From: James Gray <james@...>
Date: 2008-01-06T09:31:27+09:00
Subject: Re: Studying Blackjack (#151)

On Jan 5, 2008, at 2:05 AM, tho_mica_l wrote:

>> Write a Ruby program that shows the percent chance of a dealer
>> reaching each possible outcome based on the upcard showing.
>
> I'm sorry for asking this dummy question (and I hope not to spoil it
> for
> anyone) but all this jargon makes me feel strange and it's early in
> the
> morning.

No worries.  I probably didn't explain it well.

> Do I understand the game right in that:
>
>    1. The dealer gets a card
>    2. If the sum of his cards is < 17, repeat step #1
>    3. If the sum is >= 17, the result is registered
>    4. If the dealer has 6 + Ace, he stops and doesn't try to get a 4
> or
>       something lower?

Yes to all of the above.

The forth rule actually varies somewhat in the casinos.  Some tables  
allow a dealer to hit on "soft 17" (a total of 17 involving an ace  
used as an eleven).  I left that out to keep this exercise simple.

> The set of possible cards is limited to 2 decks, i.e. 2 * 13 (2..10,
> B,
> D, K, A) cards by default.
>
> A set of two card decks contains two 2s?

I meant to do the experiment using two full decks shuffled together.   
That would be a total of 104 cards and include eight twos, threes, etc.

I hope that clears things up.

James Edward Gray II