Blackjack Simulator Go

Double down

February 2019

I was at it again. After finishing my Blackjack Simulator using C++, I decided it was time to revisit the project while learning a new language: Go.

Why Go?

I had been using Go a lot at work, and found that I was better at it than I had been at C++. While my original C++ simulator worked fine, I wanted to see if I could make add more features in a Go version. Maybe this time I’d actually learn how to count some cards.

The Simulator

The core logic remains similar to the original project. I implemented the same player “brains”:

• Random: Makes decisions at random (usually loses quickly).
• Basic Strategy: Follows the mathematically optimal moves for any given hand.
• Card Counter: Tracks the ratio of high cards to low cards and adjusts bets and play style accordingly.
• Human: Allows for interactive play to test your own skills.

Unrealized Goals

I wanted to use the Random player to create my own blackjack strategy table. I’ve seen some really interesting Youtube videos calculating basic strategy. But I thought it would be cool to run a simulation that could reproduce the same table through thousands and thousands of hands.

Conclusion

Just like the first time, I spent so much time optimizing the code and playing with the language features that I didn’t actually spend any time using the tool to learn Blackjack. But I did learn a lot about Go, and for me, that’s always a winning hand.