Blackjack Encyclopedia of Casino Twenty-One: Reports

REPORTS

__________. A Favorable Strategy for Twenty-One. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 1961 (Vol. 47, No. 1, pp 110-112)

__________. Blackjack Pit Procedures. Published by Taj Mahal Casino Resort; c1989 ??? (86 pages)
- Eddie Olsen rates this as one of the most detailed casino manuals about casino blackjack procedures ever written.
[11/90 Olsen Blackjack Confidential 23]

__________. Casino & Gaming Directory for Nevada. RW Directories, PO BOX 955, Draper, UT 84020. 1991. (23 pages)
- Good. Recommended. A short guide that attempts to list all of Nevada casinos with number of tables, $ range, BJ rules, number of decks and other games offered.

__________. Gambling Times & WIN Magazine Master Index. (Stanley Sludikoff aka Stanley Roberts) Gambling Times Inc., Van Nuys, CA; 1992. (113 pages)
- Very good. Highly recommended. This spiral bound document is the comprehensive index to Gambling Times and WIN Magazine from February 1977 through December 1992. Sludikoff sold this index for about $100 but included several back issues in the deal during 1992.

__________. Tri-Level Blackjack. Professional Research, Mineola, NY; c1978. (14 pages)
- Not recommended. See entry in dictionary.

__________. The Turfwin Blackjack System. Turfwin, Port Washington, NY; 1976. (12 pages)
- Not recommended. See entry in dictionary.

__________. Uniform Dealing Procedures and Rules. Holiday Inn and Holiday Casino, Las Vegas, NV; February 1984. (10 pages)
- Typical dealing procedures and rules written for dealers by casino management. Available at the Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas Special Collections area.

Abram, Philip. The ECON Inc. Blackjack Policy Simulation Model, and an Analysis of the Elimination of the Early Surrender Rule in Atlantic City. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.
- Paper discusses the calculation of the overall win percentage in Atlantic City blackjack: The win percentage of the general public, the distribution of players, the impact of the distribution of players on the general public win percentage and a brief discussion of betting patterns.
[81? Rouge et Noir 10,16]

Abram, Philip. The Play of the General Public in Atlantic City Blackjack. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.

Adler, Seymour. See entry under Smither, James. Attributions for the Poorly...

Aldous, D., and P. Diaconis. Shuffling Cards and Stopping Times, American Mathematical Monthly; May, 1986 (pp. 333-348)

Austin (Aus the Boss). The Simplest Way to Win at Blackjack, Computerized Systems Institute; 1973 (41 pages - spiral bound) IMAGE

Baldwin, Roger R. , Wilbert E. Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James P. McDermott. The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack, Journal of the American Statistical Association; 1956 (Vol. 51, pp. 419-439)
- The first scientific and mathematically sound attempt to devise an optimal blackjack playing strategy. Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/basic/cantey.pdf.

Barry, Joseph J. Table Selection. The Ritz Institute of Blackjack; 1988. (110 pages)

Bayer, Dave and Persi Diaconis. Trailing the Dovetail Shuffle to its Lair. 1989. Reprinted in the July 1990 issue (Vol.4, No.3) of The Experts Blackjack Newsletter.
- This report, written by Bayer (Columbia University) and Diaconis (Harvard University) is an analysis of the riffle method for shuffling cards. The authors derive - "a simple expression for the chance of any arrangement after any number of shuffles. This is used to give sharp bounds on the approach to randomness: 3/2 log2 n + -0 shuffles are necessary and sufficient to mix up n cards. Key ingredients are the analysis of a card trick and the determination of the idempotents of a natural commutative subalgebra in the symmetric group algebra."

This study provides evidence that randomness does not occur in a single deck of cards until shuffled at least 7 times.
[3/90 Snyder Ruffled by the Shuffle BJF 5]
[1/90 Olsen Non-Random Shuffles: Math... BJC]
[6/90 Bayer Experts Blackjack Newsletter]

Bays, C., and S. D. Durham. Improving a Poor Random Number Generator, ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software; March 1976 (Vol. 2, #1, pp. 59-64)

Blaine. Rick "Night Train". Blackjack Blueprint: How to Operate a Blackjack Team. RGE Publishing, Oakland, CA. 2000. (45 pages)
- Very Good - Recommended. According to the advertising, "Everything you need to know about team play that Ken Uston never told you. Blaine has been involved with blackjack teams since 1985 and has a wealth of knowledge to share with you." Don Schlesinger comments, "...the quintessential treatise on blackjack team play."

