Hi Everyone:

Our book, Blackjack Essays by Mason Malmuth has now been updated. All that we have done is some minor editing. However, the kindle, which was originally done by Amazon, has been redone and it should now look much better.

Here is the Amazon page for the paperback:

https://www.amazon.com/Blackjack-Ess...3448761&sr=1-1

and here is the Amazon page for the kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RGK821X...3448761&sr=1-1

Also, here's The Table of Contents:

........................................Table of Contents

About Mason Malmuth v

Introduction 1

Using This Book 3

Part One: Card Domination — The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon 5
...Introduction 6
...Card Domination I — The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon 7
...Card Domination II — The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon 12
...Card Domination III — The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon 17
...Afterthought 24

Part Two: Theoretical Concepts 27
...Introduction 28
...Self-Weighting 29
...Gambler’s Ruin: A Short Discussion 31
...The Simple System Fallacy 35
...Afterthought 39

Part Three: Blackjack Biases 41
...Introduction 42
...Blackjack Biases: Part I 43
...Blackjack Biases: Part II 49
...Afterthought 56

Part Four: Current Blackjack 57
...Introduction 58
...The Terrible One-Deck Game 59
...Unintentional Preferential Shuffling? 68
...Blackjack Misconceptions 71
...Back Counting: A Discussion 75
...What to Do When Barred 79
...Doubling Down on Aces 82
...Blackjack Tournament Strategy 86
...Not Looking at Hole Cards 89
...Play in Reno 92
...Traps to Avoid 95
...Cheating Tip-Offs 98
...Afterthought 101

Part Five: Mistaken Ideas 103
...Introduction 104
...Blackjack Fallacies 105
...Money Management Fallacies 109
...Recent Erroneous Concepts 112
...Afterthought 121

Part Six: Supplemental Strategies 123
...Introduction 124
...Betting Strategies 125
...Crowded Versus Empty Casinos: Part I 133
...Crowded Versus Empty Casinos: Part II 136
...Read the Dealer: A Discussion 139
...Heads-Up Play: Part I 144
...Heads-Up Play: Part II 147
...Afterthought 150

Part Seven: In the Casino 151
...Introduction 152
...Miscellaneous Advice 153
...Projecting a Gambler’s Image 156
...Practical Advice 161
...Counter Tips 177
...Actions to Avoid 183
...Casino Preparation 186
...Tips on Becoming a Professional 190
...Traps to Avoid 195
...Supplemental Skills 199
...Afterthought 202

Part Eight: Obsolete Techniques 203
...Introduction 204
...Ideas Whose Time Has Come and Gone 205
...Ideas Whose Time Never Came 210
...The Field Bet 215
...Afterthought 217

Part Nine: Front Loading 219
...Introduction 220
...Types of Front Loaders 221
...Identifying and Playing Against the Front Loader 229
...First Basing 233
...Afterthought 236

Conclusion 237

Appendix A: Recommended Blackjack Books 239

Appendix B: Supplemental Reading 243

Index 247

And here's an excerpt (of part of an essay in the book):

....................Betting Strategies

One of the toughest decisions in winning blackjack play is determining how much to bet. The literature contains many different approaches, some good and some perhaps not as good as we would like them to be. This essay examines some of these approaches and gives my opinions on them. The thing to remember is that an optimal betting strategy will try to maximize one’s expectation, provide camouflage, and reduce the probability of being ruined. The problem is that these ideas often conflict with each other. For example, large betting spreads don’t provide camouflage, but do increase expectation — that is, until the casino realizes you are counting cards.

Again, the skilled blackjack player does much more than count cards, and this is why his approach to betting is so important. This was not true in the early 1960s when simple cumbersome counts, which had just been introduced could beat the games easily. Today, however, the skilled blackjack player needs to take advantage of every available technique. This includes the area of betting strategies which many accomplished counters overlook.

