App Looks Great but CHEATS – Blackjack 21: Blackjackist Review

I’m adding this review to hundreds others here complaining about unrealistic card deals that favor the house. Read a few of them too before investing time and money on this app. I’ve not found a nicer looking Blackjack app- really top notch graphics. But be prepared to mostly lose due to cards dealt that largely favor the house. I’ve played this game a lot and am still ‘up,’ (after buying chips once) but it can be frustrating knowing the cards are literally stacked against you and good strategic play mostly is not rewarded. The dealer mostly draws strong to very strong hands-17-21. If hits are needed, dealer mostly draws low suit cards that lead to a strong hand. Player draws mostly weak hands: 12-16. If a hit to your weak hand is strategically right due to a strong dealer card showing, player usually busts. You can almost count on being dealt a 10 after being initially dealt a weak 12-16 hand. It’s doubly frustrating how many times you bust after taking a strategically sound hit on a weak hand only to find the dealer had a strong hand that would have beat you if you hadn’t risked the hit. These things happen over and over, cards favor the house too often. If you were in a real casino and the dealer was this hot-you’d switch dealers. If that didn’t help (as it doesn’t on this app) you’d realize the casino was crooked and play elsewhere. Yes, you win *sometimes* but nothing close to a real life blackjack game or even on some other apps. You can alter basic blackjack strategy to try to accommodate the biased hands this app deals and it can help with wins- but should we have to work that hard just to have fun? The developer will say this app uses a Random Card Generator and has been ‘third party tested’ to meet the industry standard for online casinos. I believe there’s some wordplay involved with this explanation. Example-they say it uses 6 decks and reshuffles after (only) 4 have been dealt. What? In any case the cards dealt are simply not random. Again, check out any/many of the other (hundreds) reviews here complaining of the exact same thing: deals and hits that favor the house. You have to wonder why so many users take the time to warn about the one-sided play on this app. I’m guessing that -like me- they got angry at the cards favoring the house so blatantly over and over. Thank goodness I only play for fun online and only gamble money in real life blackjack games where the house only has a small advantage. If any other app developers read these reviews: I and others would pay money upfront for an app that has the sophistication of Blackjackist but that plays realistically and fairly- like standalone pocket Blackjack games and computer software games (Hoyle’s Casino etc).
Review by steve_2525 on Blackjack 21: Blackjackist.