Blaine. Rick "Night Train". Blackjack In The Zone. RGE Publishing, Oakland, CA; 2000. (54 pages)
- Review TBD. Includes a forward by Arnold Snyder. A practical guide for the beginning card counter. Don Schlesinger comments, "It contains solid no nonsense information that every counter needs to know.".

Braun, Julian H. Comparing the Top Blackjack Systems. Gambling Quarterly; Fall/Winter 1974 (pp. 22-23 and pp. 54-55)

Braun, Julian H. The Development and Analysis of Winning Strategies for Casino Blackjack (Private research report), Chicago; 1975.
[80 Snyder The Blackjack Formula 77]
[3/81 Snyder Blackjack Forum 17]
[78 Mitchell An Overview of Blackjack C&S Vol.4, 44]

Braun, Julian H. See entry under Humble, Lance. Everything You Wanted to Know...

Breiman, L. Optimal Gambling Systems for Favorable Games. Fourth Berkeley Symposium on Probability and Statistics, Vol. 1; 1961.

Canfield, Richard Albert. Existing Blackjack Systems. Expertise Publishing Co., Reno, NV; 1977, 1979. (43 pages)
- Excellent. Highly recommended. Report attempts to evaluate the most widely advertised blackjack systems against 3 criteria: 1) The system must have a solid mathematical foundation. 2) The system must be practical for casino application. 3) The system must incorporate deceptive techniques during play.
[c78? Rouge et Noir 13]
[77 Canfield Blackjack Your Way to Riches]

Cardoza, Avery. (Author uncertain) How to Disguise the Fact That You're an Expert. Cardoza Publishing, Cooper Station, NY; c1985-1990 ???. (1000 words)
- Offered as part of the $95 Cardoza School of Blackjack course.

Cardoza, Avery. (Author uncertain) How Not to Get Barred. Cardoza Publishing, Cooper Station, NY; c1985-1990. (1500 words)
- Offered as part of the $95 Cardoza School of Blackjack course.

Carter, Bart. Avoidance Ploys of Card Counters. Paper presented at the 6th National Conference on Gambling in Atlantic City, 1984. Reprinted in Casino & Sports Vol. 28, 1984. (pp. 19-24)
- Good. Recommended reading.

Carter, Bart. Maintaining a Casino Advantage Against Card Counters. University of Nevada: Reno, Bureau of Business and Economic Research. Presented at the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981. (12 pages)
- Author proposes an 8-deck shoe with marks from the front of the shoe at 2 1/4 deck and 4 1/2 deck portions, and an 8-deck discard rack marked at the one deck level.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 19]

Cetinkaya, S. and M. Parlar. Optimal Non-Myopic Gambling Strategy for the Generalized Kelly Criterion. Naval Research Logistics, Vol. 44, pp. 639-654, 1997.
- Abstract: We consider the optimal wagers to be made by a gambler who starts with a given initial wealth. The gambler faces a sequence of two-outcome games, i.e., `win' vs. `lose', and wishes to maximize the expected value of his terminal utility. It has been shown by J. L. Kelly, R. Bellman and others that if the terminal utility is of the form log(x) where x is the terminal wealth, then the optimal policy is myopic, i.e., the optimal wager is always to bet a constant fraction of the wealth provided that the probability of winning exceeds the probability of losing. In this paper we provide a critique of the simple logarithmic assumption for the utility of terminal wealth and solve the problem with a more general utility function. We show that in the general case, the optimal policy is not myopic, and provide analytical expressions for the optimal wager decisions in terms of the problem parameters. We also provide conditions under which the optimal policy reduces to the simple myopic case.

Count, of Monte Carlo. Blackjack: A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing. Freeport, Bahamas; 1963.
- ??? Available at the Gaming Resource Center at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Just tell them I sent you.

Dalton, Michael D. The Florida Cruise Ship Report. Spur of the Moment Publishing, PO BOX 541967, Merritt Island, FL 32954; 1990, 1991. (30 pages)
- Written by the author of this book. This report (now out of print) included simulation results of more than 200 million hands comparing non-random versus random shuffles. Conclusions suggested non-random shuffling may benefit the casino advantage by as much as .25%. Also included was a simple shuffle tracking method called SECT and general advice and comments on getting an edge in the day cruise games.
[10/90 Olsen NASA Engineer... BJC]
[1/92 Olsen TruCount Part IV: Clumping BJC 10]

DeShield, Dale. Money Management at Tournament Blackjack. (Available at UNLV Gaming Resource Center); 1980. (15 pages)

Diaconis, P. See entry under Aldous, D. Shuffling Cards and Stopping Times. See entry under Bayer, Dave. Trailing the Dovetail Shuffle to its Lair.

