Opinions, and reccomendation for systems

I am a fairly novice counter. I only know about card-counting from the 3 books on blackjack. The system I use is from Edwin Silberstang's 'Blackjack for the serious player'

2-6 +1, 7-9 0, 10s -1, aces kept track of separately. With a 1-6 unit spread, which I came up with on my own.

I have not been counting for very long, but I believe this to be a fairly elementary system. Anyone's opinion of this would be appreciated. As well, what are some good books to read on the subject, possibly with more advanced, "professional", systems.

Also, I have his book "Poker for the serious player". I think it is horrible. I just wanted to know is Mr. Silberstang a quack? Personally, I think his blackjack book is good for a first counting system. As well, I have books on various games from several authors that are published by "Cardoza Publishing". If anyone could give me an opinion on Avery Cardoza, and the general quality of his company's books, that would also be most appreciated.

Thanks again,
Charlie Mac

but your bet system needs to be more finely tuned to the game you are playing. If you are playing shoe games then a 1:6 spread is insufficient unless you leave the table fairly quickly when the count goes negative. If you "play all" then you generally need a spread twice this size. 1:6 is okay for most handhelds.

Edwin Silberstang is not recognized as much of an authority, although he may not give you any information that is outright wrong. I would suggest you read some books by Wong, Snyder, and Schlesinger. I had one of Silberstang's poker books and his treatment of the subject was no too deep. I'll admit to not having read his blackjack book. But I was unimpressed by the one book of his I did read and have not heard any rave reviews of his blackjack writing.

(besides Thorpe years ago)I began with Humble's Worlds Greatest Blackjack Book. I did so because he is a legitimate scientist/professor who knows his stats and I knew he wasn't a quack. I won with his beginner system, but the best part for me was the clear and concise behavioral rules he gives you to insure your success...and they work if followed!

In my opinion a real sleeper book is the one by TJ Reynolds...I believe it is The Complete Book of Blackjack (I'm not where I can double check exact title.) He says he was a dealer and reports having lots of other experience in the field but he really does lay it out in a very credible way way that gets you jump started. Oh, I forgot, its a HiLo (Silberstang style) count so you can just pick up from where you are. I really enjoyed his "101 tips" at the end.

I have not read Don Schlesinger's book although I do play the "Illustrious 18" indices, but I broke down and ordered Black Jack Attack a few days ago after reading a few people say its simply the best bj book there is.

Lastly, if you begin to want to challenge yourself more check out Blackjack for Blood (get inspired by Gladys J at the very least). This has been my bible although I'm looking at the HiOpt II for the future because I pay a lot of 6 deck shoes. I've won with all three cumulatively but more with the first and third system (probably due to errors on my part with #2).

In retrospect re my post, I'm probably the only gal on here who will recommend Reynolds, so that what I'd consider first given your current start. (Wong is of course 100% canonical)

jack

I purchased a new copy of Silberstang's book for $4.98 at Half-Price books sometime back, read it once, and it has sat on my shelf unopened until I just picked it back up to review it so that I may provided you with some answers.

This book should be retitled "Break-even To Marginally Winning Blackjack for the Card Counter Wannabe". Of course Silberstang provided the obligatory introduction to the game and correct basic strategy charts but some of the very few deviations from basic strategy are incorrect. One of his methods for True count calculation advocates estimating the removal of three cards per players per round (it's closer to 2.7, but nonetheless, dividing by decks unseen is more practical). He makes no mention of important concepts such as of the effects of penetration, risk of ruin, realistic bankroll considerations, standard deviation factors, Kelly criterion, or optimal betting. His top bet of 12 units for multi-deck occurs at +9 true, way too late according to most optimal bet schedules which advocate a top bet at around +4 or +5.

His count isn't 2-6 vs. 10 as you had stated, but 3-6 vs. 10 and is called the Hi-Opt 1, which can be read about in the World's Greatest Blackjack Book, which is also a dated book.

Unless you are playing mostly single deck, I'd learn the Hi-Lo as described in Wong's Professional Blackjack. Playing the Hi-Opt with an ace side count through multiple decks is tedious and mentally taxing, especially for the beginner. There is also more imformation pertaining to Hi-Lo on this and other websites as it is the most popular of all count systems. Read through the blackjack school lessons on this website for a pretty decent overview. Forget about the level two count systems as Hi-Lo gets the money.

If you try to take a shortcut and use the H-Opt without an ace side count for multi-deck, your win rate will underperform the Hi-Lo, generally, by nearly 20%.

Telescopic