3 comments about Blackjack Counter Basic Strategy, 4-8 Decks.

1. Las Vegas has a saying, "players depend on luck, casinos depend on math". Well, here's your chance to almost even those odds to within 1/2%. These blackjack strategy cards (all 4 for 1, 2, or 4-8(2) decks) do the math for you and stretch your money a long, long way. You will get your money back in the first hour of play and wish you had had them a long time ago. If you play blackjack, this is the one item you should take with you. And you don't even have to think, pretty nice ugh.



2. These four basic strategy cards fit in your shirt pocket yet contain everything you need to optimize your odds under virtually all table conditions. Cards work for 1, 2, and 4-8 deck games covering most variations of house rules. Give yourself the best chance to beat the casino. Use these cards and experience how much fun blackjack can be when you play like the pros.



3. good service, true to ad thanks

5 comments about Winning Casino BlackJack For The Non-Counter.

1. When I made my first trip to Las Vegas over 10 years ago, I was lucky enought to find this book in the bookstore, insightful enough to buy it and terrified enough of losing money to read it and put it into practice. Since that time I've play tens of thousands of hands of blackjack in casinos all over the Western Hemisphere. I've also bought and read lots of other books on Blackjack. This one is without question the best.

   It gives good introductory information on how to play winning blackjack. It covers basic strategy, money management and other fundamentals in a clear, concise way. He explains the strategy in such a way that it's easy to understand and REMEMBER. And he leaves out a lot of the non-sense and self promotion garbage you get in a lot of other books.

   Even though I have a rather large library of blackjack books now, I still find myself throwing this one into my bag to read as a refresher on the plane trip to Vegas.

   It's not meant to be the be-all-end-all book on blackjack and it shouldn't be judged as if it were. There will come a point, if you get serious enough about the game, that you'll want a more advanced book. This is the best book I've found however to give you the "blocking and tackling" fundamentals of blackjack.




2. This book helped me incredibly understand the odds and help beat the casino at their games. I recommend it.



3. Nothing more than an advertisement for his expensive mail-order non-counter strategies. The strategy he claims to present in this book is misrepresented as a non-counting strategy, when in fact it is (he basically says estimate the number of high cards remaining by watching which cards have been played, which is the definition of counting). If you want the actual non-counter strategy, you have to shell out $50 for a mail-order packet. Stay away.



4. Winning Casino Blackjack for the Non-Counter is a great strategy book for blackjack beginners. It gives comprehensive charts detailing which moves to make, but more importantly, explains the charts in understandable language.
   
   I've tried other blackjack books, but they all just gave charts with no explanations. This one explains each move so you understand exactly why you make it, which makes it easier to remember at the casino!
   
   This is the first blackjack book I ever used and it was a great starting point. Since then I've gone through a few more books and at my times at the casino, I made a killing! I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to start playing this game.



5. This is a good reference for non-counting BJ player.

5 comments about Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic.

1. I loved this book. It joins a spate of other books constructed in much the same way. It is reminiscent of James Michner'ss books, with the construction of personal stories amid the history. The research she did was wonderful. It is interesting how one event can ripple out and connect with and touch so many other lives. This was not even what would be termed a particularly charged event (such as one that would garner world news coverage), yet led to connections everywhere. It is fascinating and she has done a wonderful job with it. I was fascinated with the historical beginnings of Chautauqua. In the present gas crunch it seems like they might be looking at bringing back the concept. What a delightful thought - to have all of that wonderful esoteric knowledge traveling all over the country.
   
   The character of Ada was fascinating. A young Native American who, to hear the boys tell it, wanted nothing more that a white man. After escaping a marriage to an abusive previous husband she is looking for more stability in her life and dealing with a serious case of northern SAD. To make things worse she has not been raised as totally `native' as they thought she had. The general perceptions that regular society in general had for this woman were heartbreaking and incorrect. A sexuality that in an educated Caucasian society is viewed as normal becomes promiscuous in the Native American. Verbalization is different. The totemic thought form is different. I felt that the way the author dealt with these issues was wonderful. Rather than infuse the book with a condescending attitude she simply stated what had happened.
   