Donnelly, John. Brief and Appendix in Support of a Waiver of Early Surrender. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.

Donnelly, John. See entry under Stearns, Joel. Supplemental Brief and Appendix...

Durham, S. D. See entry under Bays, C. Improving a Poor Random Number Generator.

Ethier, S. N. On the Definition of the House Advantage. Michigan State University. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.
- House advantage is usually defined as the ratio of the gambler's expected net loss to his expected amount of "action". Ethier argues that a better definition is the ratio of the gambler's expected net loss to his expected change in fortune.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 21]

Ethier, S. See entry under Tavare, S. The Proportional Betters Return on Investment.

Ferguson, T. Betting Systems Which Minimize the Probability of Ruin. J. Soc. Indust. Appl. Math.; 1965, pp. 13, 495-818.

Francis, Mike. The Complete Point Count Strategy for Beating Casino Blackjack. R&T Statistical Research, a subsidiary of R&T Publishing Co., Reno, NV; c1980 ??? (27 pages)
- Mike Francis was the pen name selected by a small group of professional blackjack players. This booklet describes the R&T Count.
[2/81 Wong Blackjack World 35]

Friedman, Joel H. Choosing a Blackjack Game. Paper presented to the 4th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, Reno, NV; 1978.
- This paper analyzes the effect of the number of decks in a game, penetration, number of players at the table and variation in bet size.
[79 Wong 4th Conference on Gaming C&S Vol. 7, 52]]
[c81? Rouge et Noir 23]

Friedman, Joel H. Risk Averse Playing Strategies in the Game of Blackjack. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 1980.
- Useful information for expert players who bet according to the Kelly Criterion.
[80 Gottlieb Friedman on Blackjack C&S Vol.12, 66]

Friedman, Joel, M.J. Garvey and Mark Goodfriend. A Sequential Decision Model for the Tournament Blackjack Endgame. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; October 1981 (27 pages)
- Interesting tournament strategy advice. Analyzes playing strategies that maximize the probability of winning the hand versus maximizing the probability of getting at least a push.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 9]

Friedman, Joel H. Understanding and Applying the Kelly Criterion. Report to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, sponsored by the Dept. of Economics of the Univ. of Nevada at Reno; 1981.
- Deals with the question of simultaneous wagering.
[82 Griffin Optimal Wagers on Sim. Bets Vol.18,53]
[c81? Rouge et Noir 8]

Garvey, M. J. See entry under Friedman, Joel. A Sequential Decision Model For the....

George C. Easy as 1,2,3 - How to Play a Multi-Level Count System. XYZ Inc., Denver, CO; c1990?

George C. Gambler's Ruin: The Most Accurate Numbers Ever Generated on this Subject. XYZ Inc., Denver CO; 1989 (?? pages)
[3/93 Schlesinger Risk of Ruin BJF 6]

George C. How to Make $1 Million Playing Casino Blackjack. XYZ Inc., Denver, CO; 1989 (25 pages)
- A $50 report describing risky techniques for gaining large casino credit lines. The advertising reads: "A brand new report that holds nothing back. Perfected by two mega high rollers, George C refines their methods used and takes you step-by-step through what normally would seem like an impossible task. George C will even show you how to make the casino a teammate in this adventure. This report contains some valuable information that has never been in print. There's also a new treatment of RUIN in the report..."
[3/90 Snyder Blackjack Forum 50]
[3/93 Schlesinger Risk of Ruin 5]

George C. How George C. Made $300000 From $10000. XYZ Inc., Denver, CO; 1989.
- Includes a unique table-hopping tactic.

George C. Ploy 1 l Ploy 2 l Ploy3. XYZ Inc., Denver CO; 1991.
- Three reports that discuss camouflage ploys.

George C. Red 7 and Uston SS. XYZ Inc., Denver, CO; c1990.
- According to the advertising: Running count numbers plus a new accurate way to bet your money.

George C. The Unbalanced Zen. XYZ Inc., Denver CO; c1990?.
- A system developed that uses running count numbers for all betting and playing decisions. Advertising also states that ...There's a new and more accurate way to bet your money using an unbalanced system that's also included.

George C. Win With Flat Bets. XYZ Inc., Denver CO; 1991.
- How to make money seeking comps playing a 2-level count and flat betting.

Goodfriend, Mark. See entry under Friedman, Joel. A Sequential Decision Model.

Goodnight, J. H. See entry under Manson, A. R. Optimum Zero Memory Strategy and...

