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The Count of Monte Carlo

Experience Blackjack like you've never seen before in this gambling RPG! · By PhilBlank

Requesting General Advice

A topic by Fetch created Aug 14, 2025 Views: 62 Replies: 7
Viewing posts 1 to 2

Could somebody give me general advice on how to beat this game? I’ve played about a hundred times and gotten to the final dealer only once. I knew very little about blackjack before playing this game, so I read some articles on betting strategies. I also spend as much as I can buying special abilities.

Part of my struggle is that I don’t understand how shifting target numbers affect things, nor do I understand how a “running count” affects how much I should bet or what actions I should take. That’s on top of feeling overwhelmed by questions of when to split, double, or surrender.

Developer

It's been a while since I've played it, but I think I remember the general strategies. 

Until you get a few rounds in, the 'Basic Strategy' of Blackjack remains roughly the same and you can use any image guide for that. However things quickly start changing so you need to understand 'why' certain hands were good/bad in standard Blackjack. The biggest thing is the dealer's 'hit to' number, the dealer is normally required to keep drawing until they hit that number (17 by default) and that number was chosen because it balances the chance they bust out by going over 21 with the chance that they actually have a good hand/the chance that YOU bust out. The further their number is from 17 the better and the higher you can draw the better. 16 and 18 are both worse for dealers for two different reasons, there's an ability you can get to push the dealer's 'hit to' number up 1 that can help push them into worse situations (though it could also help if they're a 15/16).

For when to split/double/surrender, Basic Strategy will inform you pretty well otherwise remember that most of the cards in the deck are worth 10. For choosing when to split, you need to think about how well those hands would do if any random card were added to them. You never split 10s in standard Blackjack because you already have an amazing hand (20 out of 21), you always split dual Aces/Eights because soft 12 and 16 are mediocre/bad and chances are high you'll draw a 10 and have 21 or 18. Doubling Down is a nice but risky move, use it when an 8-10 would probably let you beat the dealer but a 10 would not make you bust. There was an ability to keep going after doubling and it's super risky to rely on, just use it as a fallback if you draw low with the previous strategy. For surrender... I'll say more on it later but generally you want to surrender when the dealer has 10/Ace and you have something middling that won't beat the dealer but will probably bust out if you draw again. Stuff like you with 15 when the dealer is showing a 10.

Running count is more of a thing for real blackjack (which has a slight house advantage) rather than this where you can bump the advantage to yourself. It mostly affects your betting strategy. A high true count (which needs running count to be divided by the number of decks worth of cards left in the draw pile to get the true count) means there's fewer high cards left in the deck, negative count means there's more high cards. In standard formats, having a bunch of low value cards helps the player (who has more freedom to pick moves) than the dealer. It can influence whether to hit/stay/etc., just think to yourself if that tiny change in whether or not you'll draw a 9-10 pushes you this way or that. Again, not very important when you've got other abilities.

Spending as much as you can on special abilities is good, you'll benefit more from a higher chance to win a hand than from having a bigger cash roll. Drawing to 22, Hero (chance to draw the perfect card), and Oracle (sometimes see face down cards) will generally always be helpful. Fighting the Minotaur (chance cards will be face down) is pretty annoying without Oracle too, unfortunately you can't choose the order you get cards in. You'll likely want to have everything for the final boss, but definitely those three I mentioned + the ability to surrender anytime. It's absolutely hilarious that it turned out that way and I didn't even know about it until my little brother beat the game, but Surrender is actually the most effective move against the final dealer.

Anyways that turned into a bit of a ramble but I hope that helps!

(+1)

That was an amazing write-up! Thank you so much for explaining. It’s reassuring to know that in some ways I was overthinking things, and to have those tips for the little things that I didn’t know. I guess beyond that, it’s just a matter of RNG, right? It doesn’t matter if I use the best strategy against the mouse whose target is a 12 if he keeps drawing 10s. XD

Developer

Yep, RNG is a huge factor and your biggest way to mitigate it is to bet low. Only time you can't do that is against enemies with Ante-Venom (wow that pun hurts even after all these years).

How low should I bet? I’ve been betting maximum every time. I thought it’d take forever to win if I went with low bets.

Developer

Up to you, I think I usually aimed for a certain percent of the chips I had. That way if I did poorly I'd decrease my bet and if I did well I'd increase my bet. The larger percentage of your bankroll you use, the higher likelihood that you run out before ever seeing the positive returns. This is tied to the concept of 'risk of ruin' in gambling/stock trading.

Oh, good to know!I think my only other question is about Risk Taker. It says that it lets you bet money you don’t have. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the game let me bet above my maximum chips, unless I’m splitting/doubling. Am I missing something?

Developer

Had to pop open the source code to remember, looks like it lets you double or split even if you can't afford it. Honestly that sounds pretty weak, but maybe there's synergy with that card that lets you keep doubling/splitting even when it wouldn't make sense.