What book to buy?

J

jmp

Active Member
Hello.

1 week ago i watched a TV program about the legendary BJ card counter Tommy Hyland, and i thought, hey, that sounds interesting.
So i surfed the net for information, and here i am.
I know about Basic Stradigy and im currently practicing it, every day. I also know about card counting, and im practicing the Hi-Lo type(currently i got one deck down to about 40 secs).
As it is now, im constantly loosing, although im playing exactly after the Basic Stradigy, and using the Hi-Lo stradigy, so i must be missing something(besides practice). I've searched for a book that might help me, but i quickly found out that there are hundreds of them out there.
Which one should i choose?
PS: im not planning to make BJ my main income. Im almost done with school, got exams in not so long, so right now it's just going to be learning to get good at it, and maybe sometime in the future i might go to real casinos and play for real money.

Thanks in advance, JMP.
 
zengrifter

zengrifter

Banned
Start with two books: Blackbelt in BJ by Snyder, and Knockout Blackjack by Fuchs & Vancura. Then decide whether to learn KO, HiLoLITE, Red7 or ZEN.

Also, read my interview, here on the interview page. zg
 
J

jmp

Active Member
zengrifter said:
Start with two books: Blackbelt in BJ by Snyder, and Knockout Blackjack by Fuchs & Vancura. Then decide whether to learn KO, HiLoLITE, Red7 or ZEN.

Also, read my interview, here on the interview page. zg
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Thanks alot. Im going to order them right away.

JMP.
 
B

bigbjfan

Well-Known Member
I agree 100% with Zengrifter. Blackbelt in BJ by Snyder, and Knockout Blackjack by Fuchs & Vancura are the two books I started out with and they have given me a solid foundation to build upon. I find myself continually going back and re-reading them as I get more experienced in my play.
 
J

jmp

Active Member
bigbjfan said:
I agree 100% with Zengrifter. Blackbelt in BJ by Snyder, and Knockout Blackjack by Fuchs & Vancura are the two books I started out with and they have given me a solid foundation to build upon. I find myself continually going back and re-reading them as I get more experienced in my play.
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Sounds really good :)
What im not so happy about is that i live in Europe, so I have to wait a pretty long time for the books to arrive :sad:
I guess i'll have to just practice while i wait :)

JMP
 
J

jmp

Active Member
zengrifter said:
In the meantime here is plenty to read -
http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=697
http://www.bjrnet.com/thop/T-H_Basic_Blackjack.zip
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Thanks a bunch! The more background knowledge, the better :)

I just spent a couple of hours practicing the Basic Stradigy, with $1000 as my bankroll, using $5 as my bet. I know it's just pure luck, but i ended up with $1200 and that's without counting cards. I know i should have lost money if you look at my chances, but it was fun anyways :) Was just to practice the BS which i have almost memorized totally now.

JMP
 
Mikeaber

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
Actually, you shouldn't necessarily have lost. Not in the short term. With an edge of less than 1%, it doesn't take a lot of variance to swing between winning and losing any given session. But, the next time you "practice" you will be adding more time to the overall win loss ratio and eventually, you will level out to that small loss percentage represented by the dealer's edge.

With Advantage Play, the figure most tossed about is that overall, APs will gain 1.5 to 2% over the house. That's not very much but it is a slight advantage and it will work in your favor the longer you play...assuming you do not run out of money before you realize the benefits:eek:

The point is, do not get overly optimistic with a short term win or get disappointed over a loss. The edge is small enough that variance can make you a winner or loser over short segments of play. Persevere!
 
J

jmp

Active Member
Mikeaber said:
Actually, you shouldn't necessarily have lost. Not in the short term. With an edge of less than 1%, it doesn't take a lot of variance to swing between winning and losing any given session. But, the next time you "practice" you will be adding more time to the overall win loss ratio and eventually, you will level out to that small loss percentage represented by the dealer's edge.

With Advantage Play, the figure most tossed about is that overall, APs will gain 1.5 to 2% over the house. That's not very much but it is a slight advantage and it will work in your favor the longer you play...assuming you do not run out of money before you realize the benefits:eek:

The point is, do not get overly optimistic with a short term win or get disappointed over a loss. The edge is small enough that variance can make you a winner or loser over short segments of play. Persevere!
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Yeah, i have read serveral places now where they point out, that the most important thing to keep in mind, is to NOT overbet. People seem to get greedy when they are on a win-streak, and therefore they bet higher. This oftent results in people loosing all their money instead of winning more.

Your right that i might aswell have won than lost, but as you point out yourself, i would have lost in the end. The house still has an advantange of about 0,5%, even when you play perfect BS.

JMP.
 
zengrifter

zengrifter

Banned
jmp said:
Yeah, i have read serveral places now where they point out, that the most important thing to keep in mind, is to NOT overbet. People seem to get greedy when they are on a win-streak, and therefore they bet higher.
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Many bet bigger when they are losing, as well. zg
 
J

jmp

Active Member
zengrifter said:
Many bet bigger when they are losing, as well. zg
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Hehe thats even worse. According to Amazon.com my books has been shipped now, so it shouldn't be long now! :cool2:

JMP.
 