Gordon, Edward. Optimum Strategy in Blackjack: A New Analysis, Claremont Economic Papers #52, Claremont, CA, Jan. 1973. Paper presented to the 1st National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1974.
- First proposal of the Gordon count which was marketed as the DHM system.

Gottlieb, Gary. An Analytic Derivation of Win Rate at Blackjack. Operations Research, Vol. 33, pp. 971-981, Sept/Oct 1985. Paper also presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, University of Nevada, Reno, Bureau of Business and Economic Research; 1981. (19 pages)
- This paper derives a closed-form formula for the win rate in the game of blackjack as a function of various controllable parameters such as the number of decks used.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 10]

Gottlieb, Gary. An Optimal Betting Strategy For Repeated Games. Journal of Applied Probability, Vol. 22, pp. 787-795, 1985.
- Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/gottleib/gottleib2.pdf.

Grant, Doug. (Douglas Grant Von Reiman) The Doug Grant Advanced Dominant Group Method of Winning Blackjack. Sigma Research, Inc., 1985. (39 pages + 12 sound cassettes)
- The Doug Grant mimic the dealer computer program ???

Grant, Doug. (Douglas Grant Von Reiman) The Doug Grant Dominant Group Method Special Revision Lesson. Sigma Research, Inc., 1988. (18 pages)
- Forecasting the apex of the running count total. ???

Grant, Doug. (Douglas Grant Von Reiman) The Doug Grant Method of Instructing Blackjack Card Counting. Sigma Research, Inc., The Doug Grant Gaming College, 1980, 1983.
- ???

Griffin, Peter A. Curios and Pathologies in the Game of Twenty-One. Paper presented to the 3rd National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1976.

Griffin, Peter A. Different Measures of Win Rate for Optimal Proportional Betting. Management Science, Vol. 30, 1984; pp. 1540-1547.

Griffin, Peter A. The Effect of Casino Reshuffling Procedures on a Blackjack Player's Fixed Strategy Expectation. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.
- Investigation of subsequent hands that may sometimes be finished before reshuffling but occasionally require that the cards in the discard pile be reshuffled for completion. Results are provided for "quarterdeck (13 card deck) and "Woolworth" (played with only fives and tens) blackjack.
[c81? Rouge et Noir]

Griffin, Peter A. Mathematical Expectation for the Public's Play in Casino Blackjack. Paper presented at the 7th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1989.
- Included in its entirety in Griffin's book Extra Stuff - Gambling Ramblings.

Griffin, Peter A. On the Likely Consequences of Error in Card Counting Systems. Paper presented to the 3rd National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1976.

Griffin, Peter A. Optimal Wagers on Simultaneous Bets, Casino & Sports; 1982, Vol. 18, p.53-56.

Griffin, Peter A. The Rate of Gain in Player Expectation for Card Games Characterized by Sampling Without Replacement and an Evaluation of Card Counting Systems. Gambling and Society, Charles T. Publishing, Springfield, IL; 1976 (pp. 429-442)

Griffin, Peter A. Some Exact and Some Variance Reducing Techniques for Blackjack Computation. Paper presented to the 4rd National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1978.

Griffin, Peter A. Use of Bivariate Normal Approximations to Evaluate Single Parameter Card Counting Systems in Blackjack; 1975. Paper presented to the 2nd annual Conference on Gambling, Lake Tahoe, NV 1975 and to the 3rd Conference on Gambling, Las Vegas; 1976.

Griffin, Peter A. What to do After Losing Your Insurance Bet. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.
- Presents a method of improving blackjack strategies when the dealer has a playable ace.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 10]

SIDE NOTE

Much of Griffin's material, as presented at the National Gambling Conferences through 1981, is included in his book, The Theory of Blackjack.

Gwynn Jr, John M. and Robert Maltas. Additional Results Comparing Random and Simulated Casino Shuffling. RGE Publishing, Oakland, CA; 1992. (9 pages)
- Good. Recommended. An extention of the single deck study performed in 1987 (see entry below) comparing casino and random shuffling. Asynopsis of this report can be found in the following source:
[3/92 Gwynn Blackjack Forum 14]

Gwynn Jr, John and Arnold Snyder. Does Casino Blackjack Differ From Computer-Simulated Blackjack?. RGE Publishing, Oakland, CA; 1987. (24 pages)
- Good report challenging the non-random shuffle theorists, however, their study was limited to single deck blackjack and basic strategy only. Also, simulated riffles were interlaced more precisely than what some non-random theorists say can be found in the real world.
[3/88 Gwynn Blackjack Forum]
[3/92 Gwynn Blackjack Forum 14]

