Blackjack & Card Counting Pro
reviews and complaints

A good app in principle, but some real flaws. Gameplay flaws are significant. Some hands are "settled" before the dealer takes a card, even if the dealer should take a card. Option to purchase insurance when player has a blackjack is confusing. Would one do that in a casino? Switching from auto bet to manual erases the bet, but it will deal without a bet being placed. It would be better to have a gesture for "deal" instead of a button. The app has structural flaws that are worse. It quits randomly, and every now and then it will lose all gameplay data. I was just up $4000 over my original stack, only to have the app quit and reset my winnings to the original $1000. Drag.

I appreciate the need for UI updates given that the app was aesthetically dated, but you’ve taken away good features in the process!

1) You can no longer see the count by clicking on the info icon. 2) You have to go to the home screen in order to see the charts. 3) The charts don’t appear to be native anymore, so they’re harder to read. 4) The animations are cool, but they slow things down considerably (especially the animations that say “push”, “busted”, “your on $X”) 5) You have to make the stand gesture when you draw to 21, which is ridiculous as even in a real casino they don’t require a gesture when you get 21 or even 20 for that matter.

Wish this had been better tested before release.

The app comes with videos and written articles that teach you what you need to know like High-Low counting method and betting basics.

The base purchase is an amazing blackjack simulator with a running/true count display that can be toggled. The customizations you can make like the speed cards are dealt, making surrender optional, setting the number of decks in a boot, and setting rules on splitting allow you to simulate conditions at your local casino.

The speed training is a worthwhile purchase if you’re serious about becoming a better card counter. The game plays itself by basic strategy. You set the speed the cards are dealt and the game will intermittently ask you to input the card count and correct you if you’re wrong.

I trained myself to count cards 6 years ago, now I am an active AP and instructor of new card counters. Back when I was in training, this app was the most efficient use of my time, hands down. It is, and has always been the most comprehensive mobile card counting training tool that there is... but the new update takes it to a whole new level. The “button” options are much preferred to the “gestures” according to my trainees (who are required to use this app every day, btw) and 2 hands really increases the volume of practice you can put in quickly. Finally, the kicker is that the new update can actually deal specific types of hands that you’d like to emphasize in a given session. Having this app available makes it very easy to train new aspiring APs!

This app is just the tip of the iceberg of knowledge that the program offers. Some may say it’s all a scam or you just can’t remember everything but all you need is practice over and over. Become committed to the idea of investing. No different than your investments in stock options. There is a trend to the cards just like a trend to stocks. Invest at the right time and you increase your money. Not adding in how much fun this is in comparison to stocks. I personally can’t afford the full course as I’m on a disabled Vet monthly pay but if I ever get the funds I’m in. My church also agreed that this would be good to raise money for our needs so maybe I’ll get there. So for anyone looking to commit and have fun then jump in and take the course. Have fun.

It’s a good app, and I use it mobile to keep my counting skills sharp. What it doesn’t do, that I wish it would, would be to have 1 dollar chips as an option to allow for smaller bet spreads than 5 dollar denoms for small betting increases when the count is favorable. An increase of 5 on a bet of 5 is 100%, when somewhat more realistically, an increase of 1 (20%) would be more appropriate at slightly favorable counts. Also wish the default bankroll could be changed for other tests (10 Gs may be ideal, but is unrealistic for many players). The other limitation is two hands and no other players. Live action is rarely you against the house; you need to count the other players’ cards too. All that said, don’t overlook this app. It’s worth the money.

Perfect trainer for basic strategy blackjack. App will tell you on the fly when you make an error. The card counting is a nice added bonus if you’re going that route. I tried sites and apps for months until I found this gem. Worth every penny.

Issue 1 - no sound on any videos through the app.
Issue 2 - the mini-course link never sends the verification link to your email so you’re stuck with nothing but the introduction.
Issue 3 - (reasoning behind 4/5 stars) My main complaint and only flaw I’ve found in gameplay is when splitting Aces. Once Aces are split the app stands on all hands with no chance to hit or anything. All other splits work correctly but Aces has an issue every time.

