Ridotto: Learn Casino Games

Ridotto teaches you blackjack, poker and roulette the way they are played at a real casino table, before you sit down at one.

THE PIT: BLACKJACK
Six decks, blackjack pays 3 to 2, and a coach who explains each decision as you play it. When you stand on 12 against a 5, the coach says why: a 5 often leaves the dealer going over 21. Tap an underlined word, like "surrender" or "soft 17", and a card tells you what it means.

FIRST NIGHT
A guided first visit, start to finish. You find a table, buy chips, play nine hands with the dealer, trade your chips for bigger ones and tip. You don't need to know the game before you start.

THE POKER ROOM: TEXAS HOLD'EM
A $1/$3 no-limit game with eight other players. You learn the button, the blinds, betting in turn, the rake, and what beats what. The coach gives the standard preflop play for your seat and explains it.

THE WHEEL: ROULETTE
A double-zero wheel with Lou dealing and three regulars beside you. You buy in for your own color, learn the layout, what every bet pays and what the house keeps, and color up when you go. With Pro, the lamp goes dark and Lou keeps the clock: when he waves, the bets are done.

PRACTICE
Today's five: two minutes on the hands you have seen least. Drill sets for hard totals, soft hands, pairs and the hands you miss most, and a chart that fills in as you learn it. The poker room has its own preflop drill.

LEARN
Short visual lessons: how blackjack works, reading the table, hand signals, buying in, coloring up, tipping and table manners. For poker: how hold'em works, hand rankings, getting a seat, betting in turn, the showdown and the rake.

THE PEOPLE
Every table has a dealer and regulars with names, habits and things to say. Rosa takes her time and explains every play. June runs the $1/$3 game. Hal waits an orbit, then raises three streets. You learn to read the table by sitting at it.

ON IPHONE DUO
Open it and the table fills the inner display. Close it or open it mid-hand and the hand plays on.

WHAT RIDOTTO DOESN'T DO
It doesn't teach card counting or sell a betting system. The house has an advantage in every game here. Basic strategy, the chart of best plays, lowers it to about half a percent of what you bet; it doesn't remove it, and the app says so. No bet at the wheel beats it.

FREE, AND RIDOTTO PRO
Free, for good: the main blackjack floor and Lights Out, both First Nights, the $1/$3 poker game, the wheel with the lamp, every lesson in Learn, Today's five, the drills that teach the main table's chart, the poker starter drills, two of the casino's rooms, and joining a friend's table.
Ridotto Pro, $19.99 once, opens the rest: the high limit room, the single-deck, double-deck and 6:5 tables, a table under your own sign, the advanced book, the 200-hand book test, every drill set and the speed round, the poker instruments (who acts next, pot odds, the button's path), Bring a Hand Home, Lights Out at the wheel, every other room, and hosting a table for friends. Try all of it free for 7 days first. Nothing is charged when the 7 days end, and there is no subscription.
Players who downloaded Ridotto in its first two weeks are founding players and keep all of it at no charge.

Chips are play money only. They can't be bought, won or cashed out. No ads, no accounts, no tracking. For iPhone and iPad.