256 pages
List Price: $14.95
Buy new: $10.17
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Basic Blackjack
by Stanford Wong
Customer Reviews
Contains a truly dizzying amount of information!, June 24, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
OK Mr. Counting Pro, you're on vacation where you know there are casinos. You figure you'll stop in and mabey make some money. But when you sit down at a table, you discover that the rules are not what you're used to. BJ pays 2:1, dealer wins ties, and 21 after splitting tens pays 3:2!? What to do now? Well, you could lose your shirt, or you could get Basic Blackjack.
Wong's impressive text contains proper basic strategy for just about every rule variation and "bonus" (side bet, coupon, etc) that has ever been offered. It also tells you how to estimate the value of each of these variations. As a bonus, there is a good discussion of non-counting strategies such as warps, tells, and the like. At 256 pages, the amount of material covered is amazing.
If you only play Las Vegas or Atlantic City, and already know the stategy for the rules there, you probably don't need this book. But if you like to travel (Europe?) or take advantage of coupon books and other special offers and side bets, it is a must-have.
Wong's writing stye is clear and easy to read, although this book is valuable mostly as a reference guide. I found it very interesting to read about all of the rule variations, side bets, and bonuses that the casinos have thought up, even though I will never encounter the majority of them.
The one thing that I would have liked to have seen in a text on basic strategy is the expected cost of making the "wrong" play. i.e. How much does one give up by not splitting 33vs5? Obviously it would be impractical to include this information for all of the strategies presented, but it would have been nice to have it for common sets of rules. (This information can be found in Wong's Professional Blackjack.)
Overall, a very impressive work.
Good Luck, and Good Cards,
- Jacob W.
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