Blackwood - Play Blackjack Like the Pros

by Stanford Wong

Games and puzzles have always fascinated me. I especially enjoy figuring out solutions to complex problems. When I was about twelve I started unlocking the secrets of blackjack. I used an office calculator (personal computers did not exist then) to work out the odds. I removed the dealers upcard and two player cards, and figured out what the players expectation was for standing, hitting, or doubling down. Unfortunately, before I finished, Dr. Edward Thorp beat me to the punch with Beat the Dealer , the first book on card counting. Some people doubted that blackjack could be beaten, but I was convinced that Thorp presented a valid winning system. I learned his Ten-Count System, and then had to wait until I turned twenty-one before I could use my new skill in Nevada.

The game keeps changing, so there is always a need for new books with the most current information. Casinos develop countermeasures to try to thwart card counters, and skilled players in turn figure out new ways to get an edge. Since I published Professional Blackjack in 1974, many other books on card counting have appeared. Kevin Blackwood is the latest author to make a contribution to this science. His Play Blackjack Like the Pros does a good job of explaining how to win under todays rules and playing conditions. Its also written in a fun style that makes for an entertaining and enjoyable read.

Blackwood is a high-stakes pro who spent years in the trenches. He claims to have won over a million dollars at the game, and I have no reason to doubt that he has. Can you do that, too? Well, yes, you can, if you really want to. You dont need a computer brain to play winning blackjack. Use Blackwoods textbook and win your own million.

There are no shortcuts to magically transform you from zero to hero at the blackjack tables, so be prepared to work hardthe casinos dont simply mail checks to people who learn to count cards. Yet the game definitely can be beaten, and Play Blackjack Like the Pros provides all the necessary tools to make you the favorite every time you walk through the doors of a casino.

So good luck, and may you make the casinos pay for this book many times over!

Can You Become a Pro?

For the last two decades, Ive lived what many would consider the American dream, earning big bucks while working only part-time. My profession? Card counter. My office? Blackjack tables all over the world. Incredible perks accompanied my vocationringside boxing tickets for the big fights, offers to play golf with celebrities, front-row seats to sold-out shows, and gourmet dinners at the finest restaurants. Though I enjoyed these lavish experiences, the comps were strictly a side benefit. I chose this unusual line of work for only one reasonto make money. Easy money. And I succeeded, becoming one of the top blackjack players in the country.

How did I win in a game where everyone is expected to lose? More important, is it possible for you to follow in my footsteps and routinely withdraw money from casinos? Contrary to what some people believe, you dont need to be a mathematical genius or play on some highly capitalized team to become the predator instead of the prey in blackjack. Ill show how my career refutes these two common misconceptions, and how discipline, drive, and persistence were the keys to my success. These qualities ultimately separate the few who actually make a living at blackjack from those who frequent the glitzy temples of chance only to help pay the light bill.

MOVIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS

The typical Hollywood myth portrays professional blackjack players as walking data banksRain Man clones with incredible photographic memories. But you dont have to be a brilliant autistic savant like Dustin Hoffmans character to succeed at the tables (although Ive had many sessions where I felt like Tom Cruise after some big wins at Caesars Palace). The truth is that anyone with reasonable intelligence can learn to count cards and win at blackjack. Determination is far more important than aptitude, and my main strength is a dogged tenacity.

Finding the hottest clubs takes hard work and extra effort. In my pursuit of profitable games, I traveled all over the world to places like the Dominican Republic, where I played private tables in small, dirty, and dangerous casinos. I flew to the Orient when casinos there instituted rare bonuses for five-card hands. I made only one gambling trip to Europe, but it was profitable, as I pounded several clubs in Belgium offering an advantageous early surrender rule.

It wasnt in search of frequent-flier miles that I journeyed to these distant destinations. Like other card counters, I still made periodic pilgrimages to the gambling Mecca known as Sin City, but to beat blackjack on a consistent basis required hard work and a willingness to boldly go where few had gone before.

REALITY

My gambling philosophy could be summed up in two wordsaggressive and selective. I always sought to maximize my wins by spreading aggressively whenever I had the edge. Also, I was extremely selective in choosing casinos, absolutely refusing to play marginal games. It takes a great deal of perseverance to overcome the many obstacles facing card counters, and far too many settle for mediocre blackjack conditions.

The result is most players never reach the highest levels. They view professional gambling as the ideal lifestyle, since it combines high profits with the ultimate in flexible hours. These people gravitate to card counting because they want the kind of job in which, when everyone else rolls out of bed in the morning, they just roll over. However, trading in your paycheck for casino chips is anything but easy, and not for the faint of heart.

It might be fun to daydream about how youre going to win enough on your next trip to buy that new Porsche, but its a whole different world when youve sat through twelve draining hours of the worst cards imaginable. It takes steel nerves and thick skin to remain unaffected by the kaleidoscope of emotions bombarding you at the tables.

Yet there are few legal jobs anywhere in the world that offer the potential of clearing ten grand a month from just a few days of work. So the reward is great, and I know it can be done. I started out with only a small amount of cash and have won over a million dollars at the blackjack tables.

Very few individual players in the world can make that claim, and I will share many anecdotes from my career to help you learn from my experience. But my life has been far from a picture-perfect fairy tale. Ive also made my share of mistakes, and Ill recount a few of those boneheaded blunders to show you what not to do as well as what to do .