Customer Reviews

Blackjack The SMART Way -- The Millennium Edition

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This book taught me how to recognize bad and good tables and bad and good dealers---and the techniques that casinos use to hold down our winnings. I had no idea that you had to be careful what table and what chair you selected. I used to plop down anywhere. This is the best-written blackjack book that I have encountered. Some others assume that you are a mathematician. This is clear and aimed at people like me who aren't experts. I had no idea that I was playing so many dealer cards incorrectly. Harvey's unit system of money management increases my winnings and also tells me when it's time to leave on a bad night. I had tended, like many people, to remain at Foxwoods much much too long. This book is really different from other blackjack books.

Loved the book "Blackjack the Smart Way" and the audio book "Preparing you to WIN". It's the best book I've read on preparing you to play blackjack. Other books I've read were either too complicated or too short on material. These books cover all the bases including many aspects of the game I wasn't aware of. Mr. Harvey uses math to explain and back up his strategies, but it's presented in a way that makes total sense right away. Once I forgot to take the time to review my notes from the book before going to play, so I really enjoyed the audio book which got me in a winning frame of mind - and I did win!

I owe Richard Harvey a debt of gratitude for returning me to the winning side of things. I was almost going to stop playing blackjack when a friend of mine told me about BLACKJACK THE SMART WAY, and since I read, I've won hundreds of dollars and I'm having fun again! I DEFENITELY recommend this book, especially for people who don't believe you can win at blackjack.

I found Mr. Harvey's book to be well written, full of concrete examples and illustrations, and a good primer for a beginning blackjack player like myself. I especially appreciated the down to earth advice on card observation, managing your money, and knowing when to leave a table. A good read!

My wife and I read this book and then took a seminar with the author, both of which were outstanding. We were really floundering at the tables until we learned Richard Harvey's system, which we found to be easy to learn (with a bit of practice); it's been very effective for us -- to our infinite delight! -- at the various casinos we frequent. I had tried my hand at card counting years ago, but I had found it to be far too much work for the nebulous results. Although Richard Harvey offers a very good card counting system for advanced players, what my wife and I found the most exciting was his invention of Card Observation, which, for my money, is a big advancement. It provides an extraordinary amount of important information (regarding: mathematical probabilities, which you can use on the fly at the table; what the dealer's hole card is likely to be; and, specifically, how to play your hand - often leading to creative moves that deviate greatly from Basic Strategy recommendations) and yet it can be used by the beginner (such as my wife) and the advanced player alike, to great success. But, really, to single out just one of the many great aspects of this most unique and powerful book is doing it an injustice. If you want a winning system, that covers soup to nuts, I highly recommend this. Having met the author, I can tell you -- he's brilliant!

Short version--> the good things in this book, can be foundin any number of other books; the bad things are truly bad. Longversion--> (sigh) where to begin...? The author has written a book that sounds scientific, but is actually filled with karma-like methods. I'm sure he has been as successful as he claims, but I think it's because of his stop-loss techniques (similar to ones in many other books), and that his "method" seems to take advantage of card-clumping (a very real problem in BJ, but his book doesn't explain it). He pooh-pooh's card counting because it can't tell the player _exactly_ what card is coming out of the shoe next (duh!...), but he then turns around and says that if you ARE counting, that it's useful for determining what the dealer's hole card is... Now, excuse me, but how can you have it both ways? The "X Factor" is nothing more than touchy-feely pseudo-scientific criteria for deciding when to leave a table. Fine, if you want to use it, but it's certainly not the Super-Duper-Top-Secret-Wonder-Technique that it's hyped as. (sigh) I could go on and on, but I'm running long. Please, please, please, do not waste your money on this poorly-bound, large-print, waste of paper. I bought Scoblete's _Best Blackjack_ at the same time as this one, for less than half the cost, and would recommend that instead--hands down.

This book is written by a master teacher-- Mr. Harvey covers all facets of Blackjack, and makes it understandable both for a beginner, and for players who want to improve their winnings and enjoy the game. In addition to teaching you his system of playing,and handling bets ("money management"), he tells you how to choose a casino-- a good table--where to sit--even talks about tipping the dealer. I like his conservative approach about how long to play, when not to play, and when to leave. The Glossary and Index at the end make this an easy book to find information. This is a good gift for someone who likes to go to the casinos (it was given to me by a blackjack player who has been doing very well with Mr. Harvey's system).

Trust me. This book is killer. I've been using this system for about a year now and it's the best thing that's come along in YEARS. I've also been reading his second book, Cutting Edge Blackjack, and I'm writing this review now because I think everyone should especially read that book; it's lightyears ahead of anything out there. Start with this one, but then read Cutting Edge. Everything else I'd read before was just a rehash of Thorp, Braun and Revere until these books came out. (I don't know about you, but basic strategy has never won much for me, and card counting hasn't been worth the effort, either. Actually, Harvey explains why those old strategies don't work, if you want to know the reasons those ways are faulty.) I play 2, 3 times a week, and I've been doing so for 35 years, and Harvey's methods have done more to improve my game than anything else I've come across in 20-30 years. In this book, I especially like his loss limits and money management methods, which have worked really well for me; also, his entry level card analysis method and way of identifying the dealer's hole card are worth the price of the book alone. In Cutting Edge Blackjack, everything is new, scientific and a revelation. All of his computer research breakthroughs are explained in detail, and if you want the mathematical basis behind all Harvey's methods, Cutting Edge gives you the rationale and the numbers. His statistical analysis of how low you have to go (in losses) before you reach the point of no return is worth the price of that book alone. He also tells you how high is up (there's actually a point above which you're not likely to go, at which point you'd be smart to leave, with your winnings intact). If you're not convinced Harvey's revolutionized the game, if the lightbulb doesn't go off in your head as you read, then you haven't really read his books.

Most instructional Blackjack books written today base a betting strategy on a "count" which will indicate a plus or minus of high value cards dealt. In the 60's when card counting was established, this was an effective way for a player to win at Blackjack. Not so today. The game has been modified with the addition of multiple deck play, reshuffles and other countermeasures which allowed the casinos to reduce the effectiveness of this type of play. Enter Richard Harvey. Here is a book which will aid the beginner in learning effective strategy as well as the advanced player with an effective total approach to the game. The author outlines the basics of the game, the Casino envoirnment, pifalls to avoid and money management. He further instructs the reader on a count based system with which to guide the way a hand should be played. He introduces Card Observation and the X - Factor, innovative strategies which further allow a player to enhance his or her game. Finally, the author alerts the readers to countermeasures and how to overcome or avoid them.
This book is worth twice the price. If I had to recommend one book to a Blackjack Player, this would be it.

Blackjack The Smart Way is really what it claims to be. The graphics are very helpful in showing how the cards would look in different situations and an average player like me find it very useful in visualizing each game.

I really think, this book is the most comprehensive one ever written. I would recommend it to everyone who would like to play blackjack and enjoy the rewards after mastering the strategies learned from this book.