Errors in Microgaming BJ autoplay

[TomR]

A few nights ago I was playing on one of the Microgaming casinos and decided to try the Vegas Downtown BJ Gold as I hadn't played the Gold before and wondered what was different. After playing a few hands I thought I would try the autoplay to see if it might have better luck. I left it at the default of playing five hands and set it to go. I was watching it and was pretty sure that I saw it make an error in play so I started to watch it closely but I didn't see anything wrong with the rest of the five hands. I then checked the autoplay strategy to see if I saw anything wrong but it seemed to be correct. I still wasn't sure that I had seen an error so I set it to play another five hands and again watched closely. This time I was sure I saw an error in the play: my first two cards totalled 15 and the dealer was showing a 6 - the autoplayer hit my hand and I busted! I again checked the autoplay strategy settings and it was not supposed to hit in this situation.

While trying to find a way to contact support I found the Playcheck system and tried to review my hands but it said that the detail was unavailable.

I emailed support and explained the situation and asked to have the details of the hands I had played emailed to me. They emailed back that they were also unable to review the hands and that they would forward the information to their technical department to get the details. Shortly after that they emailed me and asked for a screenshot of the strategy settings. I sent them the requested screenshot. To this point I have not heard any resolution.

I have found posts regarding this issue on two other forums and one said he reported it to the casino he was playing on Aug 2, a full week before it happened to me.

Has anyone here had this happen?

 

[The Watchdog]

mmm

More microgaming stuff..

Not good for you MG guys...

I didnt understand the Playtech part.. what happened there?

Autoplay is just not nice...whats the point of it??

For Slots, I understand.. but whats the deal of autoplay for black jack?

 

[aka23]

Has anyone here had this happen?

Yes, I made similar comments about MG Gold autoplay in my gambling log near the start of August. I believe I saw an error and was unable to review the hands using the playcheck system. I have not used MG Gold autoplay since then.

 

[winbig]

Autoplay is just not nice...whats the point of it??

For Slots, I understand.. but whats the deal of autoplay for black jack?

Primarily to clear WR IMHO...Unfortunately either this is an honest mistake, or they are taking advantage of players that set the autoplay to do this and leave the computer.

 

[Scooter7]

MG BJ autoplay doesn't always work correctly

I was sure I saw an error in the play: my first two cards totalled 15 and the dealer was showing a 6 - the autoplayer hit my hand and I busted!

Has anyone here had this happen?

I tried it in practice mode and found that it didn't always follow the strategy listed in the table.

I don't think there's any intent to defraud here (I would have screamed bloody murder if I thought there was), but it does show a lack of attention to thorough testing.

 

[Lifesticks]

Seen it as well, hitting on a hard 16 against a 6. CS was going to escalate the issue but have not heard anything since.

 

[cipher]

More microgaming stuff..

Not good for you MG guys...

I didn´t understand the Playtech part.. what happened there?

Autoplay is just not nice...whats the point of it??

For Slots, I understand.. but whats the deal of autoplay for black jack?

Hi Watchdog:

I think TomR's reference was to Placycheck not Playtech. "While trying to find a way to contact support I found the Playcheck system and tried to review my hands but it said that the detail was unavailable."

Have a good one.

 

[mitch]

This time I was sure I saw an error in the play: my first two cards totalled 15 and the dealer was showing a 6 - the autoplayer hit my hand and I busted!

This is horrendous!

If the autoplayer is somehow following a dealer strategy of hitting when less than 17 then the house edge would be at least 5.5%

MG need to comment on this pretty fast in my opinion.

Anybody alerted Ed Ware to this thread?

Mitch

 

[aka23]

Anybody alerted Ed Ware to this thread?

Mitch

I have contacted 32 Red support about this. They mentioned that MG testing is going on to confirm the issue, and players would be compensated for related losses.

 

[awieise]

32red admits autoplay errors--kind of

Since I was the first to publicly post on this issue (2+2 on 8/2/06), I was apparently the first to receive the results of the "investigation into allegations of autoplay errors".

32red admits to a couple of minor errors during the period of my play, but says that unfortunately I was not affected. I guess they think it was just coincidence that I happened to pick that time period to blow the whistle.

