How to Play Blackjack, Roulette and Hold'em: Brassline Guide

By Nesim Razon, independent Android developer

Brassline is a quiet card room with three classic table games: blackjack, European roulette and Texas Hold'em. It is a simulation for adults (18+) and uses play chips only. This guide explains the rules exactly as the app plays them.

Before you start: play chips only

Brassline has no real money and no prizes. Chips are free, cannot be bought and cannot be cashed out, so they have no value outside the app. Nothing in the game is a promise or a prediction about real gambling.

Everyone starts with 10,000 chips. Once a day you can collect 1,000 daily chips in the lobby. If your balance falls below 100, a free refill gives 500 chips, up to ten times a day; it is normally unlocked by watching a rewarded ad, and if no ad can load the app gives a refill without one, up to three times a day. The lobby also has a Stats page and a Settings page.

Blackjack: goal and card values

Get a hand total closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Number cards count their value, J, Q and K count 10, and an Ace counts 1 or 11, whichever helps you. A hand with an Ace counted as 11 is called soft; the app shows both totals, such as 7/17.

You place a bet from 10 to 500 chips (in steps of 10), then you and the dealer get two cards each. One dealer card stays face down. If your first two cards are an Ace and a ten-value card, that is a blackjack and it pays 3 to 2.

Blackjack: your options

• Hit takes another card. Stand keeps your total and ends your turn.
• Double doubles your bet and gives you exactly one more card. In this app you can double on any first two cards, and also after a split.
• Split turns a pair into two hands, each with its own bet. You can have up to four hands. Split Aces get one card each, and a 21 after a split is a normal 21, not a blackjack.
• Surrender gives up your first two cards and returns half your bet. It is available only as your first decision on an unsplit hand.
• Insurance is offered when the dealer shows an Ace. It is a side bet that the dealer has blackjack and pays 2 to 1.

Blackjack: how the dealer plays

The table uses 6 decks, reshuffled when about a quarter of the cards remain. The dealer stands on all 17s, including soft 17, and must keep drawing below that. When the dealer shows an Ace or a ten, the dealer checks for blackjack first. If you go over 21 you lose at once, even if the dealer would go over later.

A tie is called a push and your bet comes back. Your hand in progress is saved, so closing the app does not lose it.

Blackjack: using the basic strategy hint

Basic strategy is the textbook move for each hand, worked out by computer for these exact rules. Brassline can show it as an optional hint, and you can switch it off in Settings. Learning it is a good way to understand why, for example, you stand on a low total when the dealer shows a weak card.

Even perfect basic strategy does not beat the house. With these rules the house edge is about 0.4 percent, which means that over a very long time the house still comes out ahead. Treat the hint as a way to learn, not a way to win.

European roulette: the wheel and the bets

The wheel has 37 pockets, numbered 0 to 36, with a single zero. You place chips on numbers or groups of numbers, spin, and the ball lands in one pocket. Chips come in values of 1, 5, 25, 100 and 500.

Tap inside a number for a straight bet. Tap the line between two numbers for a split, a corner for four numbers, and the left edge for a street or a six line. A label shows the exact bet and payout before you lift your finger. Long-press a bet to remove it. Rebet repeats your last layout, and Rebet & Spin does it and spins in one tap.

European roulette: payouts and limits

• Straight (one number): 35 to 1.
• Split (two numbers): 17 to 1. Street (three): 11 to 1. Corner (four): 8 to 1. Six line (six): 5 to 1.
• Dozens and columns: 2 to 1.
• Red or black, odd or even, 1-18 or 19-36: 1 to 1. When the ball lands on 0, all these outside bets lose.
• Limits: up to 100 chips per inside bet, 1,000 per outside bet and 5,000 on the table in total.

European roulette: fair and still in favour of the house

The result is drawn with a secure random generator the moment you press Spin; the wheel and ball only show it. Past results do not change what comes next, so a number that has not appeared for a while is not due. With a single zero the house edge is 2.70 percent on every bet type, because the payouts are set as if there were only 36 pockets.

Texas Hold'em: the goal and the flow

Each player gets two private cards. Five public cards are dealt in stages: three together (the flop), then one (the turn), then one (the river). Make the best five-card hand from your two cards and the five shared ones, or make everyone else fold.

You choose between 1 and 5 house opponents in Settings, and a table strength: Relaxed, Regular or Sharp. When you sit down, 2,000 chips move from your balance to the table as your stack. When you leave, your table stack returns to your balance. If your stack runs out you can sit down again with a new 2,000, as long as your balance allows.

Texas Hold'em: hand ranks

From strongest to weakest:

• Royal flush: ten to Ace in one suit.
• Straight flush: five cards in a row in one suit.
• Four of a kind.
• Full house: three of one rank and two of another.
• Flush: five cards of one suit.
• Straight: five cards in a row.
• Three of a kind.
• Two pair.
• One pair.
• High card.

Texas Hold'em: betting

The game is no-limit with blinds of 10 and 20. In each round you can fold, check or call, bet or raise, or go all-in with your whole stack. A raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise. An all-in for less than a full raise does not reopen the betting. When players are all-in for different amounts, the app builds side pots automatically and shows a clear showdown.

Bet presets (minimum, half pot, pot and all-in) sit next to a fine slider. The house players see only what a real player would see: their own cards and the public cards. They never see your cards or the deck.

Playing responsibly

Brassline is for entertainment and for people aged 18 and over. The chips have no monetary value, and nothing you do here predicts how you would do in real gambling, where the house always has a mathematical advantage.

If you play for real money anywhere, set a limit you can afford to lose, take breaks, and never chase losses. If gambling stops being fun or causes you problems, talk to someone you trust or contact a support service in your country.