Strategy No. 1: Haphazard betting. This is pretty much how the typical tourist plays. In other words, his bet size is not correlated with deck composition. Also, the pit will just about never suspect this person of counting cards because there is no pattern to his play. What the skilled player would like to do is to appear to be haphazardly betting when in reality he is not. However, keep in mind that even if you are counting cards, haphazard betting is not a winning approach.

Strategy No. 2: Systematic progressions. This is probably the approach many non-sophisticated counters take, partly because this advice is very widespread throughout the blackjack literature. Some sort of systematic progression is used, perhaps a 1-2-4-8 progression, as long as the deck remains favorable. As soon as the deck becomes unfavorable, these counters return to one unit and wait for an opportunity to restart the progression. Even though this approach works extremely well on one’s “kitchen table,” it can cause problems in a casino because progressions are a “red flag” to pit personnel who are constantly watching for card counters. Consequently, I do not believe that counters who use these rigid betting progressions can survive in today’s modern casino environment.

Strategy No. 3: Pseudo steaming. This idea, which I think is a good one, is currently practiced by many skilled blackjack players. The idea is that the more you lose, the madder you appear to become, but only, of course, if the deck is favorable. This allows you to grab a bunch of chips (or to reach into your pocket for more money) and slam them into the betting circle, thus achieving a very good bet variation. A few cautions, though. First, most pits have seen this act before, so you need to look genuinely mad. Second, in reality you can’t steam every time a deck goes favorable. Save your Oscar performances for when it really counts, or again, you may arouse the suspicion of the pit. And third, steaming works best in multi-deck play where favorable situations sometimes will last a reasonable length of time. Now you may even have an opportunity to put your “rent money” on the table. But if you steam and lose, you need to be out of money; that is, don’t reach into your other pocket and pull out more cash. Pseudo steaming appears most realistic when you seem to be almost broke. If all of a sudden you appear to have lots of money, the pit may wonder what all the steaming is for when you don’t have that much to be upset about. Remember, pseudo steaming works, but don’t overuse it or you may find that you have the pit steaming at you.

Strategy No. 4: Rainbow betting. The idea here is to mix chips. Somehow, you not only get a lot of chips on the table, but also get all different denominations. When the deck is unfavorable, bet a lot of chips, but mostly small denominations; when the deck becomes favorable, bet a similar stack in height, but this time, substitute a couple of larger chips for the smaller ones. From a distance, it will look like the same bet, perhaps deceiving the pit. Also, most casinos want chips stacked from the largest at the bottom to the smallest at the top. If you mix up the order, you may even appear to be a novice player.

However, three problems with this approach do occur. First, you tend to slow the game down as the dealer repeatedly must figure out how much she has to pay you off when you win and must sort your chips for her chip rack when you lose. Remember, the less hands you play, the less money you expect to make. Second, the house will constantly try to color you up so that you can make bigger bets all the time. Whether you win or lose, it will be difficult to maintain an abundance of different colored chips for rainbow betting. And third, the extra work that you have caused the dealer may irritate her. If she begins to suspect you of card counting, she may be more inclined to tip off the pit boss. However, even though these problems exist, rainbow betting can be a very potent weapon for the sophisticated and successful card counter.

Strategy No. 5: True count betting. This is another popular approach that easily can reveal the counter. The idea is to let the true count strictly dictate your betting strategy. When the true count is low or negative, you bet one unit, and as the true count increases, your bet size increases. For example, in Million Dollar Blackjack, Ken Uston recommends that you bet one less than the true count (in most games) or just one unit, whichever is greater. This approach has two advantages. First, you assure yourself of a good positive expectation, and second, you hold the probability of being ruined constant on all your large bets. The disadvantage of true-count betting is that you are exhibiting the type of betting patterns that the pit will use to identify card counters. It is true that the patterns are not as pronounced as when you use systematic betting, but they still can lead to early identification of your card-counting skills. If you use true-count betting, I recommend that you spend only a short time at the table before moving on to another casino.

Special Note. The next two strategies, depth charging and opposition betting, first appeared in Arnold Snyder’s excellent book, Blackbelt in Blackjack.

