My Nov. 13 blackjack seminar in Denver was wonderful and I’m sorry if you missed it. I will share a few insights I got from the reactions of those who attended to illustrate the many misconceptions the old school writers have placed in the heads of too many players.
First of all, the concept that “basic strategy” and/or “card counting” are either the “perfect” or “correct” or “best” strategies… It didn’t take many scans from the old school books whose authors had created these faulty and ineffective strategies for seminar attendees’ eyes to grow wide with surprise.
No one had any illusions about these being “perfect” or “correct” after they saw Edward Thorp in 1962’s Beat The Dealer (based upon computer simulations by IBM’s Julian Braun) said at best basic strategy was a break even method and at worst (under conditions in which we play today, such as when the dealer shuffles the cards before dealing every last one of them) it gives the house a one percent edge (and he was referring to one deck games; that disadvantage would grow with each deck added).
And they saw that by 1980 another of many old school books based upon Braun’s simulations (or as I like to call them, phony blackjack rounds, based upon a random number generator’s crazy quilt numbers), The World’s Greatest Blackjack, was warning you not to play 6 deck games. Even with the most advanced card counting methods of the day, they said they were “extremely difficult to beat” (page 63). That book said, “you stand an excellent chance of almost breaking even in the long run” by using basic strategy (which was not considered as good as card counting), indicating they were aware that that was a losing system (see page 193).
And seminar attendees learned that by 1969 Lawrence Revere, in Playing Blackjack As A Business, said most card counting systems were “practically worthless” in games of four decks or more (page 175).
So it didn’t take long for the seminar attendees to realize they’d been sold a bill of goods by the old school writers.
They were also pleasantly surprised to see, through my card demonstrations, that you can predict, using my state-of-the-art methods, the dealer’s likely outcome and whether you’re holding a winning or losing hand (after receiving any number of cards). With that information, they were impressed that you can accurately determine what strategy works best.
With just the first two cards dealt, I’d announce whether the dealer was likely to bust or not and predict the likely outcomes of every player hand on the table. In seconds. So they saw you cannot only get a very precise read on the dealer’s odds and your odds, but you can do so in a split second.
But players have been led to believe (by the old school writers) that the game can be beaten is a simple, one-size-fits all strategy and so one attendee, inculcated with the wrong information, questioned how he might get up to speed. He felt the action at a casino went too fast.
Well, first of all, he witnessed me doing it all day. So if I can do it, so can anyone else. And you can slow down the action as much as you like at the table. Take your time. And you can choose a table where the action is going at a slower pace (with a dealer that deals nice and slowly and a maximum number of players so you can, sitting in third base, have more time to think).
But more importantly, blackjack requires practice. And that’s something all players need to understand.
In fact, that’s one of the few things even the horrible blackjack movie “21” got right. It showed how even the old schoolers – with their simplistic methods that (by their own admissions) were highly ineffective – spent weeks and months practicing at a blackjack mat at home, honing their skills and learning to become smooth and get up to speed.
With any card game, in fact, whether it’s poker, Bridge or whatever, you cannot expect to become an expert by osmosis. It takes some work.
But you can make it fun. And the rewards are incredible, if you love the games and stick with it.
So, have some patience. After all, if you don’t enjoy practicing at home, you probably don’t love the game of blackjack. And if you don’t enjoy learning, you probably will not do well at blackjack.
Anyone looking for a game they can play with a quick-and-dirty approach with a minimum of effort is not cut out to be a blackjack winner. Even the old schoolers understood this.
I’m pretty sure everyone left the November 13th seminar very impressed. In fact, many requested I return to Denver to do another seminar so I might very well do an Advanced Blackjack Techniques seminar in the Spring. Let me know if you’re interested.
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Richard Harvey is an acclaimed blackjack strategies innovator, expert player, blackjack coach and bestselling author of Blackjack The SMART Way (the NEW Gold Edition), Cutting Edge Blackjack (the NEW Third Edition), NEW Ways To Win MORE at Blackjack and the audio book Richard Harvey’s Blackjack PowerPrep Session. Have blackjack questions? Send them to rharvey2121@netscape.net. For more info see http://www.blackjacktoday.com.
