, arrr!

I have linked to this thread on my guild website--props to you, Mantaraya, and the next mug o' grog is on me!

[Tab1975]

YOU....YOUUUUUUUUU....are awesome.

I was wondering where I was gonna get more cheater cards....

[Jibby]

I love this guide. 2 days ago I level'd sailing to 15, so now I must get some gold. Not to mention my cheat card deck includes 44 cards, including 8 Ace o' Spades. I have way too many aces.

[Basil Sunsilver]

Brilliant guide. Thanks a bunch!

[League]

I've never made a successful swap in blackjack actually though. It just never switched. Stands to reason anyway, as your cards are supposed to be visible I'd think, to be known as soon as you bust or what you have to be surpassed by.

[sammyh]

oh. THATS how. i need my frigate. ill try that tomorrow. ill post here if i win anything.

[Mantaraya]

Update (because pirates like to brag):

When I wrote this tutorial, I had my war frigate and my war sloop, but I didn't have my war galleon yet. So I kept track, and it turns out that of the 40,000 I needed for the war galleon, about 15,000 gold came from plundering, and the rest of the 25,000 came from cheating at blackjack. Not only that, but I had a bit of a lucky streak, and ended up with an extra bonus 7,000 gold when I went back to use the rest of the cheat cards. I only used about 25 cheat cards (for about 32,000 gold, over three different blackjack sessions), so I was averaging more than 1,000 gold per cheat card. However, a lot of that was just getting lucky hands where I didn't have to cheat (I hit blackjack a few times), and the dealer seemed to bust a bit more often than usual. I don't think you'll always have results this good when you cheat well, I know I haven't always done that well, but you can still earn a lot of gold.

But that's why we cheat at blackjack, so we win when we have a bad hand, not just when we get lucky.

Mantaraya

Edit: Well, it's a day later (after I wrote the stuff above). I gathered up 10 cheat cards and 2,600 gold, and went to Padres to get some gold. I lost it all. Dealer got 21 four times in a row (definitely a cheater!) With zero gold, I guess it's back to plundering! If you can't bet, you can't cheat! Arrrrr!

[Dr. Zeppers]

Following my own formula (very similar to this), which I tuned a little bit having read this great guide. I have easily bumped my 30+ level pirates to the 65k max level gold. With full fleets, ammo bags etc. Went from 25k to 65k in a little over an hour on each pirate.

Found when you cheat, that if you click "Leave" BEFORE you click "Stay", leave the box confirming your leaving up on the screen without confirming Yes or NO. You can now still click "Stay", watch dealers cards, if your cheat card pops up click "Yes" to leave the table immediately. if your fast enough you wont be caught cheating. 50% of those times, you'll still win, and get the gold anyways.

[Mantaraya]

Originally Posted by OFxZeppers

Following my own formula (very similar to this), which I tuned a little bit having read this great guide. I have easily bumped my 30+ level pirates to the 65k max level gold. With full fleets, ammo bags etc. Went from 25k to 65k in a little over an hour on each pirate.

Found when you cheat, that if you click "Leave" BEFORE you click "Stay", leave the box confirming your leaving up on the screen without confirming Yes or NO. You can now still click "Stay", watch dealers cards, if your cheat card pops up click "Yes" to leave the table immediately. if your fast enough you wont be caught cheating. 50% of those times, you'll still win, and get the gold anyways.

Hey Zep,

What screen resolution do you use? I'm running it in windowed mode at 1200x1060 (I think that's the number), and the "confirmation box" blocks my view of my cards.

Yeah, I guess I already know what card I used, and I only have to watch the dealer's hand for that card, but it seems like it takes some practice. It was a little disconcerting at first, and I ran out of cheat cards before I really felt comfortable using this method, but I bet it works great with some practice.

When you double down, there is no "stay," so I suppose you have to be quick on the draw to "leave."

I'll keep at it.

Mantaraya

PS - I developed two new tips today for the Blackjack guide that I will integrate (when I add your tip into the guide too).