Once the splitting A’s bug is fixed I would give this app more stars than 5 if I could.

Blackjack Pro is a pretty good training app. It is fairly realistic and allows me to split, double down, surrender and increase/decrease my bets as I would at a blackjack table. It tells me when I make an improper move and why. I only wish I could increase my bets beyond $1,000 and it would be nice to have some sound effects. But for $3 it is well worth the money. I can't tell you how many times I have been at a casino and other players make the stupidest moves...I always mutter to myself they should spend $10 on a paperback book instructing them how to play blackjack instead of blowing through $100-$200 at the tables. This app is even better by far. It's always helpful to play blackjack on a computer to sharpen your skills just before playing for real...I don't care how many times you have played.

Just wrote a review, but almost immediately got an idea for the app. What about having the option for multiple hands being in played in a single hand. This would help with counting many hands at once.

Or the option to let the computer run. All it does is spit cards out at “my” pace. This gives my mind a workout for doing nothing but counting. But because it is at “my” pace, I can continue to increase the speed until I’m ready to start playing. I need to count before I can play. If anyone has watched the YouTube videos, Collin states the first thing to do is update the running count. Always update!

Let me count before I worry about basic strategy, or vis versa. Let the seeds fall in the mind as they will. As long as the time is invested, is there really a wrong way to learn it? Just some thoughts.

Bottom line, I LOVE THIS APP!

Overall I really enjoy this app. The only thing I would love to see is a way to manually enter a starting bank roll. You start with $10,000 but I enjoy using this app to practice managing buy ins and wager sizes that I would typically carry and play with in real life. For me that is anywhere from $150-$500. To get to this starting amount you have to intentionally lose hands and play improper strategy. The problem is that you inevitably will win or Hit 21 when you are in fact actually trying to lose.

I have spent upwards of 5 minutes just trying to get my bank roll to the level I want to play at. When you only may have 5-10 minutes at a time to play this can get very annoying very quick.

Would be great to the option when resetting your bank roll l, to reset it to a custom amount instead starting at the set amount and then losing it down.

As a member of BJA I use this app every day! It works great with free play and helps you learn how to use the training from the website to use. With that being said there are many problems with the app. It freezes and crashes all the time. When I open the all it continues where I left off instead of starting at the main menu. Whenever I want to start a new game it doesn't change my starting bankroll, it continues from where I left off instead of resetting. I have to start a new game and start a new shoe 2-3 times in order for the bankroll to reset properly. I wish the app had more drills like the ones that are available on the website. The only drill available is the counting drill. The problem with the counting drill is that if the count is +12 or -12 it doesn't let you pick the numbers correctly so the drill becomes useless. I hope these problems can be fixed and more drill can become available.

Keep counting
-M.R.

First let me say for 5 bucks... this is a steal.. great counting training... great betting spread training cause you can opt on to have count visible so you can focus on just betting and playing perfectly.. there’s a couple minor problems that should be fixed.. for example.. when the true count is +3 and dealers face up card is “A” the correct deviation is to buy insurance... but I was playing 2 hands... one hand was a hard 16 and other was hard 20.. I bought insurance.. then I was qued that i made a mistake cause you never insure a hard 16.. but it doesn’t give me the option which hand to insure... and to be honest I don’t even know if you could insure only 1 of your multiple hands in an actual casino... but I would have surrendered the 16 and insured the 20 if was possible.. other then that... this app will definitely improve all the important skills you need to be an advantage player... and you can practice different risk betting spreads.. and visually watch the results go positive! This is the best way to go when u can’t afford the $200-$500 membership for BJA let alone the $1,000+ for boot camp.. with some self discipline and will power... I feel like this app may just be all you need

