I picked up this book in the Las Vegas airport as I was leaving Las Vegas. I wish I had got it at the beginning of my trip. Here's my story: my brother and I both went to Vegas for the first time. We played quite a bit of blackjack. Our last night there, I got wiped out early and retreated to the nickel slots. Shortly after I left the blackjack table, a Japanese guy came and sat down next to my brother. He started coaching my brother and teaching him some basic strategy, and sure enough my brother started really doing well. My brother shared the strategy with me, and it turns out it's the same strategy that's in this book.
The basic strategy is this: obviously if you have a hand of 17 or higher, you should stand. And obviously if you have a hand of 11 or less, you should hit (since you can't bust no matter what card you get). So the only question becomes, what do you do in that "gray zone" where your hand is between 12 and 16? The answer is this: if the dealer has a high card (7 or higher), then HIT. If the dealer has a low card (6 or less), then STAND. The only other thing you need to know about is money management, and basically it sums up to this: if you are ahead, especially if you've doubled your money, then WALK AWAY. Don't stay and get greedy or you'll give your winnings back; your average blackjack session shouldn't last more than an hour, usually. There are also a few other rules in the book for how to handle splitting and doubling down when you're playing multi-deck (which is pretty much everywhere), so get the book and check it out. It's a thin little book that reads quickly and is well worth checking out during your flight into Vegas. Good luck!

A quick easy read. NO CARD COUNTING. Simple tips and strategies make the game fun for the amature, and almost completely remove the house advantage in Blackjack. You gain confidence and can relax and enjoy the game because you know you are doing it right. Using the easy techniques taught in this book, you can even the odds. Don't lose another winning hand because you are too lazy to read a few pages. A must-read for anyone who intends to visit a blackjack game, especially first-timers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was fast paced and well written. And I thought the characters were interesting and well developed which makes me want to continue reading to see what happens with them. I found myself reading continually and when I put the book down, I was anxious to get back to it. I enjoyed also that it takes place in the city where I live. The descriptions were well done & certainly recognizable to me. I would definately read more from this author.

I heard my friends talking about this one. I finally tracked one down and really enjoyed it. Very, very exciting and a fast read. I'd like to read more from this author.
If you haven't read it yet, you've got to get this book. You'll be talking about it at work for weeks.

I've been a blackjack player for many years and have read quite a few books on the subject...this is one of the most helpful books I've read! The author not only knows a lot about the game, he is also a very entertaining writer. I've tried the betting system he recommends, and so far it's working great! I now win a lot more than I lose!!! Every blackjack player will enjoy reading this fine book.

I'm a novice blackjack player and have read 2 other books about the game, but found this book to be much easier to understand and much more fun to read. The author seems to really know his stuff!

excellent book, very interesting system.

The author gives a different approach to winninng at blackjack. Scott Frank presents the CORE System to counting cards in an easy to understand way. I really enjoyed the book and found Scott's theories to be helpful. I used the strategy in Vegas and actually won.

If you frequent casino blackjack tables this book is well worth your time.

This book deals with a controversial subject -- insider cheating in casinos. Although the days of unregulated bust-out joints is over (at least in the US it is) it is not impossible to encounter some kind of cheating at casino blackjack tables. According to the author (who worked as a casino exec for a number of years), nowadays insider cheating in casinos is rare and it mostly happens by the floor staff running their own scams; not by the house running a scam against their customers. Even if the establishments are not to be blamed for such occurrences this book made some noise in the casino community simply because these establishments do not want the subject of the possibility of insider cheating even mentioned. I say, wherever money passes hands there will be some fast hands and the subject can not be ignored.

Those who are already familiar with some standard blackjack cheating techniques and strategies will have to read through some descriptions they already know. However, I still found some fresh ideas and even the author's opinion on the subject is well worth the read.

Highly recommended.

Bill Zender worked his way up through the ranks from dealer all the way to Casino Manager at the Aladdin. He has also worked for the Nevada Gaming Commission. His unique perspectives on casino cheating are a "must read" for the serious blackjack player, as a cheating dealer can obliterate your bankroll faster than a Vegas floozy. He discusses seconds-dealing in great detail, and how to detect it from the players chair. He also discusses methods taken by the casinos (since they are often victims of cheating dealers as well) and by the commission. All serious players will hit a bad streak eventually. You MUST be confident in your ability to determine whether it is luck alone, or a cheating dealer that is to blame (it's almost always bad luck, but you gotta know this). If you can't do this, you won't win over the long haul, it's as simple as that.

This book is not just for women! This book will help improve anyone's game. I highly recommend it.

Finally a blackjack book written for women in a fun to read style without explanations of why things work!

Mathematically very sound and easy to read, this book presents an unbalanced 10-count system. This system's playing efficiency is quite good(.61), and because it is an unbalanced system with the pivot point at the 2.0 non-ten/ten ratio it has a perfect insurance correlation. It's betting correlation is weak compared to more complex counting systems, but with a separate ace count the BC can be brought above 0.90. Because of the ease of keeping count, and with the pivot point at the point of betting favorability, I think this is a good system to use for multiple deck games (though when it was written single-deck games predominated, and the initial chapters are written for single-deck games). I have used this system to good effect. If you want a system for shoe games where you can have an advantage over the casino, yet can keep an accurate count and still relax, this may be the system for you.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's, Ken Uston was the king of blackjack. The Big Player is a story of his adventures where he gets recruited into a team of card counters to play and win blackjack against the casinos. This book does not present any card counting systems. It is a book about the stories he had after going up against the casinos.

He had a wild ride and discusses the never ending battle between his teams and the casinos. How they'd get barred, different tactics and strategies they used, team play, etc.

If you are interested in card counting of blackjack, you'll love this story.

A month ago I received a gift of the book "Blackjack the Smart Way" with its audio book "Preparing You to Win", and I just want to pass along how great Richard Harvey's system is. (In fact I've just ordered a set to give as a birthday present). The book is easy to read and understand. I like his sensible approach to money and bet management. Also, unlike other books on blackjack it has a lot of illustrations that make things very clear. Now I'm winning consistently; before, I had trouble putting together a winning streak. I'd win one day and lose on another. It's much more fun now that I know what I'm doing. The audio book is a good way of reviewing in your spare time what you read. In addition, it talks about the "Circle of 13", Harvey's own invention, which really helped me understand the math behind the game.I have already used it to win some hands that I might otherwise have lost.I really surprised a dealer a couple of times by making unorthodox moves based on the "Circle of 13". When I won, he replied how lucky I had been, but I knew it wasn't luck.

This is an amazing book. It's so entertaining and easy to read you don't even realize how much you're learning. The author asks questions I'd never even thought of, then he answers them so clearly and logically that I had no trouble absorbing the information. I've read a lot of blackjack books and was never really clear on the whys behind some of the recommendations. With this book, now I know what all the others were talking about.