The Big Book of Blackjack by Arnold Snyder

#1
The Big Book of Blackjack
Cardoza Publishing
$17.95 - 375 pages
By Arnold Snyder

Reviewed by Zengrifter

Recently, on Fathers' Day, I received a surprise in my mailbox - Snyder's new Big Book of Blackjack. I had been anticipating this book for over two years, having first heard of its pending release in '04 when I was the resident gambling expert at the downtown Las Vegas Gambler's General Store - a job I landed as I arrived at the halfway-house after a 14-month stint in the federal prison camp system (see Zengrifter Interview).



As I began to learn more about Big Book, I was generally increasingly disappointed - after all, Arnold Snyder wrote the best single book on card-counting of all time: Blackbelt in Blackjack. Blackbelt, I tell everyone and anyone, is the veritable Bible of card-counting, and now in its third revision since its first release nearly a quarter century ago, Blackbelt has remained entirely relevant and up to date - something that no other single advantage-play gambling author has accomplished.

But, alas, as I heard more information about the coming Big Book I was informed that it would not contain the cutting-edge counting information. And after all, how could it? As I said, Blackbelt already covers all things counting.

Well, the Father's Day surprise was fitting. Am I a father? You bet - I have two children: me and my stepdaughter, 'NPK', who first learned basic strategy at age 13 and first provided her services as a BP when she was 18, using a novelty ID I gave her for her birthday.

Well to my surprise, the first thing that struck me is the size of Big Book - its a BIG book, and at just shy of 400 pages it is THE BIGGEST damn book ever devoted entirely to blackjack!

But, of course, bigger isn't always better.

So, I began to initially speed read this tome but then I immediately decelerated at page 19 - A 'Mystery History' of Blackjack - page after page of the most amazing and untold story about the rather murky origins of our beloved game. The history section, was riveting! A tour 'de force romp through the ages filled with gamesters, gangsters, scientists, philosophers and cons. With 80 pages devoted to a history of the game, alone, Big Book has secured its place as a scholarly work, revealing for the first time a definitive and well researched plot curve and time-line of the game's evolution, from the 1500s to present. At once both the most entertaining and thorough work ever spun on the subject.

So, for my money the History section alone is worth the price of Big Book, but it has much more to offer, still.

I have often been hard-pressed to recommend a good beginner's book on blackjack when queried by friends or acquaintances . So-called beginner books often are so overly simplistic that I simply recommend a basic strategy card. Or I've been known to suggest Snyder's Blackbelt, but I really feel that newcomers can get lost and fail to understand that all I wanted them to start with was the basic chart. Last year Eliot Jacobson's Blackjack Zone was an understandable work for the beginner and recreational player, and I felt that I finally had the book for all the other "civilians" who might occasionally want to know what to read.

But The Big Book, likely Snyder's final blackjack book, is now uniquely the one single book that most players of casual interest will ever need - covering the subject from the most elementary rules and procedures, to the application of the Red 7 counting system to, not only, regular blackjack in its varied forms, but also the correct basic and count strategies for beating Double Exposure, Super Fun, Spanish, BJ Switch and other variants. And it doesn't stop there. Snyder covers most all of the beatable and increasingly popular side bets like Royal Match, Lucky Ladies, Over/Under, etc.

Imagine, a beginner's book with a wealth of information that cannot be found even in the experts' books!

And more even - philosophy of gambling, casino mentality, cheating and how to recognize it, controversies, and a rogues' gallery of virtually everyone who has made an impact on the game and stories which, before now, have never been told!

In summation, this is a book that not only should be in every counter's library, but also is THE book for dad, uncle Jim, your sister in law, and just about anyone who you might consider making a gift to within this genre.

And at the jacket price of $17.95 The Big Book of Blackjack is without doubt the best information and entertainment value ever published on the subject of casino twenty one.

"Two big thumbs up", as Roger Ebert would say!
 