Mikeaber

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
jmp said:
Hehe thats even worse. According to Amazon.com my books has been shipped now, so it shouldn't be long now! :cool2:

JMP.
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I've always wondered how anyone "knows" that they are on a winning or losing streak until it's over and then it's too late to bet accordingly on the next hand! One event occurred in the past, the other happens (may happen) in the future.
 
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J

jmp

Active Member
Mikeaber said:
I've always wondered how anyone "knows" that they are on a winning or losing streak until it's over and then it's too late to bet accordingly on the next hand! One event occurred in the past, the other happens (may happen) in the future.
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Yeah your probably right, although sometimes i feel like im on a winning streak. When i have won 3-4 hands in a row, some of them being BJ on 2 first cards and such. It changes very quicky though as you said :laugh:

JMP.
 
J

jmp

Active Member
I finally got my books, and i've been busy reading. Theres one little thing i would like to ask though:

In KO-Blackjack on page 79-80 about unit spreads. Lets say we play a 2-deck game, with an IRC of -4 and a key count of 1, and a unit spread of 1-3(1 unit = $5). When i reach my key count, why do i go 2 units up and not 1? The way it makes sense to me is that you raise your bet the more you go over your key count. For example when you reach +1, you bet $10 and at +2 you bet $15 ect. In the book its described in the way that when you reach your key count, or anything higher, you just stay with 1 size of bet($15). Is this correct or do you make your bets higher, the more you go over your key count?

Hope I didn't make it sound too complicated hehe.

JMP
 
Mikeaber

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
jmp said:
I finally got my books, and i've been busy reading. Theres one little thing i would like to ask though:

In KO-Blackjack on page 79-80 about unit spreads. Lets say we play a 2-deck game, with an IRC of -4 and a key count of 1, and a unit spread of 1-3(1 unit = $5). When i reach my key count, why do i go 2 units up and not 1? The way it makes sense to me is that you raise your bet the more you go over your key count. For example when you reach +1, you bet $10 and at +2 you bet $15 ect. In the book its described in the way that when you reach your key count, or anything higher, you just stay with 1 size of bet($15). Is this correct or do you make your bets higher, the more you go over your key count?

Hope I didn't make it sound too complicated hehe.

JMP
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I believe you are referencing the KO ROOKIE chapter. In KO Rookie, there are only two bets...minimum and maximum. I believe the next chapter or two on the "Preferred" method will explain ramping your bets at -4 on a DD game.
 
J

jmp

Active Member
Mikeaber said:
I believe you are referencing the KO ROOKIE chapter. In KO Rookie, there are only two bets...minimum and maximum. I believe the next chapter or two on the "Preferred" method will explain ramping your bets at -4 on a DD game.
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Ah yeah okay. I didn't want to go on learning more advanced tactica before i had this one mastered perfectly.

JMP.
 
Eliot Jacobson

Eliot Jacobson

Member
Pimping my book

Speaking of Tommy Hyland, he gives my book away to people who ask him about blackajck -- I've sent him over 60 copies. The Blackjack Zone is not a book full of details for the advanced player, but it sets the stage for the more advanced books. See "www.theblackjackzone.com" for more details -- the book is on sale at bj21.com and advantageplayer.com for $7.95.

Ken, if you don't yet sell it here and want to get a great deal on a box of books for your site, let me know,
 
Sonny

Sonny

Well-Known Member
Eliot Jacobson said:
The Blackjack Zone is not a book full of details for the advanced player, but it sets the stage for the more advanced books.
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That's very true. The Blackjack Zone will break all of your bad “gambler” habits and prepare you to learn how to play, and live, more successfully. It will also clear up many of the superstitious or mistaken concepts that many gamblers suffer from. It will clear your mind, put your ego aside and prepare you to learn the truth.

The Blackjack Zone can also help educate non-counters. It is a great book to give to your parents/wife/girlfriend or anyone who doesn‘t understand why you spend so much time flipping through a deck of cards. :) I personally sent a copy to my family to help them understand how Advantage Play works and to assure them that I wasn’t using another “foolproof" gambling system. They were very relieved when they read it, and it helped them to understand what I’m doing and why I’m playing. A lot of card counters complain that they can’t talk about blackjack with their loved ones. This book can help bridge the gap between Advantage Players and their partners.

-Sonny-
 
zengrifter

zengrifter

Banned
EJ - BJZone IS sold here for $19.95 - you just canniblized Ken's sales - you should have included a few cases of books when you sold the domain! zg
 
KenSmith

KenSmith

Administrator
Staff member
Wow, that's quite a price at AdvantagePlayer.com. $7.95, eh?
Well, here's what I'll do. I'll run that price as a special for the rest of June.
Get Eliot's book here at BlackjackInfo for $7.95.
The Blackjack Zone
 
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