   Ada was a strong woman but it seems that some of the troubles and betrayals she went through took a toll on her heart and health. I wonder if we as a society will ever figure out a way to `develop character' without beating people senseless. There was one line that was particularly moving.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone. It was wonderful and a great way to learn history. After reading this I'll have to read her first book.



2. I have become a junkie for true hardship books, and the arctic exploration books are my first love- they are what took me down this road.
   Jennifer Niven does a fine job of fleshing out and making real each person, each family, each government that was involved in these missions into the mostly unknown and proven deadly arctic areas of the world. She lets us know what makes people tick, influences like nationality, religion, sex, race, class- each person comes with their background and reasons for their actions and beliefs explained as fully as possible.
   
   These people are made real and human, so you get their shortcomings and faults, not just a politically correct whitewashing that fits in to our modern world view. The ways of the world were different then, Ada was (mis-)treated the way a female eskimo rated within that world.
   
   It is all a sad story, really. Ada often was her own worst enemy. Those poor boys were so full of faith in their leader, who deserved none of it. If I go on I will end up giving too much story away. Good book- get hooked and read more arctic exploration books!
   
   And always remember to QUESTION AUTHORITY!



3. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Ada. It is well-written and hard to put down. Not your typical dry biography. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in northern exploration and native people. I can't even imagine myself in Ada's position. Even though she wouldn't admit it, it took lots of courage.



4. I picked up this book knowing nothing about the artic expedition to Wrangel Island. I found the story initially quite fascinating but that the book really bogged down when the author insisted on including the contents of every letter that the survivors families wrote over the next ten years. I feel that the book could have been much shorter and still powerfully portrayed the struggles of Ada and her companions to survive Wrangel Island.



5. This is a very interesting true story, of four young men lured to their deaths in the polar regions by V. Steffanson's tales of the "Friendly Arctic" where survival was easy. With minimal arctic experience, the four undertake an expedition to "claim" Wrangel Island for Canada (even though Canada did not want it and the island was known by all to belong to Russia.) Poorly planned, poorly equipped, and poorly executed, the fumbling expedition establishes a camp on Wrangel Island, raises the Canadian and British flags, and hunkers down to a slow demise of abandonment by V. Steffanson.
   
   Ada Blackjack, a young Eskimo woman hired by the four to serve as seamstress, is recruited from Nome Alaska. Though descended from Eskimo people, she knows more of the "white men's" culture than her own, being able to read and write, etc. At first reluctant to undertake her responsibilities, as the privations of the expedition set in she becomes a stalwart support to the others, cooking, making arctic clothing from skins, etc. After three of the men sled off across the frozen sea on a hopeless gambit to get to Siberia for help, never to be seen again, Ada is left alone with the remaining member of the expedition, who is dying of scurvy. Left to her own resources, Ada teaches herself to hunt, trap, shoot, and build boats, recalling techniques and skills observed during childhood from observing her forebears. Ada faces her greatest fear, the dread "Nanook" (polar bears) that roam the island. Fighting starvation, hopelessness, and sickness, Ada valiantly strives to keep the remaining expedition member alive, only to see him slowly waste away from his sickness and die. Ada sojourns another two months before a rescue ship finally arrives, finding her to be the sole survivor of the expedition after over two years.
   
   Returning to civilization, Ada is exploited by her rescuer and by V. Steffanson, who also exploit the memories, diaries, and belongings of the doomed expedition members. The book recounts Ada's subsequent life, trying to raise her sons and make a living in a world no less harsh and unforgiving than the one she had known in the arctic.
   
   This book was a fascinating, well-written read and I intend to read the author's other book.

5 comments about Blackjack-33.

1. A fabulous book for anyone looking for firsthand accounts of the great work our fighting men & women did in Vietnam, and an excellent antidote for the overplayed drivel Hollywood & the "mainstream" media try to spoon-feed us.
   
