When it comes to casino blackjack, our idea of counting cards is remembering what eight and seven add up to after the second complimentary Scotch. We're surprised QFIT's online Web game Casino Vérité Blackjack didn't laugh at us when we fired it up. This is serious blackjack.
Casino Vérité's depth of options more than 500 casinos, almost 900 sets of house rules, and 373 playing variations make the game almost identical to real-world play. This is not mere entertainment software, it's a practice tool for hard-nosed card sharks.
First, you pick your casino. Want to play in Vegas? A map of the town will display all the casinos. Click on the one you want. We opt for someplace more exotic the Imperial in Budapest. It may not look a whole lot different from the MGM Grand, but now we're playing by the Imperial's house rules. We select a table layout and take a seat.
Putting on our best steely-eyed glints, we choose a strategy for following the card game. All the main ones are supported. You can even modify those they give you, if you're feeling particularly cocky.
In less than an hour, we lose our shirts. Well, a few sleeves and a pocket anyway.
We ask for an error table only to discover that we were doing a crappy job of playing the plan. Obviously, we need work on the basics. We ditch the game and head for the practice drills. There are 23 of them. They should've called this section Blackjack Boot Camp.
You don't get this real-world experience for small chips: registration for Casino Vérité will cost you 70 smackers. And if you don't register, you don't play with a full deck. In the demo version, the 5s and 6s are missing.
You can have as much fun with cheaper programs. But if you're a serious player or aiming to become one, Casino Vérité Blackjack is as close as you'll come to honing your skills at the real tables. And US$70 doesn't compare with what real-world gambling could cost you.
Casino Vérité Blackjack: demo version free; full registration US$70. QFIT Software: email: 72142.1200@compuserve.com, on the Web at www.qfit.com/qfit.
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