The first is that I recommend you have at least 4,000 gold before you start cheating, just in case you're unlucky and start with a losing streak. I've gone in with less than 3,000 a couple of times and lost it all because I couldn't absorb an initial losing streak. Lose two 495 double-downs in a row and you've lost 1,980 in gold.

The second is that sometimes a pirate ends up with a lot of extra 2s and 3s in their cheat cards. Instead of waiting for the perfect hand (an 8 or 9) to use them in blackjack (you could lose a lot of gold to that cheating dealer waiting for the "perfect opportunity" to cheat), just take all your 2s and 3s over to the poker table and cheat with them there. I averaged about 250 gold per cheat card today with nothing but about twenty 2s and 3s. Because the NPCs tend to fold if you bet on the first round, if they have bad cards, starting EVERY hand with a "raise to 40" encourages all the NPCs holding 2s or 3s in their hands to fold. I only got caught cheating once. So the new tip is Take your leftover 2s and 3s to the poker table and cheat with them there.

[Dr. Zeppers]

Originally Posted by Mantaraya

Hey Zep,

What screen resolution do you use? I'm running it in windowed mode at 1200x1060 (I think that's the number), and the "confirmation box" blocks my view of my cards.

Didnt think about that, flat screens running 1680x1050, I dont recall 100% it may have covered my cards, and the AIs cards. Should work though as long as you know what your looking for (what you cheated with) and if you can see the dealers cards.

Originally Posted by Mantaraya

Yeah, I guess I already know what card I used, and I only have to watch the dealer's hand for that card, but it seems like it takes some practice. It was a little disconcerting at first, and I ran out of cheat cards before I really felt comfortable using this method, but I bet it works great with some practice.

Ya, well it did for me, hehe. Got caught alot less for cheating, matter of fact, a funny note... was that I noticed alot of the times sitting back down, the dealer got blackjack on the hand immediately after (which I missed when because I stood up).

Originally Posted by Mantaraya

When you double down, there is no "stay," so I suppose you have to be quick on the draw to "leave."

Yes, you can probably pull up the leave screen before clicking double down though. Cannot immediately recall. I do remember there were some instances you had to just be fast.

Originally Posted by Mantaraya

PS - I developed two new tips today for the Blackjack guide that I will integrate (when I add your tip into the guide too).

The first is that I recommend you have at least 4,000 gold before you start cheating, just in case you're unlucky and start with a losing streak. I've gone in with less than 3,000 a couple of times and lost it all because I couldn't absorb an initial losing streak. Lose two 495 double-downs in a row and you've lost 1,980 in gold.

Totally agree on this one, I think this is where people think 'it doesnt work'. The old phrase... you gotta have money to make money comes to mind.

Originally Posted by Mantaraya

The second is that sometimes a pirate ends up with a lot of extra 2s and 3s in their cheat cards. Instead of waiting for the perfect hand (an 8 or 9) to use them in blackjack (you could lose a lot of gold to that cheating dealer waiting for the "perfect opportunity" to cheat), just take all your 2s and 3s over to the poker table and cheat with them there. I averaged about 250 gold per cheat card today with nothing but about twenty 2s and 3s. Because the NPCs tend to fold if you bet on the first round, if they have bad cards, starting EVERY hand with a "raise to 40" encourages all the NPCs holding 2s or 3s in their hands to fold. I only got caught cheating once. So the new tip is Take your leftover 2s and 3s to the poker table and cheat with them there.

This one i'll pass on, I just dont like those poker tables, but thats a personal preference. The strategy appears sound. I am pretty good at tucking those small cards into a blackjack hand and stretching them, but its not as easy, or as sure a win. hehe

[Ironhawk]

We can also use Esc to leave the table immediately.
After using cheat card i usually ready my finger on Esc key
but still got caught sometimes
Btw, great guide Mantaray!

[MacIronhawk]

Originally Posted by Ironhawk

We can also use Esc to leave the table immediately.
After using cheat card i usually ready my finger on Esc key
but still got caught sometimes
Btw, great guide Mantaray!

Yeah great guide!
Also I see that if you use a cheat card and win you usually never get caught.(at least for me)