PBA: January 5, 2000
==============================================
Professional Blackjack Analyzer 4.3.7
is now available from the PBA download site:
http://www.bj21.com/pba

Features: Enhanced card removal options.
====================================================
ANNOUNCEMENT:

The latest version of PBA, version 4.3.7, is now 
available.  As revised documentation (aside from 
this email) is not yet available, the installation 
will place the previous version of the manual 
(4.2.1) in the installation directory, in the 
/doc subdirectory.  The manual is in .pdf format, 
and must be viewed with Adobe Acroreader, a freely 
available program.  If you do not have Acroreader, 
you can download it from the pba website address 
shown above.

This version of PBA features the ability to 
create user-defined decks, an option to remove the 
first two player cards in the Strategy Analyzer, an 
exact play feature in the Game Module, and numerous 
changes to increase the overall stability of the 
program.

AS WITH ANY NEW SOFTWARE RELEASE, PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY!  
THERE MAY BE UNFORESEEN BUGS, IN PARTICULAR FOR RULE 
AND COUNT COMBINATIONS NOT YET TESTED.
====================================================
CHANGES IN VERSION 4.3.7

1. Player decisions in the Game Module now use the 
exact same code as is used by the simulator. 

2. The manual has been updated to version 4.2.1.

3. User-defined decks can now be created and used in 
all modules.

4. Fixed a bug in the Strategy Analyzer that produced 
the wrong strategy for the rule "double on any number 
of cards."

5. Added the rule "dealer stops hitting after six 
cards."

6. Dealer decisions in the Game Module now use the 
exact same code as is used by the simulator.

7. Strategy Analyzer now allows the option of removing 
the first two player cards from the sampling deck, for 
more accurate strategies.

8. Added an Exact Play feature in the Game Module: during 
play, bring up the Exact Play window to determine the 
correct strategy decision based on the exact constitution 
of the remaining deck.

9. Fixed a bug that caused a "runtime error 9" in the 
Betting Systems Entry.

10. Plot insurance as a function of count in the Strategy 
Analyzer thumb-nail sketches. 

11. Insurance index can now be edited in the Strategy Editor.

12. Insurance added to Top-20 feature.

13. Expectation tables can now be saved to a file.

14. Option now exists to exclude certain hands, like 
splitting 10s or surrender, from the Top-20 report.

15. Indices for which the meaning is reversed (such as 
8-8 versus 10) are now designated by asterisks (*) in the 
strategy charts.

16. The standard deviation per hand per count is now output 
in the saved reports. 

==========================================================
There has been quite a lapse between the release of this 
version and the previous.  This is due, in large part, to 
the tremendous number of possible situations allowed by 
having user-defined decks and the more precise Strategy 
Analyzer options.  Once again, I must acknowledge the 
remarkable efforts of Rich Yuresko, who methodically (and 
maniacally) tested what seemed like hundreds of combinations 
of rules and user decks, and reported back the results of 
every test.  In addition, Rich also tested pathological 
sequences of performing various tasks in PBA, and provided 
details when crashes or inexplicable results ensued.  There 
are easily a couple hundred emails between Rich and I over 
the past six months, and about ten beta versions of PBA 
tested.

So, the above list of changes and fixes present above is 
only an abbreviated list.  We are currently in the process 
of updating the PBA website, where recently discovered bugs 
and changes to the program will be listed and updated 
frequently. In addition, we are striving to increase the 
content of the PBA website, with more information, and 
tutorials on using PBA.  Also, updates to the PBA manual 
will be available from the PBA site as well.  Therefore, 
future release announcements will be comparatively brief.

Regarding the new features:

ADVANCED STRATEGY ANALYZER:
The Strategy Analyzer has been fairly thoroughly tested, 
and we have made some minor adjustments so that the generated 
indices now have the same meaning, and thus agree, with 
Stanford Wong’s Blackjack Count Analyzer (BCA).  In addition, a 
detailed document is in the works that will provide a 
comparison between those strategies generated by PBA and 
other published strategies.

As part of this work, and due to requests from PBA users, we 
have added the option to specifically remove the first two 
player cards from the sampled deck, in addition to the dealer’s 
up-card.  This calculation takes longer, but can provide answers 
to such questions as "is there a difference in how you play an 
eleven versus a dealer ace, when the eleven is composed of a 7-4 
versus a 9-2?"

You can access this new feature in the Strategy Analyzer by 
clicking on the "Options|Advanced..." menu item, which will 
open the Advanced Options dialog.  There, you will see two 
options: "Remove dealer up-card," and "Remove dealer up-
card and first two player cards."  Click on the latter option 
to extend the window.  For soft hands and pairs, it is clear 
which two cards will be removed from the deck (soft 13 removes 
an ace and a 2, for example).  For hard totals, you have three 
options: remove cards according to an average, don’t remove any 
cards, or remove the two cards of your choice.  If you wish to 
use the third option, just click on one of the displayed totals 
and choose which two cards will be removed.

If this write-up doesn’t quite make sense to you, please review 
the discussion on simulation methods on page 30 of the PBA manual 
(February 1, 1999).  More detail will be available soon on the 
PBA website.

EXACT PLAY:
In order to support user defined decks, the analyzer was slightly 
modified to determine the optimal strategy for a deck of any 
composition.  This feature can now be accessed from the Game Module 
to determine the optimal play at any point during a game, based on 
the composition of the remaining deck.  Under the Options menu, 
there is now a new entry called "Find exact play..." which is active 
when you have a decision to make.  At any point during the game, 
click on this menu item to bring up the Exact Play dialog that will 
show the best play to make based on the remaining cards.  You can 
also view what cards remain in the deck, and alter the composition 
of the deck to see how it would change the play.

This feature can easily be turned into a stand-alone window with 
card entry feature suitable for internet play.  Other features 
could include tracking of certain statistics that might be helpful 
in evaluating the integrity of the game.  Please send us an email 
if that is a feature that would be use to you.

We hope you enjoy this release of PBA.  Please continue to send us 
comments and suggestions, and any problems that you perceive in 
either the operation or output of PBA. 

-DRS