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"Excellent Card-counting book", I bought a copy of this book 10 years ago, and have won money at blackjack almost every time that I *diligently* followed this system.

And...you must practice, practice, practice to be successful!


"One of great counting systems", I usually don't write reviews, but I decided to on this one, because there are some reviews that are idiotic. So, let me share with you my experience. Not only have I read this book, I have actually USED the system. Not only have I used this system, I have also used Hi-Low, and Hi-Low OptI. This book specifically tells you why he wrote it from the beginning, and mentioned all the ins and outs of the count. It is well written, and if you have IQ over 50, you'll understand it. Now the real story.

Basically unbalanced count was developed for the "real" world. Why, try Hi-Low OptI count for 8 hours at a packed casino. Try going there 8pm on friday night, and see if you'll find a table with 3 players only. LOL. You won't. Hi-Low OptI is very draining on your mental fatigue, I doubt even 20 year pros can keep doing it for that long. What they have to do is, do it for an hour and move on to another casino, or table after break. Same with Hi-Low, although easier, it is mentally taxing. I actually sat at a same table ($15) and played for 8 hours straight using KO. It's taxing, but not so much as balanced system. That's what it is designed for.

The book comes out telling you that it's not good as balanced count system, but by miniscule fraction! BJinsider did a great article (i think it's newsletter 29 - free) that showed how KO, Red7, BlackA did against Hi-Low on a 6-deck. Hi-Low was .68% gain, vs .67% for Red7, .65% for KO and .63% for BlackA. The great thing is you don't have to take his word for it. You can download some of these testing softwares or buy it, and run the test yourself, and you should get a similar results.

Now, the final point. All these statistics for counting are using A LARGE # of hands played, to minimize noise and get the actual true "worth" of the system. Remember, you have to play over million hands to actually see these results. .65% is little over 1% advantage over the house. You ain't going to make thousands consistently playing 500-600 hands a week. That why there was the mit "TEAM". They main objective is to get as many hands played possible (they also cheated little using team work, but we'll leave that for another day). If you can get 45-60 hands/hour, you can probably play 10-12 hours/day with break in between. that's like 600 hands avg a day. You have to play 7x600 = 4200 hands. 4200x50 = 210K hands. Do that for 5 years, and maybe you'll stiff 6 figure gain. You want a LIFE like that? (exaggerating little bit, but you get the point)

So, what I'm trying to say is KO is a GREAT system for casual players, as this book was written for. It's also a good system for pros, since it's similar to Hi-Low in returns. Don't expect to leave the casinos with a whad of cash, if you're lucky it can happen. I once made over $2k playing $15 table in 2.5 hours. So, it's possible with KO. But you gotta be lucky too. Because I've also been busted couple of times too ($400 max each session). It's over the long haul he's talking about. Oh, unbalanced system becomes more accurate as deeper you penetrate the deck, so don't go crazy early on. wait for 3-4 decks to be gone, so each deck you'll only have 2 or 3 chances to bet big. That's still good enough if you get lucky, since odds are with you. I played many shoes that I didn't even get to bet big, it's ok. This is the grind. Big spreads are best, but can get heat, so learn some stealth from this book or other books. Go there to have fun, make some money if you are lucky, just don't expect to be rich unless you plan on 12h x 7d x 50wks x50yrs BJ life. Hope this helps.

Edit: I forgot to add this tidbit, since I mostly play AC and they only have shoe games. But for 1 or 2 deck games, I'd recommend learning the Hi-Low as you want more accurate count then. But for shoes games KO and Red7 is just as nice.

"Highly recommended", If you are an amateur, which you probably are if you are reading this, stop reading right now. Get out your credit card and order this book.

I ordered this book a little over a year ago, and since then I am 8-1-1 in my last 10 casino visits. I am UNDEFEATED (too many games to count) in local private games with low table limits, which are fairly common here in this college town. This was all after practicing card counting for 30 minutes per day for about a month.

This is the most effective simple system you can learn to use. Forget about hi/lo. Knock-Out is an unbalanced system, which means there is no need to keep a true count. This is extremely valuable in a casino environment when you have cocktail watresses grabbing you every 10 minutes and the guy beside you won't shut his trap. Order this book, get a deck of cards, print off the strategy tables and go to work.

"Whoa, hold on a second.", This system will not work.

Let's assume your playing in a 6-deck game. This system has you start your running count at -20, with -4 or higher as the "key" (The point at which you bet high). Using the KO method, after all of the decks are counted through the count will be +4. Does anyone else see the flaw here? Let's say you have a count of -3. This system tells you to bet high (Even suggesting 10 betting units!). But think about it, if a deck completely counted through will end up at +4, then there's a better chance that you'll be drawing low cards, meaning the dealer actually has the advantage. Put simply, if you use this system YOU WILL BE BETTING HIGH WHEN THE DEALER HAS THE ADVANTAGE. If I'm wrong then correct me, please. But I believe this is a very faulty system. If you win anything using it, count it off as luck. Eventually it will ruin you.

This book explains other counting systems as being near impossible for the average person to learn; even explaining how difficult the Hi-Lo system is (Bull). The Hi-Lo system is still the easiest effective counting system (Explained well in Wong's "Professional Blackjack") with the Omega II being one of the most powerful (Beautifully explained in "Blackjack for Blood" by Bryce Carlson). I highly recommend either one of those two systems.