Last edited:
#4
bnoc848 said:
Is there alot of stuff on the red7? should i buy this book after i finished blackbelt in blackjack?
There is a lot of R7 material for applying it to various side-bets and alternate BJ games like BJ Switch, etc. zg
 

bnoc848

Active Member
#6
i beleive that overstock.com sells it for around 9$ and many other BJ book too. they also have KO blackjack for 11$ so it seems like a good site to buy books,


so zengrifter is it a must read book? or is it very simular to blackbelt and i shouldent wast my time on it?
 

bnoc848

Active Member
#12
hey zengrifter, how much info is there on bet sizing and betting spread for the red 7 count? after reading blackbelt, im lost on how to bet for the red 7. would this book tell me more and help me out?


thanks, bnoc
 
#13
bnoc848 said:
hey zengrifter, how much info is there on bet sizing and betting spread for the red 7 count? after reading blackbelt, im lost on how to bet for the red 7.
HOW COULD YOU BE LOST?? R7 BETS WITH RC!!! Yes there's more R7 material WITHOUT the advanced R7 true-count option. zg
 

bnoc848

Active Member
#14
i know how much to bet according to the count, but then he goes on about different types of betting systems then he talk about replenishable bankrolls without much detail then he explain in fine detail how to bet on a fixed bankroll but never says how to size your bets on a replenishable bankroll and i have a 2000$ replenishable bankroll so i dont know my bet sizes!
 
#15
bnoc848 said:
i know how much to bet according to the count, but then he goes on about different types of betting systems then he talk about replenishable bankrolls without much detail then he explain in fine detail how to bet on a fixed bankroll but never says how to size your bets on a replenishable bankroll and i have a 2000$ replenishable bankroll so i dont know my bet sizes!
Here's my advice for replenishable bankrolls:

1. Win rate. Size your bets so that your win rate is at least equal to your hourly wage. Otherwise you are better off going into work than the casino.

2. Trip ruin. Size your bets so your chances of coming back from a casino trip with an empty pocket are reasonably low. I set mine for a 2% trip ROR, which means if I go to the casino every week, about once a year I will come home early.

A good simulator like CVData is good for these calculations.
 
#17
Automatic Monkey said:
Trip ruin. Size your bets so your chances of coming back from a casino trip with an empty pocket are reasonably low. I set mine for a 2% trip ROR
Two percent trip ruin!!! Thats the wimpiest trip-ruin I've ever heard! zg
 

ortango

Well-Known Member
#18
Zen, thanks for the recommendation. I've been "net-educated" on blackjack, and felt like I could get all the info I needed online for free. This is only somewhat true and I was really looking for a good first book. Wow, I hope the rest of the books that I ordered and are on the way are as good as this one. I can't imagine the ones written in the 60s-80s can have such modern and up to date information. My dad, who I knew was a crappy player even before I really knew BS, will definately be getting a copy.

One part that interested me was the "rarest blackjack books" section, of out of print treasures which listed the following books/pamplets:

Blackjack in Asia - Standford Wong
Advantage Playing - Steve Forte
Beyond Counting - James Grosjean

Anyway to still get these, especially on the cheap?
 
#19
ortango said:
Blackjack in Asia - Standford Wong
Advantage Playing - Steve Forte
Beyond Counting - James Grosjean

Anyway to still get these, especially on the cheap?
Via Ebay and Amazon - but NOT cheap. Also - Anderson's "Turning the Tables on Las Vegas". zg
 

avs21

Well-Known Member
#20
zengrifter said:
The Big Book of Blackjack
Cardoza Publishing
$17.95 - 375 pages
By Arnold Snyder

Reviewed by Zengrifter

Recently, on Fathers' Day, I received a surprise in my mailbox - Snyder's new Big Book of Blackjack. I had been anticipating this book for over two years, having first heard of its pending release in '04 when I was the resident gambling expert at the downtown Las Vegas Gambler's General Store - a job I landed as I arrived at the halfway-house after a 14-month stint in the federal prison camp system (see Zengrifter Interview).



