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Casino consultant |
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Thursday, August 28th 2008 |
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Everyone who has ever gambled in a casino has occasionally smiled at the vision of the table they are playing at bursting into flames. Usually this visual comes about as the result of watching your stack of chips get smaller and smaller. Instead of hoping for the spontaneous combustion of the gaming table, perhaps you should read the book Burning the Tables in Las Vegas.
Burning the Tables in Las Vegas is the sequel to a book written in 1976 by Ian Andersen. His first book, Turning the Tables in Las Vegas, was about how to count cards without getting caught. The volatility of this subject prompted him to write his offering under a pseudonym to avoid being blackballed by the casino industry.
Burning the Tables is a worthy successor to his first book. Over the years Mr. Andersen's knowledge of the game has grown and evolved, so this book is a natural continuation from the one that was published in 1976.
In a nutshell, Andersen has spent the last several years studying breaking down the play of some of the world's best blackjack players. He has also enhanced this research with a number of computer models that simulate real world conditions and has come up with playing patterns that theoretically give the player a fairly healthy edge at the game of blackjack.
As with anything else in the gaming world, there are no absolutes. To date nobody has ever managed to invent a legal system that ensures you will walk away from the table with more money than you brought. All we can do is try to find a little edge that takes away some of the house advantage. Andersen, who has earned credibility on this topic, offers such an edge in his book. For the medium to big money players this is well worth the $18 the book will cost them. Those who gamble with only small amounts won't get much out of this offering.
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