Gwynn Jr, John and Jeffrey Teal. Experimental Comparisons of Multiparameter Systems for Blackjack Strategy Variation. Paper presented at the 5th National Gambling Conference at Caesars Tahoe; 1981.
[82 Gwynn...Paper Error Corrected C&S Vol.19, 48]
[c81? Rouge et Noir 9]

Gwynn Jr, John M. and Armand Seri. Experimental Comparison of Blackjack Betting Systems. Paper presented to the 4th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, Reno, sponsored by the University of Nevada; 1978 (31 pages)
- Contains comparisons of available blackjack systems when they are played properly.
[79 Wong 4th Conference on Gaming C&S Vol. 7, 52]
[c80? Rouge et Noir]

Gwynn Jr, John. Also, see entry under Schlesinger, Donald. The Floating Advantage.

Hanson, James. Nonlinear Programming, Simulation and Gambling Theory Applied to Blackjack. Paper presented to the 1st National Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking; 1974.

Hasty, G., R. Kirk and A. Goldman. Casino Card Shuffling Report. Mathematics Dept., Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV; c1980? (13 pages)
- A report that updates a study conducted four years earlier at the request of the Lady Luck Casino. Authors feel that the speed of hand play is only one consideration affecting blackjack profits.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 19]

Heath, David. Algorithms for Computations of Blackjack Strategies; 1973. Presented to the 2nd National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking sponsored by the University of Nevada; 1975.
- Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/heath/dheath.pdf.

Heath, David. Remarks on the Advantage of Basic Strategy in Casino Play. Distributed at the 2nd Gambling Conference, Stateline, NV; June, 1975.

Humble, Lance and Julian H. Braun. Everything You Wanted to Know About the World's Most Powerful Blackjack Systems. International Gaming Inc., Thornhill, Ontario, Canada; 1978. (32 pages)
- This pamphlet was published by Humble primarily as a means to advertise his International Blackjack Club, Hi-Opt strategies and books. Contains some interesting historical information.

Ita, Koko. A Very Simplified Scientific Counting Procedure for the Blackjack Game. Paper presented to the 2nd National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1975.
- This material can also be found in Koko Ita's book Twenty-One Counting Methods to Beat 21.

Jackson, Matthew. Ace Adjustment Made Simple; 1993. (27 pages)
- Includes complete conversion charts for level 1, 2, 3 and 4 counting systems, using either full- or half-deck true count adjustments and for single- and double-deck games.
[9/93 Snyder Blackjack Forum 98]

Kadlic, Thomas & Murray Kirch. Blackjack II - An Anti-Card Counting System. Ansecan, NJ; Vingt-Et-Un Corp. Paper present at the 5th National Conference on Gaming and Risk Taking; Oct. 1981.
- Describes a proposed system the casinos can use to counter the counters without harming the viability of the game. A double shoe with 12 decks held in 2 separate compartments is proposed, however, with the same rules and conditions of regular blackjack play. Six decks are red and six decks are blue with the deal alternating based on suit color.
[c81? Rouge et Noir 20]

Karlee, R.. Blackjack for Fun?... Or Profit?. R. Karlee. 1977, 1983. (20 pages)
- Titled a comprehensive method for playing winning blackjack. Includes a short introduction and some good advance for beginners. Recommended.

Keren, Gideon B. See entry under Wagenaar, Willem. Calibration of Probability...

Kelly, J.L. A New Interpretation of Information Rate. IRE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. IT-2, No. 3, Sept 1956. Bell System Technical Journal; 1956 (Vol. 35, pp. 917-926)
- Explains the Kelly criterion. Since this report may be difficult to find, the Kelly criterion is fully explained in Allan Wilson's Casino Gambler's Guide and in the March and June 1993 issues of Arnold Snyder's Blackjack Forum magazine. Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/kelly/kelly.pdf.

Kirch, Murray. See entry under Kadlic, Thomas. Blackjack II - An Anti-Card....

Manson, A.R., A.J. Barr, and J.H. Goodnight. Optimum Zero Memory Strategy and Exact Probabilities for 4-Deck Blackjack. The American Statistician; 1975 (29(2):84-88)

MathProf, Using RA-Fractions to Optimize DI or RoR. BJmath workshop.
- Discusses risk averse playing and betting strategies using what the author refers to as critical fractions. The strategy which minimizes Risk of Ruin is the one which is RA-optimal at the double Kelly level.
Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/ror/rafract.htm.

