Book reviews

[kewljason]

Came across a couple books at the bookstore that I read through today.

1.) Blackjack, Play like the Pro's. by John Bukofsky. This isn't a new book, published in 2006 but I hadn't seen it before. There was nothing new in the book that an experienced counter wouldn't probably already know, but it was extremely well put together, covered all the basics and was easy to read an understand. I know Norm W helped out on the book, so I am sure all the numbers are spot on acurate. Definately would be a book that I could recomment to anyone just starting out. (among many others)

2.) Doubledown guide to blackjack, by Joshua Hornik. I picked this up because I enjoyed Hornik's first book, 'Mensa guide to Blackjack' although it did contain some flaws. It only took a minute or two before I realized this was the same book. Not just the same material, but the exact same book word for word, repackaged and retitled! Not sure why they would do that, but thought I would mention it just incase anyone was thinking of this book.

Anyone have any opinions or comments about these books?

 

[Adm. Buckles]

Mensa endorsement

Maybe Hornik lost his Mensa Endorsement. Or possibly the "Mensa Guide to........." series did not prove as profitable as "Idiots Guide to........" and ".............for Dummies" so they quit publishing his book.:laugh:

 

[pooptarts92]

I too own Blackjack: Play Like The Pros. I liked it for the most part, but it did have a section where he said you only need something like a 2k bankroll for a certain bet spread, and when I tried it I lost pretty much everything... It's quite a high risk hail mary method but he didn't state that. Plus some indexes I had to disagree with although they're very marginal, such as waving 12 vs 2 at true 4 instead of true 3. But it had TONS of useful info on Uston's APC system and their methods of communicating the count to one another, how to side count aces with your feet, etc. Very cool section of the book.

 

[ArcticInferno]

Yes, "Blackjack: Play Like the Pros" by John Bukofsky is very good.
On the same level is "Play Blackjack Like the Pros" by Kevin Blackwood.
I feel that both books are essential in everyone's library.
Arnold Snyder has made tremendous contributions to the Blackjack community and has written numerous invaluable books. His latest book "The Big Book of Blackjack" is very entertaining overall, especially on the history of Atlantic City and the legal circus. However, the book contains an error. Arnold Snyder suggests always taking even money when you have a natural blackjack, and he sites a personal anecdote. He disagrees with mathematicians who advise taking insurance based on the count.
The concept of insurance is so misunderstood that even veteran authors are often stomped. If I ever write a book on Blackjack, I will devote an entire chapter on insurance explaining what it really is. In a short sentence, insurance (or even money) is an independent side game that has nothing to do with the original game at hand.

 

[QFIT]

Yes, "Blackjack: Play Like the Pros" by John Bukofsky is very good.
On the same level is "Play Blackjack Like the Pros" by Kevin Blackwood.
I feel that both books are essential in everyone's library.
Arnold Snyder has made tremendous contributions to the Blackjack community and has written numerous invaluable books. His latest book "The Big Book of Blackjack" is very entertaining overall, especially on the history of Atlantic City and the legal circus. However, the book contains an error. Arnold Snyder suggests always taking even money when you have a natural blackjack, and he sites a personal anecdote. He disagrees with mathematicians who advise taking insurance based on the count.
The concept of insurance is so misunderstood that even veteran authors are often stomped. If I ever write a book on Blackjack, I will devote an entire chapter on insurance explaining what it really is. In a short sentence, insurance (or even money) is an independent side game that has nothing to do with the original game at hand.

I think you missed the point of the chapter. Side bets are not completely independent of the main bet when you take risk into account. Insuring Blackjacks reduces variance. He is suggesting that a Kelly bettor insure BJs to improve risk-adjusted value and quotes Griffin in support of the argument. I don't agree that fully insuring BJs is better, even taking into account risk (i.e. SCORE) as the reduction in variance is not enough to counter the loss in EV. But, Arnold certainly does understand insurance.

Griffin supports partially insuring a BJ, and if I remember correctly, MathProf once wrote a paper on calculating risk-adjusted, partial insurance. But that's really overkill. An easier solution is to simply lower the index when insuring a BJ.

OTOH, from a cover point of view, the advice makes perfect sense. I cover this to some degree in Modern Blackjack pages 141-142.

Edit: The logic at the top of page 142 in Big Book doesn't make sense to me. But this doesn't make the argument moot.

 

[Finn Dog]

An easier solution is to simply lower the index when insuring a BJ.

From TC+3 to what, Norm?

Regards,

FD

 

[QFIT]

From TC+3 to what, Norm?

Regards,

FD

Haven't run the sims. As far as cover is concerned, it also depends on how many times the situation comes up.

The nice thing about insuring a BJ, is that if you have a lot of money out, the count was high and insurance is probably the correct play anyhow. If insurance is not the correct play, then you probably have a small bet out and the insurance cover play is reasonably cheap.