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Rating: 
Summary: 10X +ROI in first 3 days
Review: I bought this book because I was going on vacation to a destination with a casino, and although I'm hardly an avid gambler, I thought I'd spend some time playing blackjack. But this time, I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing, because I was tired of simply showing up at a table with a pocketful of hope. I was aware that there were basic systems around for amateurs that purported to even out the casino's edge in blackjack, but to be honest, I'd never taken the time to read about them or learn one. If I ever knew all the right plays, like when to hit, stand, split or double in every conceivable situation, I had long ago forgotten the rules. For example, do you hit a 16 when the dealer has a 7 showing? Enter "Professor" Reynolds with The Complete Book of Blackjack. I call him Professor because I never would have imagined a more literate, humane, or succinctly instructive treatment of a subject like this. If you ever decide to play blackjack, the section on the "Basic Strategy (BS)" will repay you many times over. In this unit, you learn the cold, hard mathematically validated rules on when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, reinforced with practical exercises and drills. There's an immensely readable chapter on myths of blackjack, all debunked with the same matter-of-fact, analytically based style. I didn't have time to absorb info on money management techniques and the real payoff that comes from counting systems, but the Professor assured me that I could hold my own with the basic strategy, so I decided to give it a try. After three days of occasionally studying the tables and quizzing myself until I had BS memorized, I summoned up the courage to enter the casino, despite the fact that the book prudently warned me to practice at home or on the computer first. It's an entirely different game when you know the statistically right thing to do in every situation: violent emotions of hope and despair are replaced with relative calm and dispassionate observation. Don't get me wrong: this system doesn't guarantee that you will win every time out or get rich quick. It just insures you won't make a decision that concedes the advantage to the house. So what happened? I played for two hours the first night and won $85 betting $5 a hand. I played for 45 minutes the next day with the same betting routine and won $75. Unfortunately Professor Reynolds can't accompany you and swat you in the head when it's time to get up from the table-you have to do that for yourself, although he offers advice on how to quit when you're ahead. Cost of book: $12 plus shipping. Return: $160. Not bad for openers. I'm sure there are plenty of other books that offer similar systems and probably even more depth, but this a terrific primer for someone who doesn't want to devote his life to the subject. Thanks, Professor!
Rating:
Summary: A step-by-step guide to playing, winning, and discretion...
Review: I would consider myself a better than average card player, and I can play blackjack pretty well. But I have never looked at the formal mathematics or strategies involved in playing blackjack, *to win*. This book covers "BS", the Basic Strategy, in itself enough to improve your game. Once you master this topic (you are dealt an A,7 and the dealer has a 3, what do you do?), the author introduces more and more advanced topics to continually improve you chances of winning (or rather remove the advantage the casinos already have, i.e. your chances of losing) These advanced topics include several different methods of counting cards (take your pick), ranging your bet based on the count, and then finally using MBS, or "Modified Basic Strategy", complete with a whole new set of tables to master, oh my! This book provided me exactly the information I wanted to become a better player, namely the BS strategy table, methods for counting cards, and sound reasoning to back it up. As a bonus, the author continually stresses how to reduce the chances of getting wiped out, and in general I think provides some good tips to keep in mind when gambling.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent discussion of topics from beginner to expert...
Review: I would consider myself a better than average card player, and I can play blackjack pretty well. But I have never looked at the formal mathematics or strategies involved in playing blackjack, *to win*. This book covers "BS", the Basic Strategy, in itself enough to improve your game. Once you master this topic (you are dealt an A,7 and the dealer has a 3, what do you do?), the author introduces more and more advanced topics to continually improve you chances of winning (or rather remove the advantage the casinos already have, i.e. your chances of losing) These advanced topics include several different methods of counting cards (take your pick), ranging your bet based on the count, and then finally using MBS, or "Modified Basic Strategy", complete with a whole new set of tables to master, oh my! This book provided me exactly the information I wanted to become a better player, namely the BS strategy table, methods for counting cards, and sound reasoning to back it up. As a bonus, the author continually stresses how to reduce the chances of getting wiped out, and in general I think provides some good tips to keep in mind when gambling.
Rating:
Summary: A step-by-step guide to playing, winning, and discretion...
Review: I've got to declare my bias up front... I'm the author's son, *but* I am also a computer programmer -- *the* computer programmer that wrote the simulation programs used by T.J. Reynolds in his research, in fact. I knew very little about the game before I became responsible for replicating its play electronically and assisting in the proof-reading... I used the amalgamated systems to win enough to pay for my honeymoon cruise through the Carribean, and still had enough left over to buy a *very* nice watch! The best thing about the book, in my opinion, is how the author explains the rationale behind every element of the Basic Strategy as well as the more complex topics in a straight forward manner that seems to assist in remembering them. I also appreciate the section that debunks the common Myths of Blackjack, and shatters the superstitions that are the most common causes of ruin among amateurs -- once again he pulls no punches about the statistics while wording the explainations in a way that is accessible to those of us who are crappy at Math... With this book -- which is a fusion of all the most noted works on the game of BlackJack published this century -- you don't need to buy any of the originals by Thorpe, Wong, Uston, etc. -- It's all inside reduced to the essential concepts without any of the peripheral dissertations that would only be of interest to Statisticians. If you can only afford to buy or travel with one book, THIS IS THE ONE!
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