"Finding the Edge"

Cyrano

Well-Known Member
Let me tell you guys about a book I read a little while ago that has really impressed me. It's called "Finding the Edge", edited by Vancura, Cornelius, and Eadington. It's more of a analysis book, similar to "BJA2" but without all the ego. Contributions were made by notables in both the gambling as well as the academic communities, including such names as Mason Malmuth (of poker fame), Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura (KO Authors), Edward Thorp, and Peter Griffin. Though this book isn't expressly focused on BJ, there are articles here that deals with BJ, as well as other games. One of the most interesting artcles I read was the "Study of Index Rounding in Card-Counting". Fuchs and Vancura make a terrific case for using rounded index numbers, compared to exact numbers, saying that there's a negligible loss in EV (about -0.01 when comparing rounded indices of the top 16 plays to exact indices of the top 16 plays). If you learn 63 playes, your gain is only +10% of EV. Imagine that! You can skew your PLAYING indices +/- 4 points and you will still be playing much better than BS! They say, though, that betting is much more closely dependent on the count. Oh, by the way, Thorp's treatise on the Kelly Criterion in this book is legendary.

This was only one article. There is a section for BJ, Variations in BJ, Gambling in general, Kelly Criterion, New games and wagers, and Other casino games. Though this book is geared mostly for the academic (the articles were presented in the Ninth International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, 1994) who is interested in the "why's", I think the average gambler would be able to learn much from this book.
 
Top