Review of Knock-Out Blackjack
- Title:
- Knock-Out Blackjack
- Author:
- Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs
- Publisher:
- Isochoric Publishing
- Date:
- 1996
- ISBN:
- 0-9653963-3-9
- Pages:
- 162
- Price:
- $19.95
August 10, 1997
There have been dozens of good books since Thorpe published Beat
the Dealer that serve as an all-in-one source of information
for aspiring card counters. This is another one of those.
You've got your introduction
to the game, your discussion of basic strategy, your introduction to
card counting, and your explanation of a new system. In addition, this
book has a chapter that compares the KO system to other card counting
systems and a closing chapter called "Enhancing Profits" which covers
things like not getting barred, choosing good games, etc..
The introduction is interesting. It contains more than an average
amount of accurate historical information. I'm a big fan of the
historical perspective on the game, and I found the information here
quite interesting, and some of it was new to me. It won't help you play
better Blackjack, but I enjoyed it.
The basic strategy chapter is a lot like any other. The information
is accurate and presented fairly well. There's not much more to say
about this.
The next chapter explains card counting and why it works, without going
into the details of the KO count in particular. Amazingly, there's still
a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation in the Blackjack literature,
even in the good books, about why card counting works. While
this book doesn't go to great lengths to clear this up, it is a not
an insignificant
accomplishment to not list any incorrect information. This is one of
the better descriptions of this I've read.
The next chapter contains the new contributions of the book, the
Knock-Out card counting
system. The KO system is a level one unbalanced count (which
means that if you count down a complete deck of cards, you won't end up
with "0") that's very similar to the familiar Hi-Lo system except that
sevens are counted as -1. This count turns out to be both very simple
and remarkably powerful, as the authors point out in the next chapter.
Vancura and Fuchs describe the proper pivot numbers for this count
system for various numbers of decks (don't worry if you don't know
what a "pivot" is, the book will explain everything you need to know)
and covers indices for both betting and strategy changes based on
the count. The coverage of this information is quite adequate.
After this, the authors mathematically compare the expected win rates
of the KO system to other well known card counting systems. The authors
have received some mild criticism for their numbers, several
noted Blackjack experts have not been able to duplicate their numbers.
The experts, who include Bryce Carlson, author of Blackjack for
Blood, claim that the figures that the authors claim for the
power of the
KO system seem biased slightly high, but that he recommends the book
anyway. I haven't run these numbers myself, but it's my opinion that
whether or not Vancura and Fuchs' numbers aren't 100% accurate, the
KO system is still a very good choice for a level one single parameter
count (again, don't worry if you don't understand these words, it's
a good compromise between simplicity and power).
The Enhancing Profits chapter is sparse compared to other books occupying
this niche (for an example, see Humble and Cooper's
The World's Greatest Blackjack
Book). The information is useful, but there's a lot more
an aspiring card counter ought to know before playing for serious money.
Fortunately, the authors include a list of good additional references
for the player to consult.
Sprinkled among the book are small sidebar mini-essays that dispel various
myths, answer questions, and provide entertaining sidelights to the
game of Blackjack. Of special interest to myself and all members of
the BARGE community is the recounting
of the tale of Monte at the Barbary Coast during the Mass Barring at
BARGE '95. The story is very entertaining, and if you're familiar with
the events or characters, almost worth the price of the book alone.
In general, I liked the book a lot for what it was. It's a good book
for the Blackjack player who wants to learn a powerful, yet easy to
use card counting system, especially if they're uncomfortable with
dealing with elementary fractions and/or simple division. On the other
hand, except for the introduction and some of the stories, there's
very little here for the experienced card counter. This is not
entirely unexpected because of the nature of the unbalanced KO count,
but the reader has been advised. A note to prospective card
counters, though, there's more you need to learn before playing
for serious money. You may want to check out Stanford Wong's
Blackjack Secrets, Ian Anderson's Turning
the Tables on Las Vegas or Ken Uston's Million Dollar
Blackjack for more information on "casino comportment."
Capsule:
There are several good introductions to Blackjack card counting
on the market. This is one of them, and it's as good as any. The
unbalanced level one Knock-Out (KO) count system is both very simple and
very powerful. This book does not provide all the information
a card counter needs to know, but it's a good start. There's very
little here for the experienced card counter unless you're looking
to switch systems.
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