Blackjack Ace Prediction: The Art Of Advanced Location Strategies For The Casino Game Of Twenty-one [Paperback]

David McDowell (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Spur of the Moment Pub (August 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879712105
• ISBN-13: 978-1879712102
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where's the beef?, May 3, 2005

By 

blackjack aficionado (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blackjack Ace Prediction: The Art Of Advanced Location Strategies For The Casino Game Of Twenty-one (Paperback)

Blackjack Ace Prediction by David McDowell is NOT what it's cracked up to be. Not by a long shot. It promises to reveal a surefire method for beating casino blackjack by using the powerful underground technique of Ace sequencing. It promises to do that -- but it never quite delivers. The flavor is there. The aroma is there. The smoke is certainly there. But the beef is nowhere to be found. Blackjack Ace Prediction by David McDowell will NOT get the money. In fact, utilizing the Ace sequencing system presented in the book, you'd be lucky to be playing even with the house. The problem is in McDowell's fuzzy math. His basic approach is sound, and Ace sequencing when done properly DOES work. But McDowell does not really know how to properly do it. And the math he provides to back up his inflated claims is riddled with logic holes big enough to drive a Hummer through. He makes many fundamental logic errors in his probability calculations that reveal he does not have a grasp of the basic math of advantage play. He has clearly bitten off far more than he can chew. The real mystery for me is why this book has apparently been glowingly endorsed by some of the most renowned names in blackjack, such as Ed Thorp, Stanford Wong, and Don Schlesinger. People of this caliber not only know the relevant math, in some cases they actually WROTE it, which makes their endorsements of Blackjack Ace Prediction all the more incomprehensible. Go figure.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just Doesn't Add Up, December 29, 2008

By 

calc geek "Rickadeemus" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blackjack Ace Prediction: The Art Of Advanced Location Strategies For The Casino Game Of Twenty-one (Paperback)

I have to agree 100% with blackjack aficionado's review: "riddled with logic holes big enough to drive a Hummer through." This is a valid type of advantage play, but it's much less common, and far more difficult than McDowell describes, and there is no useful data in the book on how to accomplish the feat. In fact, there's a lot of incorrect, misleading information that could cost the unwary reader barrels of money and grief. I definitely did find fallacies in the first 70 pages ... and then some.

The reason some top blackjack authorities initially gave good reviews is it's quite an outstanding con job! It's conceivable McDowell even conned himself into believing some of this mumbo jumbo. You have to actually do the math to find the flaws, and that is time consuming. Eventually the experts discovered their mistake, and in many cases retracted the reviews. You can learn some of the messy history with a google search, but in my opinion the authorities who did not retract positive reviews are more concerned with stonewalling for status than with sheilding their disciples.

I have to give it two stars because it IS an interesting book. There are many references to valid (but mostly impractical) related material, and it's kind of an homage to the axiom that anyone can be conned -- even the experts.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: very challenging material, September 6, 2006

By 

Elihu D. Feustel "daringly" (South Bend, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blackjack Ace Prediction: The Art Of Advanced Location Strategies For The Casino Game Of Twenty-one (Paperback)

I have studied Computer Engineering, Mathematics and law; I also gamble for a living. That said, this is the most challenging gambling book I have ever read. The concepts in sequence tracking are a hundred times as difficult as card-counting (which are trivially easy for anyone who has done it).

The mathematics explaining why certain ideas work become progressively more complicated. By the time you are halfway through the 129 pages of the main book, each line of mathematical analysis requires concentrated effort to follow. I did not check for errors at that point, but I saw no fallacies in the first 70 pages.

Despite the difficulty of the material, these techniques look promising from a mathematical point of view. Unfortunately, there are fewer than 400 people in the U.S. with the mathematics and general gambling skills required to benefit from it. It is a fascinating book, but incomprehensible to most people.

If you are thinking about buying it, you should be able to 1. Easily count cards, and 2. have a good understanding of slug tracking. If you cannot master those first two areas, this book will be beyond you.