Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book that started it all!, November 22, 2002
This review is from: Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One (Mass Market Paperback)
This book started it all. Before this book, only a very few people knew about card counting, and most only had primitive systems. Thorp analyzed the game, ran computer simulations, and devised two effective strategies for beating the casinos at their own games. Can you run out and use these systems today against the casinos? Sure, but over 30 years have gone by and there are now simpler more effective systems. But if you are naturally gifted at doing complex calculations in your head quickly, I think the 10 count system would still be wickedly effective. Buy it for the theory and the stories. Then go out and buy a newer book with simpler more modern counting systems.
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE Classic Book On Blackjack, September 28, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One (Mass Market Paperback)
I totally disagree with the other reviewers who say this book is "no longer relevant". It is the definitive guide to Blackjack's "Basic Strategy" plus provides a fascinating historical perspective on how Thorp ran the computer simulations to develop the Basic Strategy and test it in Nevada casinos back in the early '60's. What the other reviewers say is true, that the methods Thorp used (card counting) to make a lot of money back in the '60's no longer work today, but that doesn't diminish the value of the book. The casinos were changing the rules and "shutting down" the big opportunities before Thorp even finished the book. But that isn't the measure of the value of the book (although it is testimony to how powerful Thorps's insights were when first developed). Everyone playing Blackjack (one deck or out of a shoe) should be playing "Basic Strategy" at a minimum. If you want to implement some other strategy on top of that (changing bet size, card counting, etc. etc.) have at it. But the starting point should be Basic Strategy. Furthermore, the average recreational Blackjack player should be playing Basic Strategy, but many (most? -- at the cheaper tables anyway) don't as you can observe by sitting down at any Blackjack table. This book should be read by anyone who wants to play Blackjack.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outdated but Interesting, March 2, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One (Mass Market Paperback)
If you are looking to learn blackjack for the first time or even if you are an intermediate player, I would not recommend this as the book to read. You should read Frank Scoblete's BEST BLACKJACK which teaches a much simpler and easier to learn card counting system. Also, Scoblete's book is a lot more fun. But Thorp is the genius who invented card counting and his book is a must as background.
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