   The author provides a minimal amount of background info on himself and the Mobile Guerilla Force, and then jumps right into the action. He gets your heart pumping and your senses instantly alerted through first-person writing, and once you start this book it is very difficult to put down. Mr Donahue does not hold back anything from the reader either; he skillfully relates the sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes of combat in Vietnam.
   
   If you are looking for a well-written first-hand account about the experiences of combat in Vietnam, then I highly recommend this book. If you are a little squeamish, or prefer to research the unit histories and command structures of combat units in Vietnam, well, I STILL recommend this book (and all of Mr Donahue's books).



2. Mr. Donahue brings out a little known aspect of the Vietnam War--the use of Special Forces and Cambodian soldiers to fight the VC on their own ground. You can get more of a description of the book by reading the adjacent reviews. I spent almost two years working with the Vietnamese day by day, and consider this book to be a must read for anyone interested in the genre. It is very well written and makes the scene jump out at you. For me, it was almost like revisiting my experiences back then.



3. The Vietnam war is still an enigma for many of us who were not there. It is fascinating and a bit frightening. Many people only understand it based on movies like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket. This book does a fabulous job of illustrating an unknown aspect of the war, yet makes you understand how the pieces fit together. Very descriptive and action packed, you feel as if you are close to the action and get a better feel for the life of a soldier in the bush.
   
   Overall, this was a very enjoyable book and increased my education and awareness of the war.



4. Blackjack-33 is one of the best written first hand account of men in combat. Very well written and hard to put down. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a great true account of the Mobile Guerilla Forces in action in Vietnam. I can't wait to receive and read the author's other books.



5. A beautiful testimony to the courage of these elite soldiers whose mission was to serve as bait for enemy forces far greater in number. Blackjack-33 is the code name of such a perilous mission.

5 comments about Mensa Guide to Blackjack (Mensa).

1. Mensa Guide To Blackjack is a no-nonsense handbook of tested and proven techniques to win at casino blackjack. Written by a former professional solo and team blackjack player, as well as a member of the MIT Blackjack Team, Mensa Guide To Blackjack explains card-counting strategies and dispels common myths - one does not have to be extraordinarily skilled at math to count cards; card-counting is neither cheating nor illegal; and no one can be arrested for card-counting. Card-counting will get one banned from a casino, if one is suspected or caught doing it, because casinos know card-counters can win - therefore Mensa Guide To Blackjack offers simple exercises and techniques to practice until card-counting becomes so ingrained, one won't give away telltale signs while doing it (although betting and winning too much at high-limit tables may well tip a casino off!) Chapters cover both basic blackjack and rules variations, betting to win, refining basic strategies, playing with a team, and much more. An absolute "must-read" for anyone who wants to play casino blackjack to win.



2. I bought this book for many friends who frequent Vegas and all of them raved about it!



3. High recommendations for this book. Straight forward and unconfusing instructions. Hornik also educates the reader the about the subtleties of, and what to expect while sitting at a blackjack table. With consistent practice (play with your friends), you will play without initimadation!



4. I didn't knew how to play blackjack at all before reading this, but this book explains you all the rules, the strategy, how to count, and more in a very clear way. I cant figure out better ways of teaching you the secrets of the game. To be honest, it's well explained but definitely it's not easy to count cards, if it were everybody would be doing it, and if you can't do it, at least you will do much better in normal play without counting.



5. This is the first book I read about Blackjack. The book is short but very concise, you can read it in a couple of days. If you haven't read a book about Blackjack make this one your first. And let me tell you why, the book is not confusing and the author does a great job explaining why Basic Strategy works. The author explains the probabilities behind Basic Strategy, knowing why you should hit or stand makes it easier to memorize the strategy. Also, the books has exercises and drills that will test your knowledge and help you refine your game.
   
