good Blackjack books?

[CaucasianAsian29]

is Skalansky on BJ pretty good?

[four-flush]

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is Skalansky on BJ pretty good?

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I have no idea as I have never read his book. If you do a search and scan the net for customer reviews you should find among them knowledgeable players who have read it and give their 2c worth. It will thus not be hard to tell whether his book is `good' or bad based on reviews.

Keep in mind that since the 1970s a mass of blackjack/card counting books have flooded the market. Many of these are from poeople who read the classics (i.e. the BJ books I recommended in my last post), won money card counting or claim to have done so. What I recommend is stick with a basic system, that is using the basic strategy plus a simple card counting strategy. Obtain BJ books that have accurate mathematical advice/information on such things as the law of large numbers, risk of ruin, the normal curve, standard deviation and the like as it applies to BJ and card counting. Most of the `newer' books barely scrape the surface as far as this is concerned. One excellent text in this regard is Epstein's The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic. You want a simple strategy that will work and solid a grounding in the `long run', variance and fluctuations.

[Leptyne]

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The following books are classics,

1) Beat the Dealer (Edward O. Thorp, 1966, 2nd print)
2) Playing Blackjack as a Business (Lawrence Revere)
3)The Theory of Blackjack (Peter A. Griffin)
4) Million Dollar Blackjack (Ken Uston)

Some will warn that certain books are out of date, like Uston's and Thorp's, but I believe you should still read them. Griffin's book is the most advanced ever written on card counting. No one else's book even comes close (including Thorp, the `father' of card counting).

Almost all the above authors (bar Revere) would agree that simple is better than complex, in terms of the card counting strategy you use. Uston cites team mistakes when handling a complex count, Griffin notes of the potential errors (and has an interesing mathematical analysis of playing efficiency vs betting efficiency). Thorp et al of course, won using the simplest of all systems (although it was decades ago).

The mentally more difficult strategies (multi-parametic) are more advanced to be sure, but require an incredible speed to do the arithmetic needed as opposed to the simple plus/minus system.

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IMHO Thorpe is the standard by which others are measured. His theory of learning to play his system at home with the TV blaring, in the middle of a party, and carrying on a conversation is priceless and practical.