Customer Reviews

Best Blackjack

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Frank Scoblete's book "Best Blackjack" has several outstanding virtues. It is extremely well written. Most gambling books are not. Scoblete's style is flawless and he makes the game of blackjack actually fun to read about. The book contains valuable information about basic strategy and card counting. Although these things are by no means unique to Scoblete's book, he is the first to really explain in simple language which blackjack games can actually be beaten using these techniques and which can't. he is very honest about the natureof the edge that a blackjack card counter can get and how easy itis for the casino to offer inferior games that even skilled players can't beat. That was refreshing. Other blackjack books that I've read tend to overstate what you really can achieve playing this game. Scoblete has some unique sections in this book, some dealing with techniques to figure out the dealer's hole card such as "tells". He intersperses the analytical with absolutely fantastic stories about Las Vegas players and events. His blackjack diary at the end is worth the price of the book alone. This is the best book on blackjack that I've read. Ihave used Scoblete's advice on the gaming ships and I can tell you from my own personal experience, the man knows what he's talking about.

Frank Scoblete is the expert-in-residence of a weekly radio show on gaming in Memphis, TN. So when I was looking for a book to learn more about Blackjack, I decided to buy Frank's book. I have not been disappointed. He breaks down the instruction portion of the book into three logical sections; the basic rules, basic strategy and card counting. In this format, you can start reading at the level you are at.

But even if you already know how to play the game perfectly, the book is still a fun read. Especially for the sections on obtaining comps, the not-so-well-known ways to gain an advantage on the casinos and all the people you find playing across the table. If you have ever heard about the million dollar bum that walked into the casino with his social security check, wound up winning over a million dollars at the blackjack tables, then turned around and lost most of it back, you will want to read the whole story from the people that waited on this guy. This chapter is worth the price of the book alone.

The main reason I did not give a five star rating to this book is because he gives the basic strategy in verbal form, rather than in chart form, which would be easier for a novice player to copy and take to the casino. But these charts are available on the internet at http://www.blackjackinfo.com. I highly recommend this site for getting the basic strategy charts for any set of rules you run up against.

But overall, the book is an easy read and gives every blackjack player information that he/she can use the next time you go to the casino.

I have read five books on blackjack, "Professional Blackjack" by Stanford Wong, "Blackjack Take the Money and Run" by Henry Tamburin, "Blackjack Attack" by Don Schlessinger, "Knock Out Blackjack" by Fuchs and Vancura, and "Best Blackjack" by Frank Scoblete. They were all very good books but Scoblete's was the best overall. As I was a novice, I felt Scoblete was able to take me from knowing nothing about the game to being a very competent player. When I finished reading his book I followed his advice and read the other books. Scoblete has a whole bibliography of recommended books in his book. I found that while I learned from each and every book, no one gave me the information in such an assimilable way as Scoblete.

"Best Blackjack" was also a lot of fun to read as Scoblete intersperses his teaching with great stories. All five books are worthy in their way but I have to give my vote to Scoblete's "Best Blackjack" as being comprehensive but not daunting. I have been winning consistently at the casinos utilizing his ideas and I am very grateful. Blackjack is a great game if you know what you're doing.

I have been playing blackjack at Foxwoods for several years using basic strategy. I was losing consistently with only an occasional win. I decided I wanted to learn how to count cards and also to get insights into the game that might help me win more often. I read three books, the last by Frank Scoblete. This book was the best. It was a thorough view of all relevant aspects of blackjack from a writer who obviously has played the game successfully for many years. Many of the experiences he wrote about in his book I had had at the tables myself. I found his approach to card counting to be the best because he cut through all the garbage I had to wade through in the other two books I read and got to the essential core of the matter. That is no easy task because many blackjack writers pride themselves on charts and graphs that explore trivia. After a while you forget what's important and what isn't. Scoblete's book wasn't like that. He stuck to the essentials which are 1. what games to play based on penetration and rules, 2. what strategies to employ based on number of decks, 3. the few variations that really matter in basic strategy based on the count, 4. which counting system is really the best to use based on ease of use and ability to use for long periods of time. He also had some really funny stories about players so that the book isn't all just strategy or dry stuff. I think most blackjack players or would be blackjack players will find this book to be excellent. Experienced players will probably find his discussion of "dealer tells" to be interesting and his stories to be amusing. This is a great book.

