Blackjack Autumn
It has been a few months since I have reviewed a Blackjack book, but it was worth
the wait. When Barry Meadow contacted me and asked me if he could send me
a copy of his book to review I jumped at the chance. I made a quick trip over to
Amazon-dot-com to get a glimpse of what to expect and gladly accepted Barry's
offer.
The full title of Barry's book is "Blackjack Autumn: A True Tale of Life, Death, and Splitting Tens in Winnemucca". Barry's sense of humor is evident from cover to closing, and I enjoy people who can live life without taking things too seriously. Playing Blackjack is like living life on a big piece of green felt. Decisions, luck, spilt drinks, and money - LOTS of money. Splitting 10's to me is the nitro-injection part of this race to making cash. The rush of making this play is priceless - almost worth getting barred over. It wasn't too far into the book I got what Barry was saying about death in his title. A little girl gets killed when her father forgets about her while playing slot machines. Some gambles should never be taken, and these include taking chances with other people's lives, especially children. Barry also loses his Father and has to return home for a bit, but goes on with his plan once he sees that his Mother is doing quite well on her own.
The first chapter is titled "It's All About The Banjamin's Baby", which just happens to be one of my favorite songs. I'm not sure if Barry is a fan of Puff Daddy's, but all Blackjack players are a fan of Benjamin Franklin as pictured on the US $100 bill. The chapter sets it all straight. Nothing matters more than the money, especially in Nevada.
So how the heck was Barry going to make his stacks of Benjie's? Often impatient, I E-mailed Barry to ask him a few technical questions about his counting skills. He wrote me back and told me to read on and all would be revealed in good time. Sure enough as I read further I found out Barry's counting system. Barry uses the Uston APC with a full compliment of play adjusting indices as made famous in Ken's Uston's book Million Dollar Blackjack. Anyone willing to take two months and subject themselves to playing Blackjack in the desert should be using a system as serious as the APC.
The book begins with a little history lesson about Nevada and Las Vegas, and goes from there. Barry recounts each day's events, including the colorful characters along the way. There is nothing more interesting than people, and the angle Barry sees them from is refreshingly honest and entertaining. At the bottom of each days events is the days total win/loss and the running total for the entire two month trip.
Reading this book you will quickly find that having read about any of the places Barry hits along the way, you've got a very good picture of that particular casino. I could often see exactly what Barry described in words in my mind having been to some of the places he plays along the way. So much of Blackjack is playing conditions, and Barry sees them all, good, bad, and down right ugly. Some of the spots he plays are almost worth driving out to just to find out if Ms. Dealer is still dealing down to the last cards in a one deck game.
As you read you will get a good idea of Barry's playing style. As he climbs his bets he often splits to two hands. This is a good way to hide your spread and decrease your risk at the same time. Although Barry rides the BJ roller-coaster of fluctuation, at times with a timid heart, he manages a very sweet 60 day trip total of $21,005 with his APC and his playing skills.
For a fun read, this book is the ticket if you enjoy gambling, Blackjack in particular. Even if you don't gamble or play Blackjack, this book is a lot of fun. If you're a counter as most readers of this review will be, you'll be getting a full appreciation of Barry's entire experience. It would almost be worth your while to learn a simple Hi/Low count and what indices are before you start your read if you don't count!
Barry is easy to get in touch with, as is the publishing company which sells his book. This is a quality hard covered book, well worth the price of $27.95US and $36.95CAN. You can contact Barry at BMeadow@aol.com. The publisher's E-mail address is TRPub@aol.com. You can order the book from the publisher at this page http://www.trpublishing.com/p0000854.htm, or from Amazon.com.