Blackjack: The Smart Way

Rating:
Summary: Good mix of old and new
Review: Harvey has an uncanny way of making things that other books tend to complicate as simple as they can be to the reader. Having already read Lawrence Revere, it was good to see him acknowledge the positives that the blackjack bibles of prior eras brought to the table while also building on the basics that have been part of the blackjack community for 30+ years. One thing you have to bring to the table when reading this book is an open mind. The easy thing to do is accept the methods that have been in place in terms of basic strategy for some time and not be open to new ideas. Keep a truly open mind and you will enjoy this reading. Go into the book with a fixed idea of what is right and wrong in terms of game play, and it will collect dust on your bookshelf. Harvey realizes the game is not played in some antiseptic, computer driven environment and does a wonderful job of explaining the mathematical probabilities behind his moves yet not ignoring the very imperfect environment the game is played in.
If you are looking for a complete rehashing of age old methods, this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you are willing to mix a fair amount of old proven methods with a great deal of new, refreshing ideas, this book is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: Blackjack the Smart Way
Review: I have read this book several times and have made money at the tables in Vegas and Atlantic City. I have also attended a seminar by Richard Harvey.

Rating:
Summary: How much I won from this book.
Review: I tried this betting strategy on computer simulated programs and the end result is always the same....my bankroll begins to slip. Even using quit points and starting again it continues to bleed money. Very disappointing, as I had hoped I had found the answer to blackjack. I guess life is hard, the casinos are not there to give you thier money. Playing a game where the percentages are against you is a sucker game, thats playing with someones rules tilted for them and against you. No doubt there will be people screaming at me for this review but before you do so try this yourself: Go out and buy 4 or 6 decks of cards and shuffle up to make your own shoe and start dealing to yourself and see how you do using his betting progression. If it works, god bless. I am going to try with real cards myself. Maybe the shockwave blackjack I was using does not represent a real deck.

Rating:
Summary: The Complete Blackjack Book
Review: Most instructional Blackjack books written today base a betting strategy on a "count" which will indicate a plus or minus of high value cards dealt. In the 60's when card counting was established, this was an effective way for a player to win at Blackjack. Not so today. The game has been modified with the addition of multiple deck play, reshuffles and other countermeasures which allowed the casinos to reduce the effectiveness of this type of play. Enter Richard Harvey. Here is a book which will aid the beginner in learning effective strategy as well as the advanced player with an effective total approach to the game. The author outlines the basics of the game, the Casino envoirnment, pifalls to avoid and money management. He further instructs the reader on a count based system with which to guide the way a hand should be played. He introduces Card Observation and the X - Factor, innovative strategies which further allow a player to enhance his or her game. Finally, the author alerts the readers to countermeasures and how to overcome or avoid them.
This book is worth twice the price. If I had to recommend one book to a Blackjack Player, this would be it.

Rating:
Summary: Read This, Then Read His Other Book!
Review: Most instructional Blackjack books written today base a betting strategy on a "count" which will indicate a plus or minus of high value cards dealt. In the 60's when card counting was established, this was an effective way for a player to win at Blackjack. Not so today. The game has been modified with the addition of multiple deck play, reshuffles and other countermeasures which allowed the casinos to reduce the effectiveness of this type of play. Enter Richard Harvey. Here is a book which will aid the beginner in learning effective strategy as well as the advanced player with an effective total approach to the game. The author outlines the basics of the game, the Casino envoirnment, pifalls to avoid and money management. He further instructs the reader on a count based system with which to guide the way a hand should be played. He introduces Card Observation and the X - Factor, innovative strategies which further allow a player to enhance his or her game. Finally, the author alerts the readers to countermeasures and how to overcome or avoid them.
This book is worth twice the price. If I had to recommend one book to a Blackjack Player, this would be it.

Rating:
Summary: A Mugs Guide to Playing Blackjack
Review: Mr Harvey has shown me a new way to make money from Blackjack - write a book that gives mugs the impression they can be good players by cleverly engaging in stupid play.

Read all the negative reviews, they are obviously written by people who know how to play blackjack. Mr Harvey's book is a sucker bet. Play his way for fun and a quick win - if you are lucky. Long term, it is slow death.

There are gamblers who follow lucky streaks and actually make a living doing it. If you want to develop that sort of intuitive talent then this book is for you.

However, this book doesn't stand up to even modest analytical scrutiny. Nevertheless, for the inquiring mind, there are one or two ideas here that are worth investigating, just don't apply them as given.

Mug players will love this book, it makes all the right noises and tantalizes them with the notion of a 'better way to play'. I can honestly say the casino's would do well to sell this book to all their patrons; in fact I seriously wondered if he wasn't employed by the casinos to write it! Mr Harvey's biggest ace is the fact that there are no end of people who will want to believe his claims.

Even so, every card counter will be pleased that this book is on the market as it will generate a new breed of people to distract the casinos from who the real counters are. (Hmmm, so maybe the casinos didn't employ Mr Harvey after all.)

I wish I could have been nice about this book, I was looking forward to getting it, I wanted to believe in what he said. But truly it is like giving a kid a loaded gun to play with. You would do much better to get an astologer to compute your lucky days for playing blackjack than to blindly follow his methods. Truly.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read For Players Who Want To Win
Review: My wife and I read this book and then took a seminar with the author, both of which were outstanding. We were really floundering at the tables until we learned Richard Harvey's system, which we found to be easy to learn (with a bit of practice); it's been very effective for us -- to our infinite delight! -- at the various casinos we frequent. I had tried my hand at card counting years ago, but I had found it to be far too much work for the nebulous results. Although Richard Harvey offers a very good card counting system for advanced players, what my wife and I found the most exciting was his invention of Card Observation, which, for my money, is a big advancement. It provides an extraordinary amount of important information (regarding: mathematical probabilities, which you can use on the fly at the table; what the dealer's hole card is likely to be; and, specifically, how to play your hand - often leading to creative moves that deviate greatly from Basic Strategy recommendations) and yet it can be used by the beginner (such as my wife) and the advanced player alike, to great success. But, really, to single out just one of the many great aspects of this most unique and powerful book is doing it an injustice. If you want a winning system, that covers soup to nuts, I highly recommend this. Having met the author, I can tell you -- he's brilliant!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for the average small stakes player.
Review: Richard Harvey's book is a very comprehensive aid for the game of blackjack. Aimed mainly at the small-stakes player and the new player, the information is valuable to all who face the dealer in today's casinos. Information includes many new and different items that aid the player that I haven't seen in other books. Things as simple as how to pick a table...far more important than a lot of players realize. Then there's the "X Factor" which spells out a great deal of important things to be aware of during the course of play. There is a section on how to detect if cheating is possibly going on. Additionally, if you find card counting difficult then the section on card observation will be of great assistance in your game. This isn't in any other book I have read. There is a terrific section on a very no-nonsense money management plan that will be a tremendous help in maximizing good runs as well as controlling losses during down cycles. If you are a card counter this is the first blackjack book I have read that counts all the cards, not just the 10s and Aces. It really does make a difference. All in all after reading this book and trying out the strategies in real play I have had more success than previous recommendations especially in the area of how to deal with soft hands. If you are a small stakes player or not this book with its excellent graphics will make a difference in your play. It is one of the better investments I have made in the gaming world.