Question of the Day - 09 November 2024

Your father is correct: Beat the Dealer, by Ed Thorp, is perhaps the most classic book in the gambling literature.

Published in 1962, it changed casino gambling forever. It introduced the idea that blackjack could be beaten by "counting the cards," laid the groundwork for understanding probability in gambling, and pioneered the idea of advantage play that gamblers ever since have developed and perfected; in the second edition of the book, published in 1966, Thorp laid out the particulars of the foundational Hi-Lo counting system, still in use today. 

All that said, so much has changed in the casino world, especially blackjack, since Beat the Dealer was published that much of the book is outdated. What isn't after 62 years? Indeed, many of the changes were wrought by the book itself, the casinos finding themselves having to implement countermeasures to counter the card counters, notably multiple decks, automatic shufflers, and the 6-5 payout on naturals.  

In Thorp's day, the blackjack games were often as good as positive right off the top of the deck: single decks dealt down the bottom, dealer stood on soft 17s, double on any two cards, double after split, late surrender, the works. Also, rather than having to worry about getting picked off for card counting by the pit or surveillance, Thorp had to contend with the "tradition," especially back in the days of the Mob, of sending a card mechanic to deal to a winning or "suspicious" player. Thorpe brought along experts in sleight of hand to watch the dealers and make sure they weren't cheating. 

So to us, Beat the Dealer remains relevant mostly as a lesson in the history of card counting; it's essentially the origin story. 

As for a book that's applicable in today's blackjack game, we're not only tooting our own horn when we recommend The 21st Century Card Counter -- The Pro's Approach To Beating Today's Blackjack, which we published last year. It's written by Colin Jones, a long-time blackjack pro who founded the famous Church Team, manages BlackjackApprenticeship.com, leads Blackjack Bootcamps, and has earned his livelihood beating casinos for more than two decades. As such, the book provides all the information and direction you'd need to take up card counting as a profession or avocation. Plus, Colin interviews other card counters and advantage players for real-life views of what it takes to succeed in today's cat-and-mouse game between the casinos and the card counters. 

The other book we like, and not just because it's ours, is Blackjack Insiders -- How Two Pit Bosses Beat the Casinos at Their Own Game. This one is written by Andrew Uyal, who started out as a young blackjack dealer in Mesquite and learned how to count cards from his supervisor, an expert blackjack player who beat the gambling joints on his days off. They teamed up and started making hit-and-run incursions into the Las Vegas locals casinos, then branched out to encompass the whole country. Their familiarity with the inner workings of the pit gave them a unique edge, though it didn't protect them from the adversity that comes with being blackjack pro.

Both books present a brutally honest perspective on the highs and lows of professional blackjack in contemporary casinos.