When I picked up Colin\u2019s book, I half-expected to dog-ear every\nother page and start a dozen different online threads debating and debunking\nall sorts of topics. For most blackjack books that hit the scene, I typically\nfind material that is either uninformed (author is not an actual practitioner\nof the AP technique described), obsolete (written for a Vegas-centric world\nbefore extensive surveillance, player cards, beyond-counting opportunities, and\nproliferation of casinos), irrelevant (dozens of pages charting a random walk \u2026\nreally?), exaggerated (we won $10 million in three days counting the\npositive-off-the-top game in Panama with a $30 table max), or boring (telling\nme that you won $36.50 in a 10-minute session in Wendover one night is the kind\nof thing that should be kept in a private diary, emphasis on \u201cprivate\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expecting fingernails on a chalkboard, I can\u2019t even bring\nmyself to read most AP books, or watch most AP movies, without having a\nteammate taste-test them first. I always ask my teammates, \u201cAm I going to vomit?\u201d\nThey usually answer, \u201cMaybe.\u201d So I still haven\u2019t seen Holy Rollers<\/em>, but\nI did pick up Colin\u2019s book, with some trepidation, primarily fearing some\nexaggeration or misleading view of the AP landscape that might promote bad\nhabits that are \u201ccounter\u201d-productive, but which are counterproductive to aspiring\ncareer APs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Rounders<\/em> came out, my BP and I literally\nhigh-fived each other during the opening scene, when Mikey grabs up wads of\ncash and sneaks out to go hit a game while his girlfriend is sleeping. The\nscene so poignantly captured our own AP experience that we felt immediately\nengaged, and knew that this movie would speak to us, and entertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it was after the first few pages of Colin\u2019s book. I think\nit was page 10 when I announced, \u201cGentlemen, hats off!\u201d I had to put the book\ndown to clap (which is basically giving high fives to myself). You see, when\nyou go online, you get expert advice like, \u201cFlooring is the best way to\ngenerate indexes for a count system. The software offers truncating and\nrounding as well, but flooring is recommended.\u201d But on page 10 of Colin\u2019s book,\nyou get: \u201czippered pockets.\u201d I have been ranting to teammates for decades about\nthis. At times I even pondering refusing to play with BPs until they got the\nproper work attire with zippered pockets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Zippered pockets don\u2019t just protect your casino valuables\u2014cash,\nchips, phone. Zippered pockets give you peace of mind. Later, when you\u2019re $500\nshort of what you expected, you and your teammates will know that it isn\u2019t\nbecause a purple chip fell out of your pocket. I go on tilt when I see a\nteammate slouching, with an unzipped pocket gaping towards the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right now, online posers are wondering if I\u2019m being sarcastic,\nand thinking perhaps I\u2019m belittling Colin\u2019s book with some backhanded irony by exaggerating\na trifle. Real pros know that I\u2019m dead serious. Details like \u201czippered pockets\u201d\ncut deep. The fact that Colin as a player appreciated the benefit of ZPs, and\nas an author felt it important enough to mention, tells me that he knows more\nabout what moves the needle for a real pro than all the fifth-decimal-point\nonline guys ever will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colin hammers the topic further (on p. 190): \u201cI\u2019ve been on\nteams with several people who have physically lost a portion of their bankroll.\nEvery time it happened, it involved something that could have been avoided.\u201d\nAmen, brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a related example of the physical handling of the money,\nhe gives great advice on traveling with cash, reaching the inevitable,\none-sentence conclusion: \u201cI never again used banks to transport money for a\ntrip.\u201d [Part of the allure of cryptos is that banks are super-annoying, even\nwhen you want your own money.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n While many books, like Knock-out Blackjack<\/em> (solid\nsystem!), focus on the technical aspects of counting and take pragmatic\nexecution for granted, Colin\u2019s book is the opposite. He doesn\u2019t delve into the\ntechnical aspects of what the tags and indices are for a count system. Instead\nhe covers that stuff using online videos, software tools, and optional\nin-person meet-ups (you can mingle at christiancounters.com). Computer-adaptive\ntesting is by far the best-way to learn the basics cheaply, and no book can\nhave all the charts you\u2019d want, so Colin\u2019s book doesn\u2019t even go there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Newbies online obsess over the EV they lost by misplaying a\nhand. They repeatedly ask whether they are supposed to split 88 or surrender,\nand whether ENHC changes things. While a pro is expected to master such\ntechnical aspects, these details are rarely the focus of working pros. If\nyou\u2019re trying to grind out the rent money, not having cash available for a\nplaying trip because you naively tried to use a bank hurts your EV more than a\nfew hundred misplayed hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For The Theory of Blackjack<\/em>, by the great Peter Griffin,\nmy 2-second review is, \u201cI think I might be learning something here, but the\ntitle is apt, \u2026 yawn.\u201d On Million Dollar Blackjack<\/em>, by the flamboyant\nKen Uston: \u201cInformative, useful, entertaining, but this stuff about signaling\nbig-stiff\/little-stiff \u2026 naw.\u201d On Steve Forte\u2019s collection: \u201cWow, does this\naffect me???\u201d On Exhibit CAA<\/em>: \u201cDoes this guy really expect me to use\nthese charts?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But with Colin\u2019s book, I quite unexpectedly found myself\njust nodding, circling passages and putting exclamation points in the margin,\nand just thinking, \u201cYup, yup, uh-huh, yeah, true, true, true that, been there, oooh,\nyeah, that\u2019s the spot, nailed it right there!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t agree with 100% of what\u2019s in there, but I\u2019ll chalk\nup the few disagreements to my own different playing style and longer-term\ngoals. I think any veteran would be entertained by the book, while any newbie thinking\nof taking things to the next level would get critical insight into how this gig\nactually works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Next: Will Colin be playing the title character in Season 6 of Lucifer<\/em>?]<\/p>\n People online think that I have great disdain for card counters. That isn\u2019t true, per se. I have disdain for posers, and it just so happens that almost everyone who brags on YouTube about counting cards, or who claims online to be a \u201cblackjack expert,\u201d is a poser. My respect for the late \u201cMathProf\u201d (Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[1979,2053,2052,2051,1063,2049,2050,184],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Facebook\"](\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/96x96\/facebook.png\" "\\"Follow")
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