McArdle, Harry J. The High-Low Pick-Up Count. Jamaica, New York. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.
- Paper outlines a count whose purpose is to determine the extent to which high cards follow high cards in the deck.
[c81? Rouge et Noir]

McArdle, Harry J. Twenty Years of Blackjack in Puerto Rico and Some Observations On Cheating. Jamaica, New York. (Possibly presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981 ???)
- This paper covers three phases in the history of Puerto Rican blackjack including the period before Thorp, the early 1970's, and since the opening of Atlantic City casinos. Cheating by the Puerto Rican casinos is discussed.
[c81? Rouge et Noir]

McCall, Whit. Blackjack Profits Princeton Publications, Lawrenceville, NJ; c1979 ??? (36 pages)
- How to win at blackjack without counting cards? Whit McCall's real name is possibly Joe Finley?
[79 Casino & Sports Vol.8,48]

Miller, Rusty. How Card Counters Get Rich. Crew's News - A Showboat Casino newsletter; 1987.

Millman, Martin. A Statistical Analysis of Casino Blackjack. Dept. of Math., William Patterson College, Wayne, NJ. Paper reprinted in Casino & Sports, 1984 (Vol. 26. pp. 23-28)

Mitchell, D. Howard. and Stanley Roberts. How Advanced Should Your Blackjack System Be? Paper presented to the 4th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1978.
- This paper contends that "computer simulations can provide much useful information, but they are not the whole story." The authors classify blackjack systems on the basis of their difficulty. These classes include: Basic (no counting), Intermediate (simple side count), Advanced (running count), Professional (true count plus an optional side count of aces), and Expert (anything more complicated than Professional).
[c80? Rouge et Noir 24]

Moore, J.C. Blackjack X-Count 2000: Nutshell Books, Welch, OK; 1999. (52 pages)
- Review TBD. This spiral bound book/report advertises, "Always reflects player's 2% edge. The counting system that renders all others obsolete for effectiveness and simplicity."

Olsen, Eddie. A Winning Strategy for Tournament Blackjack. Blackjack Confidential Publishing Co., Cherry Hill, NJ; 1991. (20 pages)
- Very good. Recommended. Although it is only 20 pages long this report contains good general advice for blackjack tournament play. It is written in a much simpler style than Wong's Tournament Blackjack. Eddie Olsen gave this report (over-priced at $195) away to 2 year subscribers of his magazine during 1991 and 1992.

Palumbo, Chris. Winning Blackjack (The Palumbo Method). San Clemente, CA; c1983 ??? (8 pages)
- Not recommended.
[83 Casino & Sports Vol.25,36]

Patterson, Jerry L. Instant Advantage. Casino Gaming Specialists, Voorhees, NJ; 1982 (18 pages)
- Designed for the inexperienced player and occasional gambler. Simplified basic strategy, card counting, pivotal numbers, money management, etc.
[82 Gaem Casino & Sports Vol.21,42]
[12/82 Snyder Blackjack Forum 46]
[10/82 Wong Blackjack World Vol.4,162]

Patterson, Jerry L. and Eddie Olsen. TARGET Manual: Table Research, Grading & Evaluation Technique Course Manual, Voorhees, NJ; 1985 (30 pages)
- This is the manual you get (among other documentation) with the TARGET course.

Patterson, Jerry L. TARGET 21 Tool Kit & Blackjack Training Agenda. Echelon Gaming Corp., Voorhees, NJ; 1990 (48 pages)
- Available to Patterson's TARGET and Blackjack Enrichment course graduates. Updates the TARGET method and includes training aids for TARGET players. Includes basic strategy, money management methods, card counting, the Loss Terminator Tactic, Tally Per Player (TPP), Off-The-Top scouting method, simplified BIAS Barometer, Takedown, High-Low-Bias, Count Reversal Strategy and playing on the run.

Roberts, Stanley. See entry under Mitchell, D. Howard. How Advanced Should Your...

Poolside, David. The Poolside Report: Blackjack Ace Tracking. TBD; 2003 (54 pages)
- Excellent. Highly recommended. Of interest to advanced card counters and professionals. Provides a history of ace tracking and a step by step method on how to gain significant advantages using one of the most closely guarded secrets of the game.

Rosario, Ed. Success in Blackjack. Self published, Broadview, IL; c1978 ??? (26 pages)
- Not recommended. A progressive betting system.
[c78? Rouge et Noir 36]

Schlesinger, Donald and John Gwynn. The Floating Advantage - Does it Sink or Swim?. RGE Enterprises, Oakland, CA; 1989 (34 pages)
- Excellent. Highly Recommended. A fascinating paper that discusses the long-held notion that the same true count implies a greater advantage later in the deck than it did earlier. This report and most of the accompanying data were printed in the March 1989 issue of Arnold Snyder's Blackjack Forum.