   As for the Basic Strategy Chart, I will use the one published on the WizardofoddsDOTcom website since most casinos use multiple decks 4+ and the dealer hits soft 17. Learn the rules of the casino before playing. Also I recommend complementing this book with John Bukofsky's "Blackjack: Play Like The Pros". John gives more detail in other areas and offers a more in-depth analysis of the game. However, note that if you've read Mensa Guide to Blackjack you will gain a better understanding of what John is trying to teach you.
   
   If you can only afford one book then get this one, this one does a better job of helping the beginner player understand the game. I recommend reading this book once and then re-reading it a second time. And if you are an advantage player, well you won't be learning anything new here...

5 comments about Blackbelt in Blackjack : Playing 21 as a Martial Art.

1. This book is so informative. I am learning the ins and outs of the game of blackjack. Also, the price was much less that going to the store to buy. It was shipped in a few days and I am very pleased overall.



2. good book written by a great person who had a lifelong experience in counting.



3. A must for any blackjack player book collection ,The Very "Instruction manual" like writing style is more tedious than learning the full indices for Zen count.
   Not enough shuffle tracking information, perhaps this is done purposefully.
   If your looking for a blackjack book , then do not even consider not getting this book.
   Definitely not a "fun" read but a somewhat necessary read.



4. This was a very good book that explains several techniques and has a lot of depth concerning how to use one's bankroll when playing blackjack, but most of the information provided is found in free internet websites, except for the management of bankroll, which I found very interesting and effective.



5. The book itself is full of information, but not as much as I was hoping. Snyder promotes his counting systems and doesn't go into as much detail on other topics as I had hoped. But it's still a good book.

5 comments about The World Greatest Blackjack Book.

1. One of the first book i enjoy reading on blackjack, even old this book is great..



2. This was the first book I read on blackjack and overall it provided a thorough description of how to play the game, outlined basic strategy using tables and desciptions, and a coherent explanation of Hi-opt1 counting strategy. What it didn't do is provide sound reasoning for using the hi-opt1 counting system over the more common, and in my opinion simpler, braun method. The book also fell short in how it explains betting correlation. It gave a textual description of how to do it with a few short paragraphs but then spent most of a chapter discussing how to mask your bets. The emphasis on betting correlation seemed to get lost among a lot of "covert ops" to disguise your card counting. Many of these secret methods are useless until you actually learn how to correlate your bets anyway.



3. This is the type of book that, if I were to look at it now after having learned a lot about blackjack, I would probably consider one of the "dumb" or "mainstream" books that try to convince you there's a system you can use to beat roulette. I think the title might help lend it this idea as well.
   
   But in reality this is the book that started it all for me. I don't know why I chose it first, but I learned *everything* about blackjack from this book, except for advanced card-counting techniques (which are here as well, but I chose to learn a simpler system, the KO Count). This book does an excellent job of describing the game for those who are new to it, and it presents Basic Strategy very clearly and concisely. I still refer to it to refresh my memory every time I go to a casino. In a lot of ways it really is one of the greatest books, at least in my experience.



4. Lance Humble and Clark Cooper, The World's Greatest Blackjack Book (revised edition) (Broadway Books, 1980)
   
   The problem with the classic in the genre, Edward Thorp's Beat the Dealer, is that it's simply too complex for English majors like me to figure out. If you don't have a head for numbers, trying to put Thorp's work into practice is liable to send you to the nuthatch for long stretches of time. Humble and Cooper, after a good deal of expository prose (most of which is long, long out of date-- much of it, they surmise at various times, was probably out of date by the time the book rolled off the press), introduce first a basic non-counting system, then build on that to introduce the Hi-Opt (High Optimization) counting system. As it's a gradual process, it's already easier for boneheads like me to make sense out of. It does get complicated towards the end, of course, but as you're learning it in steps, things certainly seem a good deal easier. Besides, the big fad these days is Texas Hold 'Em, so you might actually be able to find a seat at the blackjack tables for once (or, better yet, at a no-dealer game administered by machine, where you can range your bets without a pit boss getting after you). The expository prose may be outdated, but the system is a "now more than ever" kind of thing. *** ½



5. Gook book to read on BJ. I hope everyone knows that you cannot make a professional living playing BJ in this country by counting cards. Go checkout blackjack forums first. Again, you cannot make money consistently by counting cards. It's a myth spread by the casinos, not the players. However, you will have an edge, ever slight. BJ should be played recreationally to get as much comps as possible without losing money. At least that's my goal.

