TXtourplayer said:
1. Allow doubling down for less. After splits also.
2. Allow insurance for less.
3. Have the dealer flip blackjack up immediately when a 10
is showing.
These are the few things that make a strategic difference
in tournament play.
Well, as I've told you already, I think there are more important features to implement first. For instance, many players have asked to remove the "New Game" button so that the next round shows automatically. This is something you need each round, whereas double or insurance for any amount will be needed once in ages. So far we offer double for less with the whole remaining balance which IMHO covers most cases. Insurance for less is actually already implemented, I will switch it on for the today's or next week's tournament, as soon as it is sufficiently tested. The problem with double/insurance for any given amount is that it requires quite some changes in the casino client, so as long as there are features which are more important, I prefer to postpone that.
Having the dealer flip his blackjack immediately actually does not give you any strategic difference, the outcome is exactly the same, only in case the dealer has a blackjack it seems to make the game go faster. Well, this is not the case - no matter if the dealer has a blackjack or not, we'd have to ask all players in turn if they want an insurance and only then they would be able to make their moves. If the dealer's upcard is an Ace, the probability that he's got a blackjack is less than 4/12, so in 2/3 rounds the game would be slowed down by an unnecessary insurance round and 1/3 would go slightly faster. I'm working on speeding up the pace of the game where players would be allowed to make their moves ahead, if the play is obvious, the move would of course be shown only when it's this player's turn. Once we have that, I will reconsider this extra insurance round because the overhead will be smaller.
Some other features that are frequently needed are buttons "Bet Max" to bet the table maximum or all remaining chips and "Bet Min" to bet the table minimum. I'm also working on automated play, e.g. when you are in round 7 of 15 and the door bell rings: currently you will be thrown out when you miss three consecutive rounds. Instead, you could press an "Away" button which tells the dealer that you will not play but you are still there, so he would play for you without waiting until you come back. Again, this seems to me a quite important feature to have. If it is not the case, I'll be happy to hear what you people consider important for a better game. (UBT style perhaps?)