In terms of books that can take you from knowing almost nothing about blackjack to becoming a skilled player, there are two that I have found to be the best: Knock Out Blackjack by Fuchs and Vancura and Best Blackjack by Frank Scoblete. Scoblete's book is the more enjoyable and entertaining. However, the Knock Out book has a counting system that is truly easy to learn. My advice is to get both. Scoblete is a warrior who has been in the casino wars. His diary at the end of the book is priceless and his insights into what it is like to play in casinos is the best I have ever read. Fuchs and Vancura, on the other hand, have created a simple but powerful card counting system in KO that I have been using with great success for over eight months now. I think these two books are just super. I recommend that you buy both to truly learn how to beat the game of blackjack.

I was always afraid to play blackjack but I decided I had lost enough money in the machines over the course of the last seven years. Over the summer I bought Frank Scoblete's Best Blackjack from Amazon.com and I must say a big thank you to Mr. Scoblete for writing a book that is easy to understand, enjoyable to read, and one that can give players an edge if they choose their blackjack games wisely. Since purchasing this book I have won more money in four months than I've lost in seven years. I play green and black chips and I follow Scoblete's advice scrupulously. If like me you were afraid to play blackjack because you felt you wouldn't know what to do, get this book. Scoblete is a master writer and you will learn everything you need to know to play and beat this fascinating game. If I could do it, so can you.

This is really three books in one. For novice players, Scoblete explains the game of blackjack, the basic strategies to employ, and how to decide which games to play. For the more advanced player, he explains how to count cards and how to use other advantage-play techniques to get the edge over the casino. For those who already know all the information about counting and strategies, Scoblete provides anecdotal stories, some hilariously funny, some thought-provoking, all of them enjoyable about his and others' experiences in the casinos. This book should therefore appeal to just about every blackjack or would-be blackjack player on the planet.

I already knew much of the technical stuff that is in this book. I knew basic strategy and I knew the KO counting system, which is a level-one system like the one discussed in this book, the hi-lo. However, Scoblete is such an important writer in the gambling field that I decided to read this book just to see what all the raves were about. Now I know. Not only is the book extremely well written, but it has insights and ideas that I have not run across before. I especially loved the anecdotes that Scoblete uses to highlight his ideas and theories. The book is well researched and quite informative. As other reviewers have stated the book is also a very enjoyable one to read. I think blackjack players of all skill levels, from beginners to pros, will find something in its pages. Based on this book alone, I would say that Scoblete well deserves his reputation as the best gaming writer in the business.

I just got the best Christmas present. Frank Scoblete's "Best Blackjack" and I have now gone to the casinos twelve weekends using his methods which are basic strategy and card counting. How could I have done all this and it isn't even Christmas yet? Because I got it last Christmas, 1998, and have been using this book for almost a year now. Scoblete is a marvelous writer who really understands the game and what is essential for winning at it. There are no wasted charts or graphs or complicated math that goesmore towards showing off the writer's knowledge than helping the player learn what is really essential. Scoblete knows how to give the most important information in a way that is easily understandable. The book is never dry and his stories and anecdotes are just wonderful to read. He accurately captures what it is like to gamble in Vegas and Atlantic City. I have read other blackjack books but this is far and away the best. Just as its title suggests.

I agree with most of the other reviewers, this is the best blackjack book I've read, and I've read quite a few of them.

Most BJ books are either useless to the serious or semi-serious BJ player, or are about count strategies that are useful but the book itself is so theoretical and tedious it will bore you to tears. Not so with Mr. Scoblete's tome. In a breezy and easily understandable style, he covers the basics of single and multiple deck strategy for various gambling venues, then moves on to advanced counting strategies. Where this book excels, he then gives practical suggestions on how these strategies can be applied in real life, without being preachy about only doing it "his way", as some authors do. He also flavors the book with his own experience and self recognized bias (the section on "ploppies" is a hoot!)

This book has information that will be useful for a novice's first session at a table, or a more serious player looking to improve their skills. If you are planning to purchace one BJ book, make it this one.