5 comments about Playing Blackjack As A Business.

1. Playing Blackjack As a Business is one of the best books ever written on card counting. It is very comprehensive listing basic to advanced card counting strategies. Perhaps the greatest benefit is the author's decades of personal experience in playing and winning using the strategies presented in the book. The book is, I believe largely if not wholly accurate. (The basic strategy charts are amongst the most accurate in existence!) Lawrence Revere stresses the importance of discipline and practice and that, regardless of one's skill, there will always be occasions when you lose sessions of play. The book is useful for an intermediate card counter and an excellent place to start if you're a newcomer.



2. Prior to this book I was winning with beginners luck. Now I am actually winning by knowing what I am doing when and why. Although the house is still up, I am a better player from reading this book. This book explains the game and the strategies in a very simple language. The book has charts that explain what you should be doing in all situations. These cheat charts were created from computer simulated odds. I have not been able to read the more advance strategies (counting cards) although the basic strategies has started to sink in an have helped me increase my odds against the house.
   Enjoy the game and do not lose too much money.



3. This book should without a doubt be in your blackjack library. It is truly one of the standard books ever written on blackjack. I also recommend, Gregorian Strategy for multiple deck blackjack.



4. I was introduced to this book in 1972 whilst applying for a casino job in Tehran, of all places, and a few years later when I began playing serious BJ myself, I would have given it 4 stars but with some reluctance because, aside from the good parts, it also contains a lot of gamblers superstition and questionable advice.

   Revere's book was a breakthrough in that it was written for the player who wanted a clear and concise book on "how to win" rather than Thorpe ("Beat the Dealer")desire to demonstate how terribly clever he was. Unlike say Allan Wilsons "Casino Gamblers Guide" (see my review) the text is poorly written but, most importantly and memorably it did have excellent colour-coded strategy charts - it was this feature more than anything else which I believe made the book such a success.

   On the debit side I would agree with the 2-star reviewer below that LR's agenda was to sell his much-touted "superior strategies", the mastery of which according to him, would double or triple your win-rate. I fell for this sales pitch and sent him another $200 (a lot of money at the time) - plus an extra $50 for the "no-hole card strategy", which consisted of a scrap of typed paper containing half a dozen numbers and no explanatory notes. His so-called "advanced point-count" was highly over-rated and his promised "after-sales service" non-existent. Besides, I soon discovered that going from a simple one-level count to an "advanced" multi-level count produces marginal gain at best, esp in multi-deck games. After expressing my dissatisfaction by letter, LR wrote a curt one-line reply on a businesscard..! Such was his brusque manner.

   Most of LR's strategies and experience refer to the now rare single-deck game - sure you can still find them but if you bet more than a quarter and appear to know what you are doing you will certainly get "heat" and probably have the deck broken on you. He appeared to have very little if any experience of even 4-deck games let alone the now much more common 6 or more decks. His very conservative bet-spread was also based on a single deck game and would have been useless applied to 4 or more decks, but this fact was glossed over.

   In Revere's day (the 60's and early `70's), the game was far easier to beat - more and better decision options, much deeper penetration, and much less scrutiny ("heat") for counters than is the case today. In this respect the 5-star review below by the "Las Vegas pit boss of 25 years" is inexplicable and totally unrealistic. LR also virtually ignored the fact (as do most other BJ books written for the US market) that in most of the world the dealer doesn't take a hole card - this apparently "minor" rule change makes a big difference to the basic strategy when playing against a dealers 10 or Ace.