Strategy No. 6: Depth charging. Suppose you sit down in a late seat at a crowded, single-deck game, and you are using a sophisticated count to adjust your playing strategy. Since you expect to see a lot of cards before you act, there is a good chance, depending on the rules of the casino, that your expectation will be positive on the first hand you play. Consequently, your expectation will be positive on most hands you play, which means that you don’t need to vary your bet. Hence, one can sit at a table, slowly grind out money, and not worry about any casino heat.

Now this all sounds very good in theory, but from a practical point of view, I’m not sure that things always work out so well. First, your expectation at best is still small, so with just a few errors, you probably become a break-even player. Second, with a full table, you are bound to miss some cards, so your small positive expectation, in reality, may be even smaller than you think. Third, you don’t play as many hands at a full table, and one’s overall expectation, as I have pointed out many times before, is reduced when you play less hands.

There is also a fourth reason why depth charging is not as good as it sounds, which I would like to explain in more detail. The reason is that unintentional preferential shuffling begins to take place. The key to successful depth charging is the idea that the same number of cards are dealt out between shuffles. First, suppose a lot of high cards come out at the beginning of the deck. This means that on average less cards were needed to complete a round, which also means that the dealer will be more inclined to deal an extra round. Since this extra round will be dominated by small cards, it probably will have a negative expectation. Second, suppose a lot of small cards come out at the beginning of the deck. This means that on average more cards were needed to complete a round. It also means that the dealer will be less inclined to deal an extra round, and this undealt extra round would have been dominated by high cards. The implication should now be obvious to the reader: Depth charging sounds good, but as illustrated, it may not be such a great idea.

Strategy No. 7: Opposition betting. This technique, which I believe has a lot of merit, is mainly applied to shoe games. The idea is that when the deck is neutral, it really doesn’t matter what you bet, since your expectation is the same. Specifically, in a shoe game where the deck not only is in a neutral zone a good portion of the time but also tends to only slowly move out of it, you can bet in a haphazard fashion, as long as your expectation is roughly break-even. Of course, when the deck is negative, you bet small, and when the deck is positive, you bet large. But when the deck is in a neutral range, you let your bets vary with no definite pattern from small to large. Now you appear to play just like a tourist, but you still have the same positive expectation that any skilled counter has.

The problem with this method is that your risk of going broke is higher so to retain the same expectation, you need a larger bank. But this risk is probably well worth it, especially considering that if opposition betting is properly executed, it is a rare pit boss who would suspect you of counting cards. However, don’t get too carried away with this idea, or you may find yourself varying your bets from small to large when the deck is actually negative.

Strategy No. 8: Consolidation betting. This is a very powerful, but neglected, technique for successful blackjack betting. The idea is to get through negative decks, or portions thereof, very quickly at a minimum cost and also to make favorable decks, or portions thereof, last as long as possible. Consolidation betting consists of playing several hands at a small bet each until the deck turns positive, then switching to one hand with a large bet. The large bet doesn’t need to be much bigger than the small bets put together. For example, play three hands at $25 each until the deck becomes favorable, then play one hand at $75. Notice that in this example, you are actually practicing a form of flat betting, and using this technique, many games become beatable.
Another form of consolidation betting, which Ken Uston calls “card eating” is discussed in Million Dollar Blackjack. The idea here, which is very similar to that just discussed, is to spread to multiple hands at reduced stakes when the deck goes bad. By doing so you quickly “eat up” an unfavorable section.
Consolidation betting has several advantages. First, you can have a positive expectation with a minimal, real bet variation, thus keeping your chance of being ruined to a minimum. Second, since you get through unfavorable sections of a deck quickly, you are able to play more hands when you have an advantage which means more profit. And third, consolidation betting is a technique that most pit bosses are not familiar with (as yet). Thus, it is less likely that you will be identified as a card counter.

By the way, most casinos require that when you spread to multiple hands, your minimum bet on each hand must be greater than the table minimum. For example, if you play two hands at a $2 minimum table, the minimum bet on each hand that the casino will accept may be $5.