Seri, Armand. Optimum Running Count Strategies in Blackjack. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.

Seri, Armand. See entry under Gwynn Jr, John. Experimental Comparison of...

Sileo, Patrick. The Evaluation of Blackjack Games Using a Combined Expectation and Risk Measure. 8th Annual Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, London; 1990.
- Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/sileo/sileo.pdf.
[90 Chambliss Blackjack Forum 6]
[93 Schlesinger Risk and Ruin BJF 6]

Sincich, Terry. The Blackjack Victory of the Seven Samurai. Article from Chapter 4 (Probability) of Statistics by Example, 2nd edition, Dellen Publishing Co., San Francisco, CA; 1985 (762 pages)

Skov, Richard B. See entry under Smither, James. Attributions for the Poorly...

Smither, James W., Richard B. Skov and Seymour Adler. Attributions for the Poorly Performing Blackjack Dealer: In the Cards or Inability? Personnel Psychology; Spring 1986 (Vol. 39)

Snyder, Arnold. Algebraic Approximation of Optimum Blackjack Strategy. Berkeley, CA, 1980. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, Univ. of Nevada at Reno, Bureau of Business and Economic Research; 1981. (24 pages)
- Presents a simple algebraic method of developing strategy indices for any balanced card-counting system. It is shown that anyone with a pocket calculator can quickly and accurately develop relatively complete strategy tables for any balanced card counting system, using available computer derived data in conjunction with simple algebraic and linear assumptions.
[c81? Rouge et Noir]
[12/81 Snyder Blackjack Forum 26]

Snyder, Arnold. The Over/Under Report. (with computer analysis by Sam Case) RGE Publishing; Oakland, CA; 1989.
- Excellent. Highly recommended. Get this report if you plan to play the Over/Under games. Includes point count systems optimized for this side bet.
[89 Blackjack Forum]

Snyder, Arnold. Toking Guidelines for Card-Counters. RGE Publishing; Oakland, CA; 1980. (2 pages)
- First published in Rouge et Noir newsletter. When to toke and when not to toke dealers and how much and how often.
[3/81 Snyder Blackjack Forum 21]
[10/31/80 Snyder Rouge et Noir]

Snyder, Arnold. Unraveling the Riddles of the Real-World Riffle. RGE Publishing, Oakland, CA; 1990. (11 pages)
- Very good. Recommended. Includes new information on the effects of non-random shuffles using John Imming's RWC: Universal Blackjack Engine software. Printed in the December 1990 issue of Blackjack Forum. Portions were also printed in The Player.

Snyder, Arnold. The Zen Count. 1981. (12 pages)
- Before Blackbelt in Blackjack Snyder published this booklet describing his Zen Count card counting system.
[12/81 Wong Blackjack World 210]

Snyder, Arnold. See entry under Gwynn Jr., John. Does Casino Blackjack Differ From...

Stearns, Joel and John Donnelly. Supplemental Brief and Appendix on Behalf of Resorts International Hotel, Inc., in Uston Vs. Resorts International. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.

Stricker, Ralph. Cycles and Circumstances. 1980.
- According to Eddie Olsen this was a $295 version of Charles Einstein's Basic Blackjack Betting. Ralph Stricker is reported to have once ran a Stanley Roberts franchise in Marlton, NJ.

Teal, Jeffrey. See entry under Gwynn Jr., John. Experimental Comparisons of Multi...

Thorp, Edward O. Blackjack. Mathematics Dept., University of CA; 1975. (11 pages)
- Paper presented to the annual American Mathematical Society, 1975 in Washington D.C.

Thorp, Edward O. Blackjack Systems; 1973. Paper presented at the 2nd National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1975.

Thorp, Edward O. and R. J. Whitley. Concave Utilities are Distinguished for Their Optimal Strategies. Colloquia Mathematica Societatis Janos Bolyai 9 - Progress in Statistics. Proceedings of the European Meeting of Statisticians, Budapest, 1972. Edited by J. Grani, S. Sarkadi and I. Vincze. North Holland, 1974. (pp. 813-830)

Thorp, Edward O. A Favorable Side Bet in Nevada Baccarat. Journal of the American Statistical Assoc.; June 1966 (Vol. 61, Part I, pp. 313-328)
- The illustration of, and application of, the Kelly criterion.

