Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book. Get it, Read it, Learn it!
Review: There are several good introductions to Blackjack card counting on the market. This is one of them, and it's as good as any. The unbalanced level one Knock-Out (KO) count system is both very simple and very powerful. This book does not provide all the information a card counter needs to know, but it's a good start. There's very little here for the experienced card counter unless you're looking to switch systems.Wanna Practice your Blackjack skills online? Try www.intertops.com. Use the bonus codes (both) "bootcamp" and "free20" and you will receive a free $20 bet. Want to play poker? Try playing poker online at www.partypoker.com - make sure you use the bonus code: "AMAZON25" and you will receive $25 free on your first purchase at www.PartyPoker.com. If you already play at PartyPoker, you can also play at www.Pokerroom.com. Use the promotion code "100BONUS" and you will receive 20% up to $100.
Rating:
Summary: A relatively easy-to-use card counting method that works
Review: This book explains the Knock-Out ("K-O") set of point count values, which you use to determine when to raise your bet and by how much. Traditional card counting methods, such as the Hi-Lo, require you to compute a "true" count, which is the running count divided by the number of decks remaining to be dealt. But this type of computation can lead to errors since (1) you have to estimate the number of decks in the discard tray in order to be able to calculate the number of decks remaining to be dealt, and (2) you must then mentally divide the running count by the number of decks remaining. And you have to do all of this quickly enough so the casino personnel don't become suspicious that you are an advantage player; otherwise you risk being barred from playing blackjack at that casino. The K-O, like the Hi-Lo, is a one-level counting method in that the point count value for each card is either 0, 1, or -1. High cards (10s and Aces) are counted as -1, neutral cards as zero, and low cards as 1. As the count gets more and more positive, the remaining cards to be dealt contain a greater number of high cards versus low cards. This means your chance of getting a blackjack is higher than right after a shuffle, and thus you should increase your bet to take advantage of this opportunity. But with the K-O, as opposed to the Hi-Lo, you do not have to compute a true count. You simply add the 0, 1, and -1 values as the cards are dealt to calculate the running count. Then you use just the running count alone to determine your bet for the next round. There is no need to track either the number of decks in the discard tray or the number of decks remaining to be dealt, and, almost too wonderful for words, there is no headache-inducing, "dividing in your head" required! Amazingly, even with the simplicity of just using a running count to determine your bet amounts, the K-O provides about the same win rate as the Hi-Lo! I know this from running simulations on the excellent Blackjack 6-7-8 software written by Hal Marcus. By the way, I thought I died and went to heaven when I discovered the Blackjack 6-7-8 strategy cards. Just like the K-O count makes the betting decisions easier, these strategy cards make the playing decisions unbelievably easier. First of all, they look marvelous, and they feel like butter! But seriously, you just find the table that corresponds to the rules where you'll be playing, and then the large, easy to read, easy to remember, 3-letter, color-coded decision cells (including surrender, if you please) practically make the memorizing fun! If I have some time to practice, the Blackjack 6-7-8 software is the best, but when I keep putting it off until it's time to board the big bird from Chicago bound for Vegas, then I just whip out a strategy card, choose the table I want, and I can know it cold before the pilot says "fasten your seat belts, we're getting ready to land". Now could you increase your win rate by using more complex counting methods than the K-O? Sure, in theory, but more complex counting methods increase the chance of making errors which can quickly nullify the benefit of using such a counting method. With regard to the betting guidelines in the book, I would amend them to use a bet ratio of 1 to 8 for 2 decks (instead of 1 to 5) and 1 to 16 for 6 and 8 decks (instead of 1 to 10), since in my 30 years of experience I have found that most casinos are usually tolerant of these bet ratios. The authors' advice is valuable, their writing is easy to follow, and I like the humorous sidebars sprinkled throughout the book, such as the gumball analogy in Chapter 3 to explain why card counting works. But the K-O count methodology is simply superior, and that's really why I find it valuable to use the K-O count, along with the superb Blackjack 6-7-8 strategy cards from Stickysoft (search on: blackjack basic strategy), to make it as easy as possible for me to "get the edge" over the house!
Rating:
Summary: I Liked This and "Best Blackjack" by Scoblete
Review: This book is very good and the counting system is easy to learn. It is also very well written. I have read about eight books now on blackjack and this and Best Blackjack by Frank Scoblete are the very best of the lot. The Scoblete book goes into more of the experiences that the author has had in casinos and these are really interesting. This book goes more into the math ofthe game. Together you will probably learn all you need to learn to beat the casinos at their own blackjack games. Get both.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book.
Review: This book is well written and covers material from the beginning level to the pro. I also recommend, Gregorian Strategy for muliple deck blackjack.
Rating:
Summary: Real-time KO system testing in the casinos!
