Thanks, R!!! That's the place to start, then!
Say, Lestrade, I was looking over the the bj21 catalog, and they don't have as much as they had a few years ago. Just mostly their own books -- which are good, but ... So I did a search and came up with this:
Modern Blackjack
It's a free internet book on blackjack card counting, and it's
excellent. Last time I checked, that book was a work in progress, but now there's enough meat there to actually launch a card counting hobby! In fact, there's more there than practically any dead tree book I can think of.
Now, it's more or less a come on for his expensive blackjack simulation software. But that's really not necessary unless you plan to go pro, and you know what I think of that. Also, despite what he says, I'd look very carefully at hi-lo as my card counting system of choice. It's not as strong as his "Reko" with a comparable number of indices, but hi-lo is much more expandable and adaptable -- e.g. to shuffle tracking, if you ever want to get into that. Or for team play -- hi-lo is the standard there and pretty much everywhere.
But no card counter is ready after reading just one book. I also strongly recommend you get a copy of
"Beat The Dealer" by Ed Thorp -- the book that started it all! Great analysis and historical perspective from the '60s. Then
"Blackbelt in Blackjack" by Snyder (the latest edition) for a hard nosed gamblers perspective,
"Blackjack Bluebook II" by Renzy, for lots of creative, modern twists, and
"Blackjack Attack III" by Schlesinger, since you like the math. Oh, and if you're
really into the math, you might want to look at
"The Theory of Blackjack, 6th ed." by Griffin. If you can understand even half of that, you get bragging rights. :flypig:
I think all told, that'll get you started for under $50.
Rick