With literally hundreds of books on blackjack on the market, including our own Blackjack Blueprint, The Theory of Blackjack (still the bible for math heads), Blackjack Autumn, Burning the Tables in Las Vegas, and the best-selling Knock-Out Blackjack, it’s increasingly difficult to find an unpublished manuscript that has something new to say about the game’s strategies, culture, or lifestyle. As a result, we have to reject many book submissions that we receive on the subject (even when the manuscripts are generally good).
The Blackjack Life was one of the rare exceptions that truly had something new to offer – a focus on partner play. Every other book we know of addresses either solo players (Ian Andersen, author of Burning the Tables, is the paragon of this style) or super-organized teams (Blackjack Blueprint presents 70 pages on team play and management, and Bringing Down the House is the best-selling book and hit movie about the MIT blackjack team). But author Nathaniel Tilton and his friend, D.A., were just two guys who met at a blackjack seminar, got together, and created new techniques that worked efficiently for a two-man operation. This struck us as particularly useful, since many players get into expert-level blackjack with a friend to start, and Tilton’s techniques and style can easily be adapted by others in similar arrangements. Additionally, The Blackjack Life is a solid starter book for aspiring blackjack players, with accurate and well-organized information on the game's fundamentals, along with numerous references to other good resources.
One more interesting tidbit. Nathaniel originally sent his manuscript to Huntington Press, but he didn’t get a response and decided to self publish (it turns out the manuscript was misdirected on our end and was never considered when it was first received). Prior to publishing, though, Nathaniel sent an email to Anthony Curtis asking if he’d consider writing a blurb for the cover. As is standard, Anthony replied that he’d need to see the manuscript to consider. After looking it over, Anthony agreed to write a blurb, but asked Nathaniel why he was self publishing. The rest, of course, is history.
This week’s excerpt starts off where Nathaniel began: at the blackjack seminar, led by famed MIT blackjack team member Semyon Dukach (who also wrote the book’s Foreword). Then it continues as he and D.A. learn basic strategy, tackle card counting, wrestle with the Kelly Criterion, incorporate the Illustrious 18, and practice practice practice, fine-tuning their technique as they go until, as Nathaniel writes, "The world became [his] blackjack table."
If you ever wanted to know what it takes to expand the blackjack skill set to the point where you could even begin to consider serious application for profit, read these nearly 40 pages. You’ll have your eyes opened.
NOTE: All the Huntington Press-published titles referenced in today's QoD are also available for all major e-book formats; you'll find direct Kindle, Nook, and Apple links in their respective pages at ShopLVA.com.
