|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Edward O. Thorp
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
Buy Used: $1.99
You Save: $9.96 (83%)
New (34) Used (40) Collectible (8) from $1.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 10075
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0394703103
Dewey Decimal Number: 795.42
EAN: 9780394703107
ASIN: 0394703103
Publication Date: April 12, 1966
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Softcover. Some wear to the cover and pages. Pages discolored due to aging. Missing one tear out. Ships the next business day, with tracking and delivery confirmation sent to your email.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Used it and won--when they didn't cheat! January 21, 2007
The book was very useful in understanding how much to bet given your hand and where you are in the deck. The casinos do still cheat, so I would advise watching for opportunities to play at a fair table (then clean their clocks with these methods).
 Must read, but not all praise July 24, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you were ever interested in card counting this book is for you. Not because it guarantees the edge against the casino with 10 simple rule, because it doesn't, but because it outlines several good strategies to maintain a small edge (or in some cases a smaller disadvantage) over the casino establishment.
I gave this book 5 stars for a couple different reasons. Although requiring a lot of practice, the ten count that thorp teaches should more than pay for the book. The stories, although providing little insight into the world of current gambling, provide comical relief for an otherwize stale and mathmatical book. Although a person can find easier to use systems and basic strategy tables on the internet, Thorp's main assistance to me came in his in depth modification to the tables based on what the count reflects. The short comings of this book are numerous however. For one, thorp dedicates a significant (not to mention hilarious) portion of the book to end play. A system where by busting certain hands and standing on others effects the composition of the deck post shuffle. That is, by busting all hands with aces and tens when the deck appears to be running out, the aces and tens are reshuffled with the remainder of the deck while the low cards are not, giving the player a small advantage. Another dissapointment is that thorp doesn't go into the deep mathmatics of his strategy or the simulations, he simply states nearly undunderstandable percent advantages and assumes the reader will trust him. (for owners, this is reference to the page where he outlines the percent advantages with different numbers of tens in the deck where no pattern is visible)
To splice in some praise, I would recomend this as a first book. A lot of information about advantages and disadvantages with different casino play is not included, but the basic outline presented, the expanitory style in which each of his 4 counts are explained, and the excitement in practicing "beating the dealer" make this a worth while read.
 Mixed feelings November 21, 2005
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
Great book on this classic strategy. Thorp got even richer using a similar system in the stock market. (Although it was during the bull years...)
Not suited for the less then occasional player or in general any player who's familiar with the game's rules in other languages.
Classic blackjack! December 19, 2003
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
One of the best books written on blackjack!
This is the book that started the whole counting craze!
A must read for all serious players.
Gotta have this book in your gambling library October 24, 2003
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The fact that this book, which was originally published in the 1960s, is still ranked so high in the bestseller lists says something about its historical value in the gambling world.If you've ever had any interest in card counting (which accounts for many people since the successful ride of "Bringing Down the House"), this book is definitely worth picking up -- especially at its small price. Much of the information is outdated, but to actually relive the earliest stages of basic strategy and card counting is pretty freakin' cool. For the blackjack enthusiast, this book won't disappoint.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