Review: This is one of the most concise and practical blackjack books on the market. The new blackjack player will have to spend some time (2-3 months) training, but once the Preferred and Betting strategies are ingrained, the results are spectacular. Here is my "study" of real-time KO play in Vegas. I played a 6-deck shoe with insurance, late surrender, using a scaled betting strategy of 6 units per 1% advantage (ramp of 6), and going out to a maximum of 20 betting units. In addition I used the "bad shoe" exit strategy (sit out bad shoes). KO played in this manner had a positive expectancy > 0.73%. In the real world, I have won 6 consecutive outings using strictly the KO system. In addition the avg. profit is about 3-4 times the base bet per hour (using the above criteria) in my experience. Each of my outing for KO was played with a minimum of 200 betting units and 20 hours minimum playing time. Each KO outing consisted of at least 1600 hands. Win accuracy > 70% in # of rounds played (3-hr session = 1 "round"). I never had a drawdown in equity of > 40 betting units at any one point in time (with my initial 200 betting units). My max bet was 14 betting units in one hand, and most never exceeded 10 betting units. Finally, minimal pit boss heat since most plays are consistent with basic strategy.
You must play aggressively and follow the precise play & betting strategies correctly! But KO is very easy to learn and master. One can get significantly better results using the same betting scale on more accurate systems like APC or AO-II (avg. of 10-20 times base bet per hour in expected profits due to the much higher playing accuracy and expectancies), but it does take much more effort to track the True Count and multiple level-counts. For recreational CONSISTENT & PROFITABLE playing, KO is tough to beat. If you want to be in the top 0.5% of all players, then learn AO-II, Uston APC, or Revere APC systems. Good luck and train hard! Most of all, have fun knowing you are playing well - regardless of winning or losing! Just enjoy the moment of the game!
Rating: 
Summary: A very badly written book
Review: This is one of the most poorly written books I have ever read. The system is quite simple and could be explained clearly in a few pages of charts, but the authors have no idea how to make a clear explanation. It would take a conscious effort to make a simple idea any more confusing than has been done in KO Blackjack. Unfortunately, while the KO count system appears to be a good one -- combining ease of use with a fair amount of power -- the authors make it as difficult to learn as possible. There is a fair amount of information for beginners but, again, this information is better-presented in other volumes. I would strongly recommend that players at all levels go to another book. Advanced players will want a more powerful system, such as Omega II or Revere. Beginning-intermediate players might well want to use the KO system, but it's a lot easier to understand other simple systems such as Red 7. Nothing here against the KO system, which is a good one, or Ken Fuchs, who is reported to be a very nice guy and a learned and helpful blackjack expert. But I wouldn't buy this book unless it comes out in a second edition with a complete rewrite.
Rating:
Summary: The best counting book ever written.
Review: This is the best counting book ever written for recreational blackjack players, IMHO. It reduces the error rate to a manageable level and makes the counting so simple that I can drink, flirt with the waitresses, and still leave at 4am with a profit (usually, that is - there will always be the variance to contend with).
I wrote a simulation that showed that with a 1 to 10 betting spread over 83 million hands, this system averages a 4.46% return - given a 6 deck shoe and the best common casino rules. Given the simplicity of the system, the rate under "real" conditions probably comes much closer to the optimum than most systems.
The only bone I have to pick is that the explanations of the system were a little unclear, but after careful reading I was able to figure it out without too much trouble.
There may be better systems, but this has got to be the best at balancing the human error rate against the efficiency of the system.
Rating:
Summary: Want to win? Get this book!
Review: This is THE book for you, if you want to beat the casinos for a change. Whether you are considering playing professionally, or if you're thinking about playing for fun - this book contains all the information you need to be a winner. Why not pay for your trip to Vegas?
Rating:
Summary: From a beginner¿s prospective
Review: This is the first book I have ever read about blackjack and gambling. I know, as many of you already do, that Blackjack does afford the player the best advantage out of any game in the casino. I have never sat down at a Blackjack table because I knew that without knowing the proper counting and basic strategy techniques, the house would always win in the long run. I had read on the Internet of various card-counting methodologies, however they all seemed to complicated and discouraging to ever consider seriously proceeding with (unless of course I had a degree from MIT, which I don't.) Alas, I read a review of Knock-Out in the Chicago Sun-Times, which alluded to my concerns over difficulty. This book is straightforward and interesting to read, and the card-counting technique is regarded as being simple to use comparatively to other popular techniques. Even though, admittedly, this will take some practice, I am confident I can master Knock-Out with enough patience and I am not discouraged to the point of not bothering to try. I did find it somewhat surprising how much money and time is needed to have an satisfactory amount of return with relatively low risk (the fact that you start to max your betting with only a 2% advantage over the house is a testament to this fact.) Nevertheless, the book only took a couple of days to read, and it was truly hard to set down. Even though this is the first Blackjack book I have ever read, from a beginner's prospective, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Wish me luck!
Rating:
Summary: Positive Chip Flow
Review: Tired of losing on each trip to the big C? This book turns thetables and lets you the player gain the upper hand! It takes practice,but I've seen a lot of systems, and this one's the easiest. Highly recommended.
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