This app is great for practicing.
There are ways it can be improved to be the best app you can ever dream of, but even now it does the job it was designed for well, and I don't think there are any competitors.
I would give it 5 stars, but I think it has an error in the basic strategy for surrender for 8 decks, when dealer hits soft 17. The rest of the strategy is correct, but the surrenders are for dealer stand on soft 17.
The difference is that you also surrender 15, 17, and 8-8 against the dealer's ace. Plus, you should surrender 15vs10 only on 8 deck game (both S17 and H17), but not on 4 or 6 decks, if my information is correct. I think this is a bug; otherwise it would be nice if Colin could explain that difference for surrender for hits17 in his videos, because Wizard of Odds and strategyCard.info says to surrender these extra 3 hands.
And also there is pretty annoying bug that buttons are always placed on the left by default each time you start/resume drill, even if it is disabled in options. But that is not the reason I lowered the rating.
P.S.: I like your work on YouTube, seen the movie, got the ebook, hoping to join your bootcamps one day, once I get my homework done. Keep up the great work!

Not sure why this is a thing, once your bankroll hits $0 or you don’t have money to bet. Either it should allow you to bet the rest in your bankroll down to $0 or it should offer to reset the bankroll to 10k. I know at anytime you can reset the bankroll to 10k which is nice. It’s not right to bet negative!

You could offer different sizes bankrolls to start with but I honestly think 10k it perfect to not over bet and even if you wanted to bet small it would lower your risk even more. If you want to start larger just build it up.

Unfortunately, I have a few friends trying out the app as well and they want to show off their “bankrolls” but no way to prove they are actual gains. I’m up 50k in mine just from practice and months of work. So I want to actually see who is able to preform and grow a bankroll not just bet a negative amount and show a two hundred thousand dollar bankroll. The app is to simulate real life practice in my opinion.

All that being said this is a fantastic app and I highly recommend it. I still think it’s a 5 star app and this can be an easy fix. Just please fix this one this to help everyone, even the ones who think they can borrow the money. Just reset the bankroll and try again.

4/21 update:

Previous version was great. See original review below.

This version gives the option of redoing mistakes which might be okay except:

-when I click “continue“ the app freezes
-after closing and reopening the app I’m forced to make the proper call before continuing
-adding insult to injury, when I’ve got a six showing and will be surrendering I can’t continue without paying for insurance on a hand I’m already paying half my bet to get out of

Sometimes the payout amount doesn’t make sense.

The count in the upper left, can’t hide it manually once it’s revealed manually.

Would be nice to have a min/max setting for the table limits. Can currently double down forever.

Original Review:

I did not think I was capable of counting cards but when the newest updated fixed a glitch that allowed me to go back to $1000 at the end of a shoe, I found myself $17k in the hole. I hunkered down and I'm keeping track of the count. I have gotten all that and more back. Still want my last hand of every shoe to count, which was not fixed in the update. A direct button to the charts would be nice and optional buttons to replace multi touch gestures would lower my anxiety every time I try to double down (or do anything at all) and wonder if it'll register as something else.

I really like this app and I think it certainly has the potential to be a 5 star app, but it’s just not there yet. BJA, I love your content and what you’re trying to do with the app, but I have a few suggestions:

Fix the bugs. I don’t have the issue of the app crashing like others seem to, but I do notice the discard tray seems to randomly disappear at times. It seems to happen most when I switch back and forth between the regular training drill and the speed counting drill.
Add more drills. I’d love to see different types of drills. I’m not sure which ones, but just something to keep it fresh and engaging. The two provided drills, while effective, can quickly get boring. I know that’s the life of a professional counter, but I think there’s more of us out here than you realize that have little interest in actually counting in a casino and just enjoy the challenge of learning a new skill, so making it fun would keep me coming back.
Customizations. It would be nice to be able to customize the drills to focus on certain types of hands like soft hands or pairs (especially helpful for learning basic strategy).
Achievements. I love the idea of achievements. It turns learning into a game and makes it more engaging and fun. But this part of the app seems so half-hearted. There are only a handful of (mostly lame) achievements. I’d love to see this fleshed out more. Maybe add levels or ranking so I can see my progression.
Stats! This is my biggest complaint with the app. Please add more stats. I’m a data nerd so I’d love to see things like errors per number of hands over time, longest streak, weakest hands, monthly stats like total hands played, hands won, hands lost, errors made, etc.
Overall, I’m mostly happy with the app for the price, but I think some small improvements could really take it from ok to great!

