Book Review: 1536 Free Waters and Other Blackjack Endeavors--by Glen Wiggy
I was going to put this on "Stories" thread of forum but that's a subscription one, so thought more people might have the benefit here. First this is NOT a card counting "teaching" book, though the author does have info on his counting system, deck estimation, and a H-17 strategy chart. But there are enough of those books. I found his refreshing because it was written as a humorous, anecdotal book of stories and events through the author's life while playing blackjack. It's written tongue in cheek, sprinkled with a little sarcasm, and mostly "southern or Oklahoma" humor. (Though from one of the stories, I would bet a black chip he is a democrat....haha) It's a quick read and despite Munchkin's review, that the author was "too lucky", and that his count is too complicated, I think he reviewed it a little too seriously...........this author never means this to be a blackjack treatise, rather it's to be taken as a humorous view of blackjack in his life and all the situations that arise.
Wiggy was a golf pro in Midwest City, OK and was a Scientific Analyst for the US Airforce AFTER graduating from the Academy. Now retired. He is no dummy and he is NOT trying to teach you the mathematics of playing cards/blackjack. But he came from a family who gambled a little (sports, golf, bingo, etc.) and he "got the bj bug" as we all have. He does explain the theory enough for any novice to understand his book and what he was doing. If it WAS a treatise on blackjack, the Indian Gaming monthly magazine, "Dreamcatcher" wouldn't put the review in their most recent issue (8/2014) p. 23.
He also has his blogsite: http://blackjackstories.com/ but he quit posting in 2013. He also has a youtube video out if you search under his name that was a quick stand up gig at a comedy club, which will give you a little insight into his humor. (Personally I think he writes MUCH better....LOL)
But everyone here or who has played blackjack will enjoy many of his stories and will laugh at loud at some, from the feeble arguments at justification to playing with his wife; to losing all of a session bankroll trying to win that last $100 to buy a big screen tv for $1600, when he was up $1500 and just needed $100 more by using the Martingale system.......UNSUCCESSFULLY (lol)....to saving puppies from Arizona heat by some degenerate ploppy who left them in a car.........to getting greedy as to trying to win enough bottled water for his wife from the casino (in lieu of ever paying for them.......therefore the title), to his descriptions of the types of people he (we) encounter in casinos. Stereotypes but all true (from the unkempt to the violations of the olfactory glands)... to the smoke filled conditions. I cracked up at his method of stopping an "amply endowed" woman from rubbing the cut card EVERY shoe cut between her cleavage at a long session.
It's a quick read. It's humorous. I think everyone will relate. It's not as dry or a report like Blackjack Diary and it's not as analytical or as in detail as Blackjack Life. It's not meant to be. But I bet anyone here who reads it will find it a very enjoyable break from the seriousness of this game and remember similar anecdotes or times from their beginning forays into the Casino world to the present. Good book!
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