Blackbelt in Blackjack: Playing 21 As a Martial Art PDF
Preview Blackbelt in Blackjack: Playing 21 As a Martial Art
PLAYING 21 AS A MARTIAL ART Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2021 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/blackjackwisdom0000snyd BLACKBELT IN BLACKJACK PLAYING 21 ASA MARTIAL ART REVISED AND EXPANDED BY ARNOLD SNYDER Blackbelt in Blackjack: Playing 21 as a Martial Art Revised and Expanded © 1998 RGE Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, without permission in writ- ing from the publisher. Portions of this book have previously ap- peared in different form in the following periodicals: Gambling Times, Boardwalker International, Rouge et Noir News, The Experts Blackjack Newsletter, and Blackjack Forum. Copyright 1980-1996 by Arnold Snyder Published by: RGE Publishing 414 Santa Clara Avenue Oakland CA 94610 (510) 465-6452 FAX: (510) 652-4330 Web site: www.rge21.com E-mail: [email protected] Cover design by Marion Oldenburg First Edition 12-345 6 oom 0 ISBN 0-910575-05-3 FOR JESSE AND CHELISE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank: Nick Alexander John Auston Julian Braun George C. Clarke Cant Sam Case Moe Cash Anthony Curtis Bob Fisher Steve Forte Al Francesco Peter Griffin John Gwynn Tommy Hyland John Imming John Leib Max Rubin Don Schlesinger G.K. Schroeder Howard Schwartz Ralph Stricker Ed Thorp Chuck Weinstock Brother William Allan Wilson Stanford Wong Bill Zender For valuable contributions. Ass. CONTENTS PC UR COIR GE TCU mca etre aerehiteecniee boee y s 1 PART ONE: EARNING YOUR WHITE BELT Pet peseoren lack iaocR |O aX Ges ats Wot iraet e 9 pee Elon to BlayeCasinowslackjack# vests ¢.) cau eries, 20 PpeaSESI OAN ITOIeS you eae enas gone, oh Ces ya's 4 Ae tates c 29 PMO DE Ree me vety COUNtES tte nena ds 405th etl oi oo HowiMuch Money. Do. You Need? «Sohans Se 5 Olablics (oncinsOons ae ener aoe Ma tee! 2 suet 3 Bae 65 PART II: EARNING YOUR GREEN BELT #50 Hitod ale Ore Bl rota ee ae ne a eee ne errs ae ae 1. Baek Dee err teO Un bere eee. ite... eter eh n EEO 80 PAT TOS WOlntene 1 or aca 2 oP ee lt AUR a 86 IOs Betting Saalepics rt gat ecms. oe. Geeta 91 Litt he Unenceunteredi@ounter 4245 25a 101 S SlGipb amo uliaeceest tee) eetchr ee 116 PART II: EARNING YOUR BLACK BELT £3: High Rollers Survival-Guides is 100) © a ala 121 b 4 shedinieE AV ee ee hie fae ee ee ee 132 EeS HUE LEPACKING ee pare re GPO ae oa eee 142 Lees pcciakk ulesmetcsres ti ea dive ety Ae, es Ree 172 APPENDIX WommlcteHasiC SIAC Via ee hs Sa 176 Complete Hi-Lo Lite Strategy 20. = 1 eaee s 178 Complete Zen Count strategy... so ae. oe 180 Recommended Source Materials .........-..- 182 i ~~ INTRODUCTION TO THE 1998 EDITION hat’s 1998 to the rest of the world is 36 A.T. (after Thorp) to card counters. It is remarkable that 36 years after Ed Thorp’s Beat the Dealer (Random House, 1962) was published, the game of casino blackjack offers greater profit opportunities to in- telligent players than at any time in the history of the game. Few would have predicted this back then, when the only state in the union where you could legally play casino blackjack was Ne- vada, and blackjack wasn’t even that popular a game (a distant second to craps). Since the publication of Beat the Dealer, virtually hundreds of books on card counting have been published. Dozens of newsletters and periodicals — devoted exclusively to casino blackjack — have come and gone. Blackjack systems are hawked on late night TV infomercials, through audio and video training courses, high priced seminars, and even in adult educa- tion classes in community colleges. There are dozens of home computer software programs on the market, for practicing, simu- lating, analyzing and devising blackjack strategies. Anyone with a PC can now reproduce in a matter of minutes what Ed Thorp once spent months computing on an IBM mainframe. Every ca- sino in the world now provides special training on card counters’ tactics for their pit and security personnel. Specialty software is also in use in casino surveillance departments for identifying players who are suspected of utilizing card counting strategies. Ed Thorp didn’t just write a book in 1962; he transformed an industry and altered the consciousness of millions of casino players throughout the world. This revised and expanded edition of Blackbelt in Blackjack has not been rewritten from scratch because I still agree with much of the original 1983 text and recommendations. It is more an expansion of that text than it is a revision of it. The games and the opportunities have changed in the past 15 years, as have my understanding and perspective on the games available. One major change in the blackjack scene in the past 15 years is that the casinos are now utilizing high-tech surveillance tech- 2 niques to identify professional players. Computer analysis of betting and playing strategies — both real-time and post-play from video footage — has made it more difficult for big money card counters to fool the casino counter catchers using traditional count strategies with the tried and true parlay betting camouflage techniques. Because whole tables of players are now computer analyzed simultaneously, even low to moderate stakes card counters, who may have been ignored in the past, find them- selves being identified and barred. It used to be a great camouflage technique to always play at tables where bigger action than yours was on the felt. Your rela- tively small bets rendered you invisible to the pit. Many black- jack experts, myself included, advised: “Never be the biggest bettor at your table.” In some casinos, this is no longer such great advice. Nowadays, if any player at your table is betting black ($100+) action, you may be more liable to be caught in the high- tech surveillance net. Of course, if that high roller happens to be a partying fool who has already been rated as a certified idiot by the pit, this table could be a great opportunity. But these days, the danger of detection is increased substantially, because so much of the surveillance is done invisibly, via video cameras. You don’t always see the scowling pit boss anymore. In some parts of the country, card counters can still get away with murder at the tables. Even in Nevada, you'll find vast differ- ences in casino attitudes and policies. Card counters can no longer play strictly according to charts and schedules. You’ve got to learn to judge games not only by the rules and the number of decks in play, but by what you can get away with, how percep- tive they are, how closely theyr e watching you. Serious players must join the blackjack underground, subscribe to the players’ trade publications, surf the Internet BJ message boards for tips and inside information. So, in this new edition of Blackbelt, I will concentrate on some of the advanced strategies that the pros are using to get away with big action — notably, shuffle tracking and team play (or tracking and teaming). As the casino industry continues to advance technologically, these types of strategies become more important for all card counters, not just high stakes players. My approach to these strategies will be similar to the ap- proach I have always taken with blackjack strategies. There is strength in simplicity. It is more profitable to make a few strong strategic plays with accuracy than it is to attempt to squeeze
The list of books you might like