Doesn’t count correctly… I was playing 1 hand in between counts and they have incorrect running counts for half or more of these…

Several free apps that help teach BJ strategy and other to actually help you with card counting that are also free. Hard pass on this app

Card counting drill is wrong. Currently counting 7-9 as (-1) and (+1). Something is wrong with the app. There is no way A, 7, 8, J is -1.

Instead of just saying what you should it should have also an explanation that way we learn the why instead of just memorizing what to do.

Why does the app use only one basic strategy for all decks and game rules. And index only changes for S17 vs H18. Also doesn’t include 1 deck. Would like my money back.

You learn how to play. It ridiculous how you have 20 then the dealer gets 21 9 out of 10 times. I literally played like 30 hands and won 5. TRASH. Don’t waste your time

This Apps description was very misleading. The app is very basic. You can only play vs the dealer and cannot simulate a real world event where other players would be present.

Disappointed in this app. The tutorials are just a bunch of YouTube videos, basically. If I wanted to learn that way, I could, you know, go on YouTube instead of paying $4.99 for nothing.

I bought the app today and I don’t see any of the screens that actually help with training. It doesn’t tell me if I made the right decision or not it only tells me whether I won or lost. What did I pay $5 for?

I lost all of my money playing $50 at a time and corrected all the wrong moves, shuffled when the deck went lower than a true count of -2, bet 1.5-2 times larger when the true count went above 1-2, your game is freaking rigged, not worth the $5

By far the best card counting app in the App Store. The only reason it doesn’t get five stars is it could use some minor improvements. Checking in every couple hands to make sure you are accurate with the count is a huge must which this app does not have

Don’t waste your money! After you pay $5 all you get is simulated hands telling you whether your decision is within basic strategy. NO card counting instruction unless you PAY MORE MONEY. Apple really should have a process to get your money back from these scammers.

They assume you know how to count which cards when doing the Hi/Lo system if you have never played or counted cards there is NO WHERE that instructs you which cards to count. Ridiculous - then they ask for in app purchases for that you think will have the answer - BUT NOPE! The only I got was taken by the app! Ridiculous

It’s a game simulator. Based on the name I expected some counting drills at least. You apparently have to pay even more for that. The simulator doesn’t let you see the count except in the middle of a hand so it’s pretty useless. The heads up simulation is not what you’ll face in a casino, so also seems like pretty useless training.

This app shouldn’t be called trainer. There is no real lessons. There is no knowledge building guides or techniques. You just play and it tells you what you did wrong. It should have building lessons to help you learn why you are doing what you are doing. I just want to learn how to be a good black jack player so when I go to the table I don’t screw everyone.

This is an ok app to practice on but after playing about 1000 shoes or so I’ve concluded that the cards are not randomly dealt. The dealer is hitting blackjack at about 2.5 times my rate. And although I’ve followed perfect basic strategy including all deviations and used a proven 1-8 bet spread, I’m still not able to generate any type of profit. Something is not right.

The premium drill "speed counting" is a complete waste. All it does is plays a hand of blackjack. It doesn't keep the count or anything like that. I know that it is training YOU To keep the count but maybe it should be hidden so if you lose the count you can keep going. Also I was hoping there would be a drill where it just continuously flips cards over and then asks you what the count is.

I’ve been a big fan of BJA for a while now, and I especially appreciate their standard of excellence. However, I’ve found multiple bugs in this app including basic strategy errors and simple bankroll miscalculations. It tells me that splitting 4’s when dealer is showing 5 is a strategy error. And it pays out pushes like wins.

BJA is all about perfection. These kind of bugs make an app like this worthless.