This
review is taken from the Spring 2000 Blackjack Forum written by
Arnold Snyder.
This 223-page book establishes Jesse Morgan (James Grosjean) as an
expert on casino gambling at the very top of the upper echelons of
expertise. I can not praise this work highly enough, nor begin to
describe the value contained within its pages for professional players
in this concise review. In my opinion, Morgan is on a level with Peter
Griffin, Don Schlesinger, Stanford Wong, and a handful of others in both
his understanding of advantage play, and in his original work on not
only blackjack but many other casino games. Morgan (Grosjean) seems able
to put almost any concept into a chart, a table, or a mathematical
formula.
This book is not for beginners. Morgan assumes his readers are
already familiar with the basics of card counting and the mathematics of
gambling in general. As with Griffin's work, or Schlesinger's, I do not
believe a serious player needs to understand all of the math to find
value in the book. Also, this is not just a math book. Morgan discusses
innumerable psychological factors of the game that I believe all serious
players should read. Don't be scared off by the math.
This book is basically a series of essays, divided into nine
sections:
1. Gamblers: discusses the play of "civilians" at your table.
2. Counters: Big Chapter. Talks about everything: comportment, comps,
VIP membership, disguising winnings, switching shifts, your "act,"
security, dealers, pit personnel, cover plays, heat, fake ID, CTRs, safe
deposit boxes, Royal Match, ace coupons, Casino War, bankroll, and lots
of other stuff.
3. Partners: the value of using an insurance count, card eating, the
cut card effect, risk-sharing scams, communications/signals, and more.
4. Dealers: tipping, payoff errors, misdeals, etc.
5. Cheaters: preferential shuffling, short packs, upcard selection,
hole card swapping, dealing seconds, etc.
6. Spotters: Morgan uses this term to describe players who use
information obtained by "spotting" the value of the card or cards which
are not supposed to be known to the player(s) -- such as hole card play,
or seeing the value of the next card to be dealt, etc., usually due to
sloppy dealing practices. This is an excellent treatment of hole-card
play, including mathematical analyses of the proper plays, the costs of
misplays, the overall advantage, etc., plus the numerous camouflage
considerations necessary. Goes beyond the work of Uston and Wong.
7. Travelers: Hotels, airlines, car rentals, taxis, etc.
8. Other Games: Caribbean Stud, Let it Ride, Monopoly, Three-Card
Poker, Colorado Hold 'em, Craps, Roulette, Mini-Bacarrat, Video Poker,
and the Big Six Wheel. Morgan discusses myriad legal and illegal methods
of beating those games based on many factors.
9. The End Game: Random thoughts, a huge glossary of terms, blackjack
basic strategy, useful statistical pronciples, random number generators,
etc.
It's hard for me to imagine anyone who subscribes to Blackjack
Forum not finding a treasure of information in this book.
Beyond Counting is 223 jam-packed pages and contains an index.
The price is $39.95 plus shipping (plus sales tax if sent to a Nevada
address). Beyond Counting is available from:
Pi Yee Press
4855 W. Nevso Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89103
Phone 702-579-7711
E-mail piyeepress@bj21.com
Or use the Pi Yee Press
on-line order form.
