Wow! BJA3! Much different than 2?

This will show how long I have been out of the loop. I have in front of me a practically new, hardly read copy of Blackjack Attack 2. I received this for Christmas shortly after it came out. Not long after that, the kids started coming. We have had 3 since then and I've been really busy with them. Watching 21 got the BJ interest stirring in my blood again.

I am glad that this message board is still alive and well. It always has some great information. Are there many changes in the 3rd edition? Don, if you are reading this, you may remember Jarhead thought you had made an error in some wording in the second edition. That was me. You correctly showed me the error of my ways. Thanks for all that you give to the blackjack community.

Dadof3

Judge for yourself:

Preface

Third Edition � Hardcover

There is much to be excited about in this third, �Ultimate Weapon,� edition of Blackjack Attack. As the subtitle suggests, I have tried to cram in the pages of this one volume an incredible amount of highly sophisticated blackjack information. To that end, I have eagerly sought the advice and collaboration of some of the keenest mindsin the area of blackjack research, and together, we have broken new ground in several ways.

Here, then, are the major additions and improvements to be found in this third edition: First and foremost is the complete revision of the Chapter 10 charts, by Norm
Wattenberger, to include optimal betting ramps, unit sizes, SCOREs, and much, much more; a light piece, �More on SCORE,� appended to the SCORE chapter, as we seek ways to distinguish between the �original� concept of SCORE and the �generic� meaning the term has taken on; the complete version of the Optimal Departure study, which began in the second edition of BJA, but was completed in a subsequent issue of
Blackjack Forum; four brand-new risk of ruin equations, encompassing goal-reaching and time-constraint concepts, and an enlightening testing of the formulas� accuracy, through the computer simulations of Norm Wattenberger; an entirely new Chapter 12, as a mythical blackjack team takes a �Random Walk Down the Strip,� utilizing John
Auston�s genial software application, BJRM 2002; a three-part Appendix, courtesy of the amazing Cacarulo, with more than 100 pages (!) of precise expectation tables, basic strategy charts (the most accurate in print), and effects of rules variations on
basic strategy expectations; finally, a new cover design, an enlargement of the book�s format, and, for collectors, an elegant hardcover edition, which will be followed by a softcover version.

We learn to �never say never,� but, with this �Ultimate Weapon,� I believe I have furnished virtually all of the tools that the traditional card counter must have at his disposal to levy a full-blown attack on the casinos. I�m sure you�ll let me know if I�ve
left anything out, but, for now, this third edition of Blackjack Attack contains just about everything I know about the game of blackjack. I suggest, as one reviewer observed (speaking of the second edition), that you �don�t leave home without it.� Enjoy!

Don Schlesinger
New York, February 2004

Third Edition � Softcover

It�s been eight months since the publication of the hardcover edition of BJA3, and, frankly, I couldn�t be more pleased with the excitement that the book has generated in the blackjack community. I wrote, in my Preface to that third edition, that it �contains just about everything I know about the game of blackjack,� and intimated that there
might not be any further revisions of the book. But, there was a softcover version of BJA3 in the offing, and I am pleased to announce that it contains a major addition of historic proportions: a brand-new Appendix D, featuring completely revised and expanded tables of effects of removal, for playing and betting, which improve on
the work of the legendary Peter Griffin. We have Zenfighter (more about him in the appendix) and Cacarulo to thank for this monumental study, which I trust will be of immense value to blackjack players and researchers everywhere.

The book you now hold in your hands is the most voluminous reference work on casino 21 in existence, comprising 576 total pages and over 400 tables and charts. Needless to say, its creation involved a prodigious amount of work, not only for the author and his collaborators, but also for the publishers and proofreaders, who, once
again, have made a Herculean effort to get everything �just right.� It would be hard to describe the level of detail into which we all entered as we fine-tuned the text of the hardcover BJA3, searching for the inevitable gremlins that are typos, omissions, and stylistic inconsistencies. Doubtless, we haven�t found them all, but it is unquestionably true that the present incarnation of BJA3 is the most accurate and most painstakingly proofread version of them all, and I am extremely proud to sign my name to what is perhaps the final edition of Blackjack Attack: Playing the Pros� Way. I hope that you
will enjoy it.

Don Schlesinger
New York, January 2005

I have been asked, on more than one occasion, words to the effect " ... I really gotta' learn the important stuff about this game. What should I buy? I only want to get one book."

Since the advent of "Blackjack Attack", 3rd ed. I have been armed with a ready response.

"Blackjack Attack" is definitively comprehensive.
It covers all of the important areas for serious blackjack players.

Don S. is our scholarly benefactor, and he is the ultimate arbiter of theoretical and pragmatic disagreements re: blackjack.

Don,

Thanks for your response! I have re-read and been studying the 2nd edition for the past few weeks. I will be buying the 3rd edition soon. Again, thanks for all of your hard work.

Dad of 3