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                      |   ____|__  |  Association of  
                      |  |       |_|  Shareware       
                      |__|   o   |    Professionals   
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                         |___|___|    MEMBER    

                 Copyright (c) 1995 - 1998 by Sage Software.
                            All Rights Reserved.


   A list and a brief description of the programs that Sage Software provides
   follows:

   Sage Blackjack Simulator (unregistered). This is the shareware version 
   which has animated graphics, sound effects and background music. This 
   program can simulate the house rules of most casinos in the world. Up to 
   seven players may play at the same time. Any seat can be unplayed, played 
   by the user, or played by the computer. A random shuffle is used to 
   shuffle the cards. From 1 to 8 deck games can be specified. The minimum 
   bet, maximum bet, and shuffling point can all be defined by the user. 
   Also, various statistics such as current bankroll, largest bankroll, 
   smallest bankroll, winnings, number of rounds played, and more are kept. 
   You have 5 different deck back designs to choose from.

   Sage Blackjack Simulator. This program is given to the user when he 
   registers the unregistered version. It attempts to simulate a casino 
   blackjack game as close as possible. It has all the functionality of the 
   unregistered version plus has a few more sound effects and comes with a 
   few more music files. Also, this program has the ability to save the game 
   to disk and to load it back later, thus saving all statistics so you start
   playing from the point when you last save the game. The speed of the game 
   can be adjusted to as slow or as fast as you want, a casino shuffle can be
   specified (casino shuffles are not random and can have an effect on the 
   game), dealer statistics are kept, a face-down game can be specified (most
   single and double deck games at the casinos are dealt face-down), 10 
   different deck back designs to choose from, and more. With the casino 
   shuffles and because all cards are collected and discarded in the same 
   order as the casinos do, this program is one of the best casino blackjack 
   simulators on the market at any price!

   Sage Blackjack. This is the top of the line as far as blackjack programs 
   go. This program was designed to teach the user winning blackjack 
   strategies and can also be used to test and even create them. It has all 
   the functionality of the Simulator plus has many teaching aids available 
   for doing this:

   Tutor - When the tutor is turned on, the computer will monitor each 
   playing action you make while you play. When you make a mistake, you will 
   be shown the action you took along with the action that you should have 
   taken. The playing strategy table will also be displayed with the entry 
   where the error occurred highlighted. The user can define any playing 
   strategy to be tutored on, including playing strategies based on a count. 
   A list of all the mistakes that you made during the game will also be kept
   and can be viewed at any time.

   Count Training - This functionality can be used to help teach you how to 
   count cards. Card counting is a method that experienced blackjack players 
   use to gain an advantage over the casinos. It is no secret that a player 
   who counts cards can gain an advantage over the casinos. This aid flips 
   through a deck or decks of cards at a user definable speed allowing you to
   practice calculating the running count. You can have it prompt you for the
   count value of the last card to help you validate your counting accuracy. 
   You can also have the running count, true count, number of cards 
   remaining, ect. displayed on the screen as the cards are being flipped 
   through.

   Flash Cards - This is another tool that you can use to help learn a 
   playing strategy. A common method that blackjack players use to learn a 
   system is to write down different hand combinations that could occur in a 
   game along with the proper action that should be taken on index cards. The
   person would then flip through these cards looking at just the hand 
   combination and try to guess what the proper action to take is. Once he 
   guesses he can verify if he made the correct decision by looking at the 
   action written on the index card. For instance, "Player has A,A" may be 
   written on an index card. The person would guess what is the correct 
   action to take when he has a pair of aces against each possible card the 
   dealer has showing. In this case the correct action to take is "Always 
   split". The Flash Cards functionality can take any playing strategy that 
   you define and automatically transfer them to flash cards which you can 
   scroll through to help you learn the proper playing actions to take under 
   different situations.

   Practice Session - This functionality is yet another excellent tool that 
   you can use to help teach you a particular playing strategy. Unlike the 
   Tutor which is used while you play a normal game, the Practice Session 
   deals two cards to you and an upcard for the dealer. You then take actions
   on your hand and if you make a mistake as defined by the playing strategy,
   you will be notified. The dealer never plays out his hand because the 
   purpose of this session is to test your playing decisions, not whether you
   win or lose. In the Practice Session you have the flexibility to control 
   the types of hands dealt to you. These different hand types include hard, 
   soft and pairs. If you are weak in playing soft hands, for example, you 
   can specify to be dealt more soft hands than the other types. The playing 
   strategy that you are tested on can be user defined just as in the Tutor. 
   This playing strategy can be count-based. If a count-based strategy is 
   defined, when you are prompted on the action to take on a hand, a true 
   count value will be displayed above the hand. You are to assume that this 
   is the current true count and should make your playing decision based on 
   it.

