good Blackjack books?

[sem25]

I recently becam interested in BJ and looking for some good books. I recently bought Ricahrd Harvey's "Blackjack the SMART way" after reading some reviews of it off of Amazon. So far, I'm not convinced. I was just wondering if people can reccommend good books. Thanks.

[playersare]

i'm pretty sure the Richard Harvey is NOT on any reputable pro player's recommended list.

how about:
Knock-Out Blackjack (Vancura/Fuchs)
Blackjack Bluebook II (Renzey)
Profesional Blackjack (Wong)
Blackbelt In Blackjack (Snyder)

or just learn basic strategy for free on wizardofodds or blackjackinfo.com

[pocketse7ens]

Profesional Blackjack.

[Shaggy]

Blackbelt in Blackjack by Snyder is an excellent text that will get you started as well as introduce you to more advanced concepts. Also check out his website: www.blackjackforumonline.com

-Shaggy

[ebull]

Lawrence Rever - Ken Usury - two of the better books. Revere has very good charts on what to expect when you have particular cards; Usury (Million Dollar Blackjack) is fascinating look at card counting teams as well as CC systems.

Wish I remembered more but have given up BJ for poker.

Good luck, positive variance.

[nvrthnkofagood1]

"Blackjack Attack, Playing the Pro's Way" is currently considered the definitive guide to cardcounting, but you have to be competent at that first as it doesn't start from the basics. It's by Don Schlesinger, good story at the beginning as well.

[Edenfield99]

[ QUOTE ]
Lawrence Rever - Ken Usury - two of the better books. Revere has very good charts on what to expect when you have particular cards; Usury (Million Dollar Blackjack) is fascinating look at card counting teams as well as CC systems.

Wish I remembered more but have given up BJ for poker.

Good luck, positive variance.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not trying to be picky but I guess you mean Ken Uston - Million Dollar Blackjack is a great book, I can't comment on the strategy but I really enjoyed it and don't even play the game

[ReidDeCardes]

As was posted previously, Richard Harvey is not well respected. Also avoid John Patrick.

Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong is a classic but beyond beginner
Blackjack Attack by Don Schlesinger is great but not for beginners
KO Blackjack is good for beginners
Blackjack Blueprint is good for beginners
The Blackjack Zone is good for beginners
Play Blackjack Like the Pros is good for beginners

THese are only neccessary if you want to learn counting, otherwise follow the advice given before and see the tables on www.blackjackinfo.com or wizardofodds.com

If you get serious about counting buy the program Casino Verite by Norm Wattenberger

[CORed]

Uston's Million Dollar blakcjakc is a good book. The stories about his play are worth the price of the book. The advice on specific gambling venues is hopelessly out of datte. Te Uston Advanced Point count is too difficult for most people, but the simple Plus/Minus is okay. It's similar to hi/lo, but counts 3-7 as + 1 istead of 2-6, which, IIRC gives it slightly worse betting correlation and slightly better playing correlation than hi/lo. It has a good explanation of the concepts behind card counting.

Overall, I would reccomend Wong's Professional Blackjack for a beginning counter. The EV charts in the back are worth the price of the book.

BTW, I'm pretty sure that Richard Harvey' book is utter garbage. Any book that begins by telling you that basic strategy and card counting don't work in the modern blackjack game should be used only as fuel for a wood stove.

[four-flush]

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.