   I don't doubt that Revere was quite successful at the tables, but nowhere near as much as he makes out. In his day single-deck BJ was (relatively-speaking) easy to beat, there were very few counters, and dealers and pit-bosses weren't as paranoid about counters as they were to become, largely as a result of this book. I would wager that LR made much more money selling his books and strategies than he ever did from playing.

   I don't know whether Revere's heirs (he died in the late `70's) are still selling their expensive "advanced strategies" but if they are - send me your money instead - I'll give you far better value and advice. Unless newer editions of his book have corrected these deficiencies, then this book is all but useless for the modern "tough" multi-deck casino environment.




5. Not being "of age," and therefore not playing in a casino, I cannot say how much money one could make with these strategies. His Basic Strategy does seem to work though (in home games, etc.), it gets about a 49% win rate. This man is a sexist egomaniac who truly believes that everyone but him is a moron, and he is the ONLY man alive that should be listened to when trying to learn Blackjack. It's kind of amusing when he implies several times that most women are too stupid to learn his strategies, that they are unable to concentrate or devote any time to it, but that if a woman were to learn one of them she could make millions based on the fact that she is a woman and pit bosses won't be watching her. Pretty funny stuff. However, his "Revere Plus-Minus Strategy" is stolen from Beat the Dealer, it's a basic hi-lo, nothing more. Also, he devotes a chapter to the Revere Ten Count, only to say much later that all ten count systems are worthless. So what can I say, I think that reading it will improve your game, but not nearly as much as this man seems to think it will.

5 comments about The Counting Game: An Accountant Reveals How to Win at Blackjack.

1. Alan Berg has given us a thrill ride through the world's casinos from the view of a high-roller. Even for a confirmed non-gambler like me, his well-crafted book provides hundreds of insights into winning at blackjack - and winning all the side battles as well. Most impressively, he often succeeded at keeping himself in the building and in the game through guile, brains and style - when most card-counters would long have been banished from casinos everywhere. Read - and enjoy - "The Counting Game."



2. The thing I liked about this book is that it was like having a one on one lesson with the author. He gives you the important factual skills you need to win the game. But also throws in personal experience and stories that make it very entertaining. You will like what he has to teach but at the end of the book feel like you could hang out and have a drink with him.



3. I've never played blackjack and probably never will, but I was absolutely fascinated by Alan Berg's book. Serious players must be blown away. I was amazed to learn so much about the game when I had always thought it was just a question of luck. NO WAY. It almost makes me want to take up black jack so I can reach the zenith of being barred from a casino. That isn't apt to happen since I got a bit bogged down in the intricacies of the numbers systems, but I LOVED the book. I especially enjoyed learning about Alan's gambling experiences and now have enormous admiration for his honesty in telling about himself in a thoroughly enjoyable and often amusing fashion. WONDERFUL book- I recommend it to players and non-players alike.



4. The Counting Game: An Accountant Reveals How to Win at Blackjack is different from an ordinary "how-to" gambling guide in that author Alan Berg is not only a skilled professional gambler (so good at winning money through card counting he's been banned in casinos across America), but also a certified public accountant. The Counting Game teaches the reader about the mechanics of card counting, the savvy acting skills needed not to get caught doing it, and especially about tax law, including how to take the government's due into account when calculating one's gambling profits. In particular, Berg notes that tax law is brutally regressive to recreational gamblers, effectively amounting to double taxation (and it's not much nicer to professional gamblers, who must adhere to stringent criteria to be considered such by the IRS). Taking the hypothetical example of a female recreational gambler who wins a $7000 casino jackpot and then amasses $7000 of losses in subsequent plays: "Her preparer explains that the $7000 win, even though wiped out by aggregate losses of roughly an equal amount, reduce her refund to the tune of $1475!" Although The Counting Game is the "must-have" blackjack counting book for anyone seeking to make money at casino tables, it effectively (and unintentionally?) is also one of the strongest exhortations not to gamble at all, simply because it spells out the unvarnished truth about what gambling for a living is really like, the severity of its risks, and the demands it makes upon a player. Highly recommended.