As I began to learn more about Big Book, I was generally increasingly disappointed - after all, Arnold Snyder wrote the best single book on card-counting of all time: Blackbelt in Blackjack. Blackbelt, I tell everyone and anyone, is the veritable Bible of card-counting, and now in its third revision since its first release nearly a quarter century ago, Blackbelt has remained entirely relevant and up to date - something that no other single advantage-play gambling author has accomplished.

But, alas, as I heard more information about the coming Big Book I was informed that it would not contain the cutting-edge counting information. And after all, how could it? As I said, Blackbelt already covers all things counting.

Well, the Father's Day surprise was fitting. Am I a father? You bet - I have two children: me and my stepdaughter, 'NPK', who first learned basic strategy at age 13 and first provided her services as a BP when she was 18, using a novelty ID I gave her for her birthday.

Well to my surprise, the first thing that struck me is the size of Big Book - its a BIG book, and at just shy of 400 pages it is THE BIGGEST damn book ever devoted entirely to blackjack!

But, of course, bigger isn't always better.

So, I began to initially speed read this tome but then I immediately decelerated at page 19 - A 'Mystery History' of Blackjack - page after page of the most amazing and untold story about the rather murky origins of our beloved game. The history section, was riveting! A tour 'de force romp through the ages filled with gamesters, gangsters, scientists, philosophers and cons. With 80 pages devoted to a history of the game, alone, Big Book has secured its place as a scholarly work, revealing for the first time a definitive and well researched plot curve and time-line of the game's evolution, from the 1500s to present. At once both the most entertaining and thorough work ever spun on the subject.

So, for my money the History section alone is worth the price of Big Book, but it has much more to offer, still.

I have often been hard-pressed to recommend a good beginner's book on blackjack when queried by friends or acquaintances . So-called beginner books often are so overly simplistic that I simply recommend a basic strategy card. Or I've been known to suggest Snyder's Blackbelt, but I really feel that newcomers can get lost and fail to understand that all I wanted them to start with was the basic chart. Last year Eliot Jacobson's Blackjack Zone was an understandable work for the beginner and recreational player, and I felt that I finally had the book for all the other "civilians" who might occasionally want to know what to read.

But The Big Book, likely Snyder's final blackjack book, is now uniquely the one single book that most players of casual interest will ever need - covering the subject from the most elementary rules and procedures, to the application of the Red 7 counting system to, not only, regular blackjack in its varied forms, but also the correct basic and count strategies for beating Double Exposure, Super Fun, Spanish, BJ Switch and other variants. And it doesn't stop there. Snyder covers most all of the beatable and increasingly popular side bets like Royal Match, Lucky Ladies, Over/Under, etc.

Imagine, a beginner's book with a wealth of information that cannot be found even in the experts' books!

And more even - philosophy of gambling, casino mentality, cheating and how to recognize it, controversies, and a rogues' gallery of virtually everyone who has made an impact on the game and stories which, before now, have never been told!

In summation, this is a book that not only should be in every counter's library, but also is THE book for dad, uncle Jim, your sister in law, and just about anyone who you might consider making a gift to within this genre.

And at the jacket price of $17.95 The Big Book of Blackjack is without doubt the best information and entertainment value ever published on the subject of casino twenty one.

"Two big thumbs up", as Roger Ebert would say!
Thank you for posting the review, I bought the book shortly after reading the review. The book saved me some money on my recent trip to Northern Nevada. The part on detecting cheating dealers in handheld games really helped me out. I was at a low stakes casino this dealer jumps in I start losing. The dealer keeps pulling 20's no big deal just one of the bad fluctuations in blackjack. After about 5mins playing against this dealer when the dealer deals her holecard she drops two cards out instead of one. She picks up one instead of putting it in discard tray puts it on top. Couple hands later same thing happens again two cards come out together instead of one. One mistake like this maybe she was just sloppy, but two times I don’t' think so. I left right after the second time.
 
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