Best Book On Blackjack Strategy
Beat the Dealer. Edward Oakley Thorp is an American mathematics professor and blackjack player. On playing blackjack on the Internet, the 6-5 insurance rule, and a new section on strategies. The most important book available to blackjack. How did one blackjack pro walk away with an impressive $120,500 in winnings? Learn how he did it as he reveals his best Blackjack game techniques and tips. How to win at Blackjack - a basic, simplified strategy card for online Blackjack.
Recently, I was at the UNLV campus visiting the Gaming Research Center that is on the third floor of the Lied Library. I do this from time to time as a point of review, and to stay sharp on advantage play techniques and insights. There is a special collections section at the center where almost every gaming book and academic paper ever published on the topic resides. It is easily the most complete gaming book collection in the world. Some of the books are classic text on a variety of advantage plays and some are essential reading for the aspiring professional player, while others are sheer rubbish and not worth the paper they’re written on.
The visit led me to reflect on all the books and articles I have read on advantage play over the years, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of hundreds and thousands respectively. Four books stand out among all other texts that have been written on the subject. This is not to say that these are the only ones worth reading, and there are dozens of authors that have made significant contributions to advancement of the field. And I will give those books an honorable mention toward the end of the piece. But these four in my humbled, but informed opinion are keystone text that one is able to derive all of the most essential advantage play techniques from.
The first of the four books should be no surprise to anyone who has studied gambling, even at the most superficial levels. In 1962 Ed Thorp published Beat the Dealer. It was the first scientifically based text on the subject that was widely distributed among the public. The idea a casino game was beatable was a completely foreign concept to the general public and this book brought the ideology front and center for all to see.
The ideas in Beat the Dealer were developed in the time when single deck blackjack was the dominating table game in Las Vegas. The introduction of Thorps book caused Las Vegas to alter the rules of the traditional 21 game, but the original rules were quickly reinstated shortly after the change in the rules caused the guest of the Las Vegas hotels and casino to practically vanish.
As additional decks and rule changes were added to the traditional single deck game, Thorps original analysis had to be modified. There have been a variety of authors and players who have attempted to put their spin on the Thorps ground-breaking work, some do it justice while others fall well short of that goal. Long time professional player and author, Henry Tamburin PhD, in his online document, The Ultimate Guide to Blackjack published on the 888casino.com blog, does a solid job of putting Thorps original analysis in a framework that is consistent with the modern era. Professor Thorp will be publishing a new book in late January, 2017. A Man For All Markets is a reflection on his life, his influence on Las Vegas and the Stock and options markets as well as offer advice on the general business of life.
The second of the four books I find essential in the advancement of advantage blackjack play is Peter Griffins: The Theory of Blackjack. This book broke down every aspect of blackjack in a strict mathematical approach. The entire book reads like a high level math text. Essentially, it is one proof after another, using multi-variable calculus in both integral and derivative aspects. A lay person flipping through it on a casual basis would likely be put off by the page after page of equations and quickly discard it as not being worth the effort. But like most things in casino gaming, the opposite is true.
The approaches by Griffin outlined the fundamental proofs that the aspiring game theorist should apply to their analysis of any game they are trying to solve. Simply stated The Theory of Blackjack was a blueprint for future advantage players to follow when determining what questions to ask when they are developing new strategies. It also provides general directions for the hopeful problem solver.
Ken Uston’s book Million Dollar Blackjack is the third book in the quartet of required reading. Ken Uston even after his death remains one of the most controversial players in the history of the game. MDB is an amazing book and Uston’s breakdown of complex ideas to simple and understandable form remains his greatest achievement. The book introduces a variety of new concepts like the introduction of a multi level counting system and ace side counts. Gaussian distribution curves on hit frequencies of the most frequent win percentage, as well as comparative analysis between multi level counting systems and single level system are among the new Ideas introduced by Uston in MDB. I have found something new in the book every time I have read it.
Beyond Counting Exhibit CAA is arguably the most advanced text ever written on the subject of Blackjack and the other aspects of casino gaming. It is also one of the rarest. Only 1000 copies were printed and you had to be screened by the author and approved to purchase the book. The original price was $250 but the when a copy of the book does come up for sale on Ebay, the price approaches $4000. The 700 page book reads like math text book in some places and a sarcastic commentary in others. It evaluates games like 3 card poker, Caribbean Stud and even discusses approaches on the big six wheel and roulette. I humbly admit I did not grasp every concept on the first go through. Most players, including me, only apply one or two chapters to at a time. This leads to more than adequate profits for the dedicated practitioner.