There is a note in this book about the notion of blackjack books being put out by casinos to sort of sabotage counters with false tips. I believe this may very possibly be one of those books. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

"Excellent!", This is a good book if you want to become a casual card counter. If you are planning on quitting your job and becoming a professional blackjack player, you would certainly need more than this, but the "Johnny (or Jane) Weekend" player that just wants to not get killed by the casino should read and study this book. My favorite part of Vancura and Fuchs's system is the fact that there is no need to clumsily estimate how many decks are left and divide that number into the running count to obtain the true count. K-O Blackjack is a mathematically sound counting system which involves much less effort and study than even the Hi-Lo system. Highly recommended!

Read this reviews before You buy...

"From a Dedicated BJ Fan", Avoid this book like the plague. I read and reread this book several times. I play at my local casino (SD,H17, DD on 10-11) 60% penetration, No insurance. I practised day and night. I raised my bets when counts were positive and believe me when I say this that the dealer one each and every time. Looks like this book was written to knockout the players instead of the dealers. My 2 bits stay away from this book and avoid doing what the authors say at all costs. Remember high cards are very likely to favor the dealer as well so dont buy the one sided logic which this book perpetuates.
Good luck

"best backjack book ever", I have been collecting blackjack books for the past 25 years and this one is the best.Why? Beacause it introduces the simplest effective card counting system devised to date. The writing is clear , the instructions are precise and above all the system is simple relative to others.Absorbing the material will take time but you will be well rewarded if you succeed. If you progressto "full" matrix indices ,buy James Grosjean s book Beyond Counting and see if you want to lern soft doubling indices as well

"Great book.", This book is well written and covers material from the beginning level to the pro. I also recommend, Gregorian Strategy for muliple deck blackjack.

"A relatively easy-to-use card counting method that works", This book explains the Knock-Out ("K-O") set of point count values, which you use to determine when to raise your bet and by how much. Traditional card counting methods, such as the Hi-Lo, require you to compute a "true" count, which is the running count divided by the number of decks remaining to be dealt. But this type of computation can lead to errors since (1) you have to estimate the number of decks in the discard tray in order to be able to calculate the number of decks remaining to be dealt, and (2) you must then mentally divide the running count by the number of decks remaining. And you have to do all of this quickly enough so the casino personnel don't become suspicious that you are an advantage player; otherwise you risk being barred from playing blackjack at that casino.

The K-O, like the Hi-Lo, is a one-level counting method in that the point count value for each card is either 0, 1, or -1. High cards (10s and Aces) are counted as -1, neutral cards as zero, and low cards as 1. As the count gets more and more positive, the remaining cards to be dealt contain a greater number of high cards versus low cards. This means your chance of getting a blackjack is higher than right after a shuffle, and thus you should increase your bet to take advantage of this opportunity. But with the K-O, as opposed to the Hi-Lo, you do not have to compute a true count. You simply add the 0, 1, and -1 values as the cards are dealt to calculate the running count. Then you use just the running count alone to determine your bet for the next round. There is no need to track either the number of decks in the discard tray or the number of decks remaining to be dealt, and, almost too wonderful for words, there is no headache-inducing, "dividing in your head" required!

Amazingly, even with the simplicity of just using a running count to determine your bet amounts, the K-O provides about the same win rate as the Hi-Lo! I know this from running simulations on the excellent Blackjack 6-7-8 software written by Hal Marcus. By the way, I thought I died and went to heaven when I discovered the Blackjack 6-7-8 strategy cards. Just like the K-O count makes the betting decisions easier, these strategy cards make the playing decisions unbelievably easier. First of all, they look marvelous, and they feel like butter! But seriously, you just find the table that corresponds to the rules where you'll be playing, and then the large, easy to read, easy to remember, 3-letter, color-coded decision cells (including surrender, if you please) practically make the memorizing fun! If I have some time to practice, the Blackjack 6-7-8 software is the best, but when I keep putting it off until it's time to board the big bird from Chicago bound for Vegas, then I just whip out a strategy card, choose the table I want, and I can know it cold before the pilot says "fasten your seat belts, we're getting ready to land".

Now could you increase your win rate by using more complex counting methods than the K-O? Sure, in theory, but more complex counting methods increase the chance of making errors which can quickly nullify the benefit of using such a counting method. With regard to the betting guidelines in the book, I would amend them to use a bet ratio of 1 to 8 for 2 decks (instead of 1 to 5) and 1 to 16 for 6 and 8 decks (instead of 1 to 10), since in my 30 years of experience I have found that most casinos are usually tolerant of these bet ratios.

The authors' advice is valuable, their writing is easy to follow, and I like the humorous sidebars sprinkled throughout the book, such as the gumball analogy in Chapter 3 to explain why card counting works. But the K-O count methodology is simply superior, and that's really why I find it valuable to use the K-O count, along with the superb Blackjack 6-7-8 strategy cards from Stickysoft (search on: blackjack basic strategy), to make it as easy as possible for me to "get the edge" over the house!

"The best counting book ever written.", This is the best counting book ever written for recreational blackjack players, IMHO. It reduces the error rate to a manageable level and makes the counting so simple that I can drink, flirt with the waitresses, and still leave at 4am with a profit (usually, that is - there will always be the variance to contend with).
I wrote a simulation that showed that with a 1 to 10 betting spread over 83 million hands, this system averages a 4.46% return - given a 6 deck shoe and the best common casino rules. Given the simplicity of the system, the rate under "real" conditions probably comes much closer to the optimum than most systems.
The only bone I have to pick is that the explanations of the system were a little unclear, but after careful reading I was able to figure it out without too much trouble.
There may be better systems, but this has got to be the best at balancing the human error rate against the efficiency of the system.