Thorp, Edward O. A Favorable Strategy for Twenty-One. Notices of the American Mathematical Society; Jan. 1961. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 1961. (Vol. 47, #1: pp.110-112)

Thorp, Edward O. Fortune's Formula: The Game of Blackjack. Notices of the American Mathematical Society; Dec. 1960 (pp. 935-936)
- One of the articles that started it all.

Thorp, Edward O. and W. E. Walden. The Fundamental Theorem of Card Counting with Applications to Trente-et-Quarante and Baccarat. International Journal of Game Theory, Physica-Verlag. Vol. 2; 1973 (Vol. 2, Issue 2)
- Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/thorp/theorem.pdf.

Thorp, Edward O. The Kelly Criterion in Blackjack, Sports Betting, and the Stock Market. Paper presented at: The 10th International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, Montreal, June 1997; revised May 29, 1998
- Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/thorp/paper.htm.

Thorp, Edward O. Nonrandom Shuffling with Applications to the Game of Faro. Journal of the American Statistical Assoc.; Dec. 1973 (Vol. 68, Num. 344, pp. 842-847)
- An example illustration is also made for the game of blackjack.

Thorp, Edward O. Optimal Gambling Systems for Favorable Games. Review of the International Statistics Institute; 1969 (Vol. 37:3, pp. 273-279)

Thorp, Edward O. Portfolio Choice and the Kelly Criterion. Proceedings of the 1971 Business and Economics Section of the American Statistical Assoc.; 1972 (pp. 215-224).
- Reprinted in Investment Decision-Making, edited by J. Bicksler. Reprinted in Stochastic Optimization Models in Finance, Academic Press, edited by W.T. Ziemba, S.L. Brumelle and R.G. Vickson, 1975. (pp. 599-620)

Thorp, Edward O. A Professor Beats the Gamblers. Published as an article in The Gambler's Bedside Book, edited by John K. Hutchens, Taplinger Pub. Co., New York; 1977 (pp. 166-177)
- Originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, June 1962.

Uston, Ken. Does the Gambling Industry Have a Conscience?. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.

Uston, Ken. Ken Uston's Blackjack Seminar and Advanced Point Count. Uston Institute of Blackjack, Las Vegas, NV; c1978 ??? (32 pages)
- The package of course materials used by Ken Uston in his Jockey Club Las Vegas Seminars. Includes 3 sets of 1 7/8" by 1 7/8" basic strategy flash cards.
[c78? Rouge et Noir 16]

Verbel, Jerry. How to Make a Day's Pay From $100 to $1,000 Playing Blackjack. Self published; 1992. (40 pages)
- Not recommended. The author presents a classic progressive betting system. Top that with an incorrect basic strategy and you have just another worthless blackjack system.
[Sum 92 Dalton Blackjack Review 23]

Wagenaar, Willem A. and Gideon B. Keren. Calibration of Probability Assessments by Professional Blackjack Dealers, Statistical Experts, and Lay People. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 36, pp. 406-16, December 1985.

Walden, W. E. See entry under Thorp, Edward. The Fundamental Theorem of...

Whitley, R. J. See entry under Thorp, Edward. Concave Utilities are Distinguished...

Wong, Stanford. Blackjack Secrets. Pi Yee Press, La Jolla, CA; 1985. (30 pages)
- Good. Recommended. Describes some of Wong's personal techniques of play. Includes sections on Wonging, solo play, penetration, entering a casino, bet variation, best games, double exposure, toking, smile, cheating, counting systems, camouflage plays, supervision, cover, Atlantic City. This short manuscript is no longer published, however, all material has been included in the 1993 edition of his book of the same name.
[9/85 Snyder Blackjack Forum 46]

Wong, Stanford. Counter-Casino Confrontation Symposium. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981.

Wong, Stanford. Introduction to Blackjack. Pi Yee Press; 1980. (16 pages)
- An good introduction to blackjack and presentation of basic strategy.

Wong, Stanford. Vegas Downtown Blackjack. Pi Yee Press; 1976. (27 pages)

Wong, Stanford. Vegas Strip Blackjack. Pi Yee Press; 1976. (27 pages)
- The above 3 reports are abridged versions of Professional Blackjack. They contain a good explanation of the Hi-Low system and an introduction to the game.

Wong, Stanford. What Proportional Betting Does to Your Win Rate. Paper presented to the 5th National Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking; 1981. Reprinted in Blackjack World, October 1981 (Vol.3, p.162)
- Available online at http://www.bjmath.com/bjmath/paper1/proport.htm.
[84 Griffin Discontinuity at the... C&S Vol.26,16]
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