James Grosjean who authored Beyond Counting Exhibit CAA is considered by every AP to be the best in the business when skill is measured by dedication, desire and analytical ability. The Grosjean Cup that represents the title of the world’s greatest blackjack is awarded every year at the annual Blackjack Ball. It was named after James after he was barred for competition 7 years ago because he took first or second every year in the decade prior to his being banned from competing.
These four books in my experience make up the most important books in advantage gaming to date. There are a few additional authors that also have made very impressive contributions to the advancement of advantage play. Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong and Playing Blackjack as a Business are two classic texts. Anything by Arnold Snyder is a good starting point for most novice players. Lastly, Turning the Tables on Las Vegas by Ian Anderson is a great read with equally great insights.
Best Book On Blackjack Strategy Pdf
Go forth and conquer.
Nicholas is the Managing Director of Alea Consulting Group, a casino gaming consulting firm with a player centric philosophy. It is staffed with world class players, gaming authors, mathematicians, top legal minds and a variety of industry professionals.
Follow Nicholas and Alea on twitter @byth3numb3rs.
Free bet blackjack is one of the most popular casino games at Malaysia casino. It is a kind of banking game with only one goal- to attain a hand whose total is nearer to twenty-one than the hand of the banker, but without exceeding twenty one. It comes in numbers of variations, yet the most popular version is the standard version. Learn More About Online Blackjack – Rules and Strategy in the Game to be able to have the best gaming experience you never had before.
Those players who are engaged in blackjack play through receiving two cards of either face down or face up. The dealer on the other hand that represents the house takes the face up card and has another, which is concealed from the player.
Blackjack is usually played with the international 52-card deck without the jokers. Most of the online live dealer casino utilize several deck mixed together to seep up the game and to make the card counting even more difficult.
Learn More About Online Blackjack – Rules and Strategy in the Game
Blackjack Rule Book
In order to beat the dealer, players should not bust first and second, either have the dealer bust or outscore the dealer. How to play blackjack online is the most common word that people search in some search engine thats why we provide it in our site.Listed below are some of the major rules of the game.
- This game should be played with 1 to 8 decks of the 52-card decks.
- The hand’s value is the sum of point values of the cards of each individual. Except, blackjack is the highest hand that is consists of ace as well as 10-point card. It outranks the other 21-point cards.
- Aces might be counted as one or eleven points, two to nine according to the pip values and face and tens cards count as ten points.
- If the dealers have an ace showing, they will certainly offer side bet, which is called ‘insurance’. The side wager mainly plays two or one if and only if the hole card of the dealer is any of the 10-point cards.
- Right after the players have bet, the dealer will provide two cards to every player and two cards to himself. One of the cards of the dealer is dealt face up. The insurance wagers are optional and might not exceed half of the original wager.
- If the dealer has a blackjack, all the wages will loss, unless players have blackjack, which might lead to a push. It is the time when the dealer will resolve the insurance.
- If the dealers have ten or even an ace showing, they will peek at their face down in order to see if they have blackjack. If they do, they will turn it over immediately.
- The winning wagers pay even money, except the winning player usually pays three to two.
Strategies in Playing Online Blackjack
- Do not split the fives. That is total of ten, which can be a doubling hand for you.
- Always split the eights and Aces.
- Never take the insurance, as it is a bet that does not offer any value to the players.
- Find games that let soft doubling. Luckily, many opportunities are available out there.
- Use surrender options it if they are offered. An option lets you to save your bet against the strong dealer upcard most especially when you have stiff hand.
- Find games that let DDAS or doubling down after split. That will give you more ways to win in the game.
- When playing the Basic Strategy, you will hit a hand and have a decision to make. It this case, plug the multi-card hands back right into the Basic Strategy and then make right and wise decision.
- Do not ever disqualify the hitting hands like fifteen or sixteen. It might seem a foolish move, but in some situations, it is part of the proper Basic Strategy approach.