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Product Review - Beating Blackjack With Andy Bloch

Andy Bloch. These days, you may know him best for playingpoker. Andy is a talented pro who also runs the WPT Fan web site. He plays forFullTiltPoker.net too! What you may not know is that Andy was once the managerof the MIT Blackjack team. He earned an engineering degree from MIT and a lawdegree from Harvard too.

Basically, Andy is an expert on blackjack. He's earnedmillions - and only he knows for sure how much he's earned - playing the game.He understands the ins and outs and the math of blackjack. And blackjack is amathematical game. In this DVD, Andy assumes you know the basic rules of thegame. He doesn’t delve into them, so we won’t delve into them here either.

Andy's DVD gets into the meat and potatoes of the game sothat you can bring in some serious bread. In the first section, Basic Strategy,Andy teaches you when to hit, stay, double-down, split or surrender. The DVDcomes with a handy-dandy chart that will help you out.

In the DVD Andy says that, by just following the basicstrategy tips, you can save $400.00. You won't be a winning blackjack playeryet, but you will lose a whole lot less than the average blackjack player does.

Basically what you need to remember is that blackjack isbeatable largely because the cards aren't shuffled every hand. You can varyyour bets with information you gather from a simple mathematical formula that’sbased on your card count!

Card counting is perfectly legal, as Andy says. It's astrategy albeit one that casinos aren't fond of. That leads us to the secondsection of the DVD. In card counting, you track the relationship between thehigh-value cards, which are good for you, and the low-value cards, which aregood for the house. Andy says you don't have to be a genius to card count (orhave an MIT degree, either!).

The preferred method of counting for the MIT team is ahi-lo method. Cards with face values of 2-6 have a +1 value, 10-A are -1 and 7-8-9 are neutral, sothey're worth 0. The card counting must begin at the beginning of a six-deckshoe (card container).

Andy then gives the viewer practice exercises to improvetheir card counting skills. If you take a deck and count it through, you shouldend up with a ZERO after all 52 cards are dealt. You can work with a partnertoo. This is especially helpful for team play, which Andy delves into later.

Section 3 teaches you how to bet optimally for maximumwins and minimum losses. Andy gives some bankroll tips and suggestions that youshould have enough cash on hand for each session to go up to 32 times thebetting limit. Otherwise, you'll be playing with scared money, and that's notto your benefit or profit.

Andy suggests that you bet in multiples according to thebetting limit (unit). He also suggests that you should begin your blackjackjourney by playing smaller limits and then moving up. The maximum bet should befour times the betting unit. For example, if the betting unit is $200, neverbet more than $800 on a hand.

For optimal betting, you keep a running count (A) anddivide that by the approximate number of decks in the shoe (B). That gives youthe true count. You take the true count (TC) and subtract one from the totalcount. Multiply that number by the betting unit to give you your maximum bet.

For example, your count is 12. There are 4 decks left inthe shoe. Our betting unit is still $200.

12/4=3-1=2 2X$200=$400.

Therefore you'd bet $400.00 on the next hand.

Andy then discusses team play and camouflage. Since manycasinos don't like card counters – these individuals tend to take away from thehouse advantage by using this strategy - you'll have to work on certain tacticsto throw pit bosses and so forth 'off your scent'. This is where the DVD gets alittle campy, but it's very interesting information. Andy literally shows yousome camouflage during the team segment.

Beating Blackjack with Andy Bloch is a very interestingDVD. It's full of sound advice, solid strategy and extremely fascinating math.If you’re serious about blackjack, you should check this out!