   Simulation Mode - To test playing or betting strategies, this program has 
   the ability to define most playing and betting strategies to each of the 
   7 seats. When the graphics are turned off and the game is started, the 
   program goes into Simulation Mode and can deal about 6,000,000 an hour 
   when a 100mhz pentium is used. The faster your computer is, the faster the
   rate at which the Simulation Mode operates is. At this high rate, it is 
   possible to evaluate different strategies by assigning them to different 
   seats and comparing the statistics. The players advantage for each 
   strategy will converge toward the actual value when a large number of 
   hands are tested and you can find out exactly what advantage each strategy
   offers a player.

   Evaluation - This functionality can be used in conjunction with the 
   Simulation Mode to find the best playing action to take under different 
   conditions for specific hands. It can be used to calculate the basic 
   strategy for different house rules and can also be used to calculate 
   count-based playing strategies for different counting methods! 

   The decks used in the game can also be modified. The players can be 
   programmed to enter and leave the game under different conditions, such as
   based on the true count, based on money won or lost, or the number of 
   rounds played. This program offers a wealth of statistics including 
   statistics based on the types of hands, the true count, count reversal, 
   progression, sessions, previous hands, and more. The animated graphics, 
   sound effects, and background music makes this a great blackjack program 
   to play for the sheer entertainment as well. This program comes packaged 
   with a manual and can be found in a few selected stores.

   Sage Video Poker Simulator. This program can simulate Draw Poker, Jokers 
   Wild, and Deuces Wild video poker games. It has realistic sound effects, 
   great graphics, and user definable payout tables. Statistics of the 
   different types of hands the player has gotten during play are kept. This 
   new version has 18 predefined games to choose from and is capable of 
   simulating "bonus" games such as "Aces and Faces" draw poker machines.

   Sage Video Poker. This is a more advanced version of the Simulator. This 
   is the program that you want if you spend any time at all at the video 
   poker machines in the casinos because it will quickly pay for itself by 
   teaching you the proper actions to take. It can do everything that the 
   Simulator can do plus has functionality which can analyze the poker hands 
   to find which are the best cards to discard for any poker hand in any 
   defined game. This analyzing functionality includes Advice, Tutor, Analyze
   Hands, Analyze Game, and Create Playing Strategy. The Advice button can be
   selected anytime during a game after the initial cards are dealt. This 
   will tell you which the best cards to discard are for the current hand and
   what the expected winnings will be. It will also show the expected 
   winnings for every possible discard combination. When the Tutor is turned 
   on, it will notify you whenever you do not choose the proper cards to hold
   to yield maximum returns during a game. The Tutor will also keep a list of
   all the mistakes you made and will show you the percent advantage that you
   lost due to your errors. The Analyze Hands functionality displays the same
   information as the Advice button does but you can specify any poker hand 
   to be analyzed. The Analyze Game functionality will analyze the current 
   game you have specified. After analyzing a game, you will be shown what 
   the player's expected return is upon perfect play. Also you will be shown 
   what percent of the time you can expect to get each of the payout hands 
   upon perfect play. This can be used to find out which games in a casino 
   offer the best returns. The Create Playing Strategy is a powerful new 
   feature introduced in this version. It can automatically generate a set of
   playing rules for you to follow in order to play the specified Draw Poker 
   game perfectly, or close to it (this functionality is available only for 
   non-wild card games). As a bonus, there is a Tournament Play mode in this 
   program. This is a fast-paced exciting break from standard play mode. The 
   object is to score as many points as you can in a 10 minute period. If you
   are good enough to score in the top 10, you get to place your name on the 
   top 10 list (sorry, you don't get a prize!).

   Barraging Barriers. This is a challenging multi-level maze game. The 
   object of the game is to score as many points as you can by collecting 
   bonuses as you advance to higher and higher levels, trying not to let the 
   barraging barriers barricade you. This is a nice break from solitaire and 
   other games that pass the time.

   Sage Concentration. This is a great game for ages 9 to 99. It simulates 
   the card game "Concentration" where all 52 cards of a standard deck are 
   dealt face-down and players alternate taking turns trying to flip two 
   cards over that match. You have the option of playing against another 
   human opponent or pit your skills against one of four levels of the 
   computer. This program has great sound effects, animated graphics, and 20 
   different card back designs to choose from.

   Ditto. The object of this game is to score as many points as you can by 
   repeating the button sequence that is shown to you. There are four 
   different game types to choose from: a 3 button configuration, a 4 button 
   configuration, a 6 button configuration, and a progressive game where you 
   can advance to higher levels. The animated graphics and sound effects 
   makes this an entertaining game to pass the time. A good short-term memory
   is the only requirement for scoring big on this game.


   A registration form can be found in the files ORDERFM.TXT and OTHERORD.TXT
   and can also be found in the Online help when you run bj.exe.

   If you have additional questions about any of these programs or about 
   registering, please call Sage Software at (256) 830-9364 9:00am - 5:00pm 
   CST Monday - Friday. Or if you have Internet access, send E-mail to: 
   102225.2363@compuserve.com (102225,2363 for CompuServe members).

   You are welcome to visit our Web site at:
   http://www.best.com/~mcintyre/sage/