In any case, I have (again) requested the game logs so that I can point out the many errors. Those interested can read all about it and read 32red's actual emails to me here:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[aka23]

I was affected by this issue and contacted 32 Red about it. They have not admitted to a problem or compensated me yet. However, King Neptune's did compensate me today. I did not even realize that I played autoplay with their casino. Again I am impressed with King Neptune's. In addition to the excellent support, I have won more at this casino than any other. Their email is below:


Microgaming detected a problem in the Auto Play section of the new Gold
Series Volume 1 BlackJack games.
The games affected were:
Atlantic City Blackjack Gold Series;
Vegas Downtown Blackjack Gold Series; and
Vegas Strip Blackjack Gold Series.

The European Blackjack Gold Series game was not affected.

The dealer was not reading the dealer up card correctly for the
affected
games. This has been corrected successfully.

Together with Microgaming, we have audited players who may have lost
bets.
The dates of the transactions are between 31 July 2006 and 12 Aug
2006.
The following assumptions and resolutions were used to calculate the
outcomes:
Auto-play Surrendered incorrectly: the player will be paid back the
remainder of the bet.
Auto-play Hit incorrectly and the player lost: the player will be
paid
back the entire bet.
Auto-play Stand incorrectly and the player lost: the player will be
paid back the entire bet.
If the correct Strategy was to double but auto-play Hit or Stand: the
player will be paid the original bet back.
Our audit report shows 2 of your bets may have been
affected. These totaled 1.50 to be refunded to you
covering your losses caused by this problem. We have rounded this up
to
5 as an apology for any inconvenience.
We hope these credits are lucky for you.

Regards
Micki
Trident Entertainment Group
Support Center Management

 

[TomR]

I was playing at King Neptune's when I encountered the auto-play errors. They sent me the same email as above explaining that one error was found.

Today I reviewed the hand history information that they had emailed per my request. I found not one but three errors were made in the 22 hands I played.

I emailed support the information and related files. I almost included an invoice for my auditing services (I was an auditor with one of the big international accounting firms). I hate having to do professional work when I am looking for entertainment.

Tom

 

[And]

Anybody knows if there will be autoplay for Classic Blackjack Gold?
Or it was never intended to be?

 

[runnybunny]

I bet they wont, since it came out this way.

 

[awieise]

Received from 32red Aug 31, 2006

Hi XXXXXXXX,



Further to my email of the 16th August I am now in possession of all the relevant facts.



Microgaming have undertaken further investigation in respect of the autoplay in the Blackjack Gold Series in light of your feedback.

Further to this subsequent investigation the updated findings are as follows:



1) The Autoplay strategy was playing incorrectly between the 31st July and the 11th August 2006.

2) All the Gold Series versions of Blackjack were examined, with the following three games being affected; Atlantic City, Vegas Strip and Vegas Downtown.

3) The Autoplay was reading the players cards correctly but was not reading the dealer up card correctly.

4) The Autoplay was assuming that the dealer always had a 10 valued card as the up card.



I have attached two documents for your perusal; the first shows the hands that you were dealt that were affected by this error and the second highlights (in white) where the errors occurred in the strategy table itself.



In the first document I have calculated refunds according to the following rules:

Where the bet has been surrendered incorrectly I have refunded the remainder bet.
Where the bet has hit incorrectly and you have lost I have refunded the entire bet.
Where a stand has incorrectly occurred and you have lost we have refunded the entire bet.


As you will see there have been 59 hands affected with refunds due, based on the above, totaling 52.

Please let me know how you would like me to process these refunds (I can add them to your Casino account or action a withdrawal for you).



Once again apologies for the delay in providing this correct information and thank you for your continued patience.

Kind regards,

Pat Harrison
Operations Director
32Red Casino| Dash Casino |32Red Poker

 

[henryVIII]

Shouldnt a casino at least be ashamed of this?

Seems they are quite proud of the fact that, having been caught, they are making the supreme gesture of cancelling crooked deals.

They had no auditors?

 

[elscrabinda]

Are they refunding all customers who were affected or only the ones paying close attention?

 

[KravdraaYvoorg]

Got an email and a $79 refund today from Fortune Room. I didn't even remember autoplaying BJ there.

Pretty cool of them.