5. This is the second blackjack book I've read. It's very good and has a lot of interesting and useful information. It also only costs about 10 bucks, but there are two important points here: In Berg's view, one would need to start with about $150,000 to make serious money in blackjack. Second, he uses one of the most complex card-counting methods out there.

5 comments about Theory of Blackjack, Sixth Edition.

1. I ran across this book many years ago in a used bookstore (mine was the 2nd edition). I must say this book changed my opinion of books about gambling books. Up to that point, all the gambling books I've come across were laughable. But this book was startlingly different. It thoroughly explains the mathematics behind basic strategy and card counting techniques in a way that really made sense.

   This may sound too advanced for many folks, but frankly the math is fairly easy to understand (it mostly uses basic statistics that you probably learned and forgot in high school).

   If you are serious about card counting, the information in this book will help you evaluate BJ counting systems (or even systems you invent). It will also help you subtly modify your play for changes in rules at different casinos.

   Do you need to be a computer programmer to use this book? No, but it wouldn't hurt. Is this book useful for writing BJ simulators? Yes, but it's also great for really understanding what it takes to be a really good card counter.

   Personally, this book convinced me that I don't have the patience (or time) to become a good card counter. But at least now I know why.




2. THIS IS A GREAT BOOK FOR THE CASINO PROFESSIONAL.



3. Although this is a great book you really need to know what it is and what it IS NOT!
   It is not an introduction to blackjack. It's assumed you already know how to play the game.
   It is not an introduction to card counting. The author assumes you already know a card counting system, or at least have a basic understanding of what one entails.
   It is PROBABLY not going to make you a better player. It's not really a "how to" guide for the game as much as it's a guide to show you how to effectively ANALYZE the game.
   
   As the title suggests this book is a fairly comprehensive review of the theory of blackjack. While a traditional counting book will tell you the HOW of card counting, this book will show you WHY it works, how card counting systems are derived, how to compare the power of different card counting systems (the so-called "efficiences") and contrast them to an (linearly) ideal system. You will also learn how to calculate exact probabilities (well, really how to write a program to do this) that could be used to determine the values (in terms of expected return) of different hands or to design a tool that will give you the optimal play in any situation that may arrise in blackjack. This tool isn't to be confused with "basic strategy", which only gives you the optimal play off the top of a freshly shuffled shoe.
   
   This book is ideal for someone who is comfortable with playing blackjack in a casino environment, has a basic understanding of the difficulties faced by card counters, and is comfortable with mathematical formulas and their derivations (although a lot of concepts can be understood without a strong background in math, you'll get a lot more out of the book if you can follow its derivations). After reading it you should be in a position where you COULD develop your own card counting system, calculate expected values (essentially probabilities) for given hands and given plays, and have the satisfaction of knowing that you have a better understanding of the inner workings of blackjack than 99% of the people who play the game!



4. The theories in this book are rock solid, but unless you have a degree in mathematics, it will be a very tough read. There are lots of complex theories and equations that the everyday Joe might have a problem following.
   Also, this book mostly covers 1 deck blackjack which is not played in any casino in the world these days. Most casinos use 6-8 decks, but the theoretical aspect of the book holds true regardless on how many decks are used.



5. Who knew a mathematician could be so funny? In this well written, enormously entertaining and enlightening book, the late Peter Griffin tackles the questions of why blackjack can be beaten and what kind of edges players can get using a count system. There are some interesting revelations in the book, too. I would recommend that players with some experience of the game are the best audience for the book, and the truly best audience are those players who have mastered a card counting system and have enjoyed/suffered the slings and arrows of being an advantage player. This book clearly explains why blackjack is a roller coaster.
   
   I think this is one of the must-read blackjack books of all time.
   
   Frank Scoblete: Author of Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution!