Get The Edge At Blackjack
Over the past year John May has become a very good friend of mine. How can that be?
Me here is Toronto Ontario, John somewhere in the UK. We got to know each other at the
Blackjack Card Counter's Cafe'.
You will never find a greater bunch of guys to talk about our game. There are over 800 members now.
Impresive to say the least.
I had first heard of John when I read his book Baccarat for the Clueless (The Clueless Guides). It was only a matter of time before someone came up with clueless guides for gamblers. Gamblers with no clue should stay home. John's book is the definitive work on the subject of Baccarat. It didn't take long for someone like Frank Scoblete to tap into John's other main profession, that being an amazing Blackjack player.
Way back in September of last year John's book was scheduled to come out. Finally, Get The Edge At Blackjack started pouring out of Amazon.com and became the # 1 bestselling Blackjack book in no time! I couldn't find it any where in Canada (piety!) and waited for Frank Scoblete to send me my review copy. I waited until January, and couldn't participate in all the chater about the book, so I ordered it from Amazon. I got the book in a few days and read it that first night by the light of the silvery lampshade beside my bed.
"Merche - aun pienzo en ti durante las horas del crepulsco". Always liking a little linguistic multi-cultural challenge, I had to know what this meant. One of the senoiritas at my workplace helped me out. It means "Merche - I'm thinking about you during the hours of sunset". The last word may have a spelling error from what I am told, but since I am the King of spelling errors, and I am not Spanish, what do I know?
After reading through Frank Scoobie's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious introduction, I saw underneath all the foam "a steaming hot cup of cappacino worthy of the lips of the Madonna herself". OPPS! I've caught what ever Frank had when he was doing the intro! Seriously. John's book quickly and furiously gets into the fray of the winning game. I usually skip over the Basic Strategy chapters, but when reviewing a book will read the whole work of art. John sums up Basic Strategy when he explains why a certain play is correct: "The computer says so". Ain't it the truth?
John gives Edward Thorpe the recognition he deservers in a nice little piece on his history. Then he goes on to cover the Hi-Lo count, True Count, and play indices. John then compaires different counts and the need for cover techniques. On page 47 John gets into the reason this book was published. It's time to tell all about the Advantage Play Techniques!
Card Steering. If a player can cut a certain number of cards consistantly from the back of the deck, the player will know where the bottom card is. First, you have to see the bottom card. Then you have to be able to have a consistant cut. The example given is one of 23 cards. The player then knows what the 23rd card will be. If it is an Ace the player has a 50% advantage. If it is a 10 card the player has a 13% advantage. John says bet 40% of your bankroll for the Ace and 10% of your bankroll for the 10. Not quite all your eggs in one basket, but getting close.
Card Sequencing. Covers how cards stay in a certain order after being shuffled and how to watch for them. Shadow Play is just observing flashed cards. Glims is where you look for the reflection of the dealer's cards on something shinny, like a $1 coin or the chip tray. Card Forcing is where you cut and twist the card to get a look at the bottom card, then play as if Card Steering. This is what the AC casinos acussed David Morris of doing to keep him from playing.
John also goes into Blackjack on the 'net. He covers Net Matchplay Hustlers briefly, and also covers affilate programs to a certain degree. Things change so fast on the 'net that anything written is outdated before it goes to press. I'm sure John would have covered this more deeply now than he did last year.
Blackjack and Sex. "A card-counting female player has many advantages over her male counterpart". Indeed! John takes a look at Lawrence Revere's challenge to women players and finds they are not taking advantage of their mystique they way they should be. They can often take advantage of male dealers and make plenty of hundreds doing so, but not quite the way the picture shows us!
John finishes the book on page 152 and tells of the better places to learn Blackjack from on the 'net. Rolling Good Times Online, Henry Tamburin, John Grochowski, Andy Glazer, Fred Renzey, and Scoobie Doo himself at www.scoblete.com. Also mentioned are Arnold Snyder's, Michael Dalton's, and Stanford Wong's sites. Best of all, he mentions the Card Counters Cafe which has gone into the top 50 clubs at Yahoo.
I love this book. I can't stop reading it. I remember when Bruce Lee said "Before I started Kung Fu training, a kick was just a kick, a punch was just a punch. Then I learn a kick was not just a kick, and a punch was not just a punch. After many years of training, a kick is just a kick again, and a punch is just a punch". You get tired of reading about counting, betting, play indices, comps, and cover. John gives the newbie enough to get them started, and shows his skill as a Master of Blackjack to those of us who know the game enough to see his enlightening view shining clearly across the "Green Baize". Buy the book from Amazon here.