Best Blackjack

by Frank Scoblete

Book Overview

People play blackjack for fun, but it is more fun to play for profit. Now you can do both. Best Blackjack shows you how. Blackjack is the most popular casino table game. Yet, the casinos win more money from the players at blackjack than from any other.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566250579
• ISBN13: 9781566250573
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
• Length: 283 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

My Favorite of Five

I have read five books on blackjack, "Professional Blackjack" by Stanford Wong, "Blackjack Take the Money and Run" by Henry Tamburin, "Blackjack Attack" by Don Schlessinger, "Knock Out Blackjack" by Fuchs and Vancura, and "Best Blackjack" by Frank Scoblete. They were all very good books but Scoblete's was the best overall. As I was a novice, I felt Scoblete was able to take me from knowing nothing about the game to being a very competent player. When I finished reading his book I followed his advice and read the other books. Scoblete has a whole bibliography of recommended books in his book. I found that while I learned from each and every book, no one gave me the information in such an assimilable way as Scoblete."Best Blackjack" was also a lot of fun to read as Scoblete intersperses his teaching with great stories. All five books are worthy in their way but I have to give my vote to Scoblete's "Best Blackjack" as being comprehensive but not daunting. I have been winning consistently at the casinos utilizing his ideas and I am very grateful. Blackjack is a great game if you know what you're doing.

One of the Two Must Read Books

In terms of books that can take you from knowing almost nothing about blackjack to becoming a skilled player, there are two that I have found to be the best: Knock Out Blackjack by Fuchs and Vancura and Best Blackjack by Frank Scoblete. Scoblete's book is the more enjoyable and entertaining. However, the Knock Out book has a counting system that is truly easy to learn. My advice is to get both. Scoblete is a warrior who has been in the casino wars. His diary at the end of the book is priceless and his insights into what it is like to play in casinos is the best I have ever read. Fuchs and Vancura, on the other hand, have created a simple but powerful card counting system in KO that I have been using with great success for over eight months now. I think these two books are just super. I recommend that you buy both to truly learn how to beat the game of blackjack.

I'd Give This TEN Stars if I Could

I already knew much of the technical stuff that is in this book. I knew basic strategy and I knew the KO counting system, which is a level-one system like the one discussed in this book, the hi-lo. However, Scoblete is such an important writer in the gambling field that I decided to read this book just to see what all the raves were about. Now I know. Not only is the book extremely well written, but it has insights and ideas that I have not run across before. I especially loved the anecdotes that Scoblete uses to highlight his ideas and theories. The book is well researched and quite informative. As other reviewers have stated the book is also a very enjoyable one to read. I think blackjack players of all skill levels, from beginners to pros, will find something in its pages. Based on this book alone, I would say that Scoblete well deserves his reputation as the best gaming writer in the business.

Great Book

I have been playing blackjack at Foxwoods for several years using basic strategy. I was losing consistently with only an occasional win. I decided I wanted to learn how to count cards and also to get insights into the game that might help me win more often. I read three books, the last by Frank Scoblete. This book was the best. It was a thorough view of all relevant aspects of blackjack from a writer who obviously has played the game successfully for many years. Many of the experiences he wrote about in his book I had had at the tables myself. I found his approach to card counting to be the best because he cut through all the garbage I had to wade through in the other two books I read and got to the essential core of the matter. That is no easy task because many blackjack writers pride themselves on charts and graphs that explore trivia. After a while you forget what's important and what isn't. Scoblete's book wasn't like that. He stuck to the essentials which are 1. what games to play based on penetration and rules, 2. what strategies to employ based on number of decks, 3. the few variations that really matter in basic strategy based on the count, 4. which counting system is really the best to use based on ease of use and ability to use for long periods of time. He also had some really funny stories about players so that the book isn't all just strategy or dry stuff. I think most blackjack players or would be blackjack players will find this book to be excellent. Experienced players will probably find his discussion of "dealer tells" to be interesting and his stories to be amusing. This is a great book.

Best Blackjack is Comprehensive and Enjoyable

Frank Scoblete's book "Best Blackjack" has several outstanding virtues. It is extremely well written. Most gambling books are not. Scoblete's style is flawless and he makes the game of blackjack actually fun to read about. The book contains valuable information about basic strategy and card counting. Although these things are by no means unique to Scoblete's book, he is the first to really explain in simple language which blackjack games can actually be beaten using these techniques and which can't. he is very honest about the natureof the edge that a blackjack card counter can get and how easy itis for the casino to offer inferior games that even skilled players can't beat. That was refreshing. Other blackjack books that I've read tend to overstate what you really can achieve playing this game. Scoblete has some unique sections in this book, some dealing with techniques to figure out the dealer's hole card such as "tells". He intersperses the analytical with absolutely fantastic stories about Las Vegas players and events. His blackjack diary at the end is worth the price of the book alone. This is the best book on blackjack that I've read. Ihave used Scoblete's advice on the gaming ships and I can tell you from my own personal experience, the man knows what he's talking about.