Sean: Help .. Newbie

[Sean]

I moved to Vegas last year. I have been playing Mini-Baccarat since and been doing well at it. I really want to learn Blackjack. Well, Let me restate that: I want to learn how to WIN at blackjack on a consistent basis. I hear so many stories of people making their living at the BJ tables. IS THIS TRUE ?? Where does one start ?? Thanks, Sean

[Johnny Bravo]

you need to totally forget about baccarat. Baccarat is not a beatable game. A Negative EV game.

Where to start: There are several good books at this site that will help explain the basics to you. "Blackbelt in Blackjack" by Snyder is a good book for beginners. You should learn "Basic Strategy" first before you even consider learning to count cards. You should know basic strategy well enough so that you don't have to think about it. Then, when you get to that point, you're ready to start learning how to count. Other excellent authors would include Snyder, Vancura and Fuchs, Stanford Wong, Bryce Carlson, and of course Don Schlesinger. Any books on BJ by these authors are excellent. You can't go wrong with them. However, I would recommend waiting to read Schlesinger's book until you had a solid understanding of counting. Otherwise, you'll be totally lost. Stay away from John Patrick. The basic strategy is wrong in his books. He teaches the ploppies how to play the ploppy way. There is another website out there devoted to advantage BJ play. It's called BJ21.com It is hosted by Stanford Wong. Resources are available from that site as well.

Hope this helps,
Johnny Bravo

[Robbie]

He's right in everything he says. Personally, before I became experiencd at counting, I found two books very helpful in explaining the concept. The World's Greatest Blackjack Book and Million Dollar Blackjack by Uston, provide an excellent overview of all aspects of card counting and also details of just about all you need to know. What they do not do is teach how and what to practice.

Robbie