People online think that I have great disdain for cardcounters. That isn’t true, per se. I have disdain for posers, and it just sohappens that almost everyone who brags on YouTube about counting cards, or whoclaims online to be a “blackjack expert,” is a poser. My respect for the late“MathProf” (Dr. Michael Canjar) went up greatly when I saw him wearing hiscargo pants, anonymously blasting 2x$800 on the double-deck at the Atlantis inReno. One of my teammates had an interesting encounter in the wild with thelate Dr. Peter Griffin. When someone is out there, putting cold, hard cash onthe felt, and consequently growing the chip inventory on the kitchen table,that’s instant credibility in my eyes.

As Tommy Hyland wrote in the Foreword to Colin Jones’s The21^st-Century Card Counter, “the guy walks the walk.” I haven’tencountered Colin in the wild (yet), but I know Tommy is right on this one.It’s easy to talk the talk online, on Green Chip, or the Discord, and sounduber-smart, and knowledgeable about counting and all kinds of advanced plays,but the talk rings hollow if you try to get it past an actual practitioner. Ican’t read 10 posts on any online forum without getting the urge to rant, but Iresist that urge and refocus my chi.

When I picked up Colin’s book, I half-expected to dog-ear everyother page and start a dozen different online threads debating and debunkingall sorts of topics. For most blackjack books that hit the scene, I typicallyfind material that is either uninformed (author is not an actual practitionerof the AP technique described), obsolete (written for a Vegas-centric worldbefore extensive surveillance, player cards, beyond-counting opportunities, andproliferation of casinos), irrelevant (dozens of pages charting a random walk …really?), exaggerated (we won $10 million in three days counting thepositive-off-the-top game in Panama with a $30 table max), or boring (tellingme that you won $36.50 in a 10-minute session in Wendover one night is the kindof thing that should be kept in a private diary, emphasis on “private”).

Expecting fingernails on a chalkboard, I can’t even bringmyself to read most AP books, or watch most AP movies, without having ateammate taste-test them first. I always ask my teammates, “Am I going to vomit?”They usually answer, “Maybe.” So I still haven’t seen Holy Rollers, butI did pick up Colin’s book, with some trepidation, primarily fearing someexaggeration or misleading view of the AP landscape that might promote badhabits that are “counter”-productive, but which are counterproductive to aspiringcareer APs.

When Rounders came out, my BP and I literallyhigh-fived each other during the opening scene, when Mikey grabs up wads ofcash and sneaks out to go hit a game while his girlfriend is sleeping. Thescene so poignantly captured our own AP experience that we felt immediatelyengaged, and knew that this movie would speak to us, and entertain.

So it was after the first few pages of Colin’s book. I thinkit was page 10 when I announced, “Gentlemen, hats off!” I had to put the bookdown to clap (which is basically giving high fives to myself). You see, whenyou go online, you get expert advice like, “Flooring is the best way togenerate indexes for a count system. The software offers truncating androunding as well, but flooring is recommended.” But on page 10 of Colin’s book,you get: “zippered pockets.” I have been ranting to teammates for decades aboutthis. At times I even pondering refusing to play with BPs until they got theproper work attire with zippered pockets.

Zippered pockets don’t just protect your casino valuables—cash,chips, phone. Zippered pockets give you peace of mind. Later, when you’re $500short of what you expected, you and your teammates will know that it isn’tbecause a purple chip fell out of your pocket. I go on tilt when I see ateammate slouching, with an unzipped pocket gaping towards the floor.

Right now, online posers are wondering if I’m being sarcastic,and thinking perhaps I’m belittling Colin’s book with some backhanded irony by exaggeratinga trifle. Real pros know that I’m dead serious. Details like “zippered pockets”cut deep. The fact that Colin as a player appreciated the benefit of ZPs, andas an author felt it important enough to mention, tells me that he knows moreabout what moves the needle for a real pro than all the fifth-decimal-pointonline guys ever will.

Colin hammers the topic further (on p. 190): “I’ve been onteams with several people who have physically lost a portion of their bankroll.Every time it happened, it involved something that could have been avoided.”Amen, brother.

In a related example of the physical handling of the money,he gives great advice on traveling with cash, reaching the inevitable,one-sentence conclusion: “I never again used banks to transport money for atrip.” [Part of the allure of cryptos is that banks are super-annoying, evenwhen you want your own money.]

While many books, like Knock-out Blackjack (solidsystem!), focus on the technical aspects of counting and take pragmaticexecution for granted, Colin’s book is the opposite. He doesn’t delve into thetechnical aspects of what the tags and indices are for a count system. Insteadhe covers that stuff using online videos, software tools, and optionalin-person meet-ups (you can mingle at christiancounters.com). Computer-adaptivetesting is by far the best-way to learn the basics cheaply, and no book canhave all the charts you’d want, so Colin’s book doesn’t even go there.

Newbies online obsess over the EV they lost by misplaying ahand. They repeatedly ask whether they are supposed to split 88 or surrender,and whether ENHC changes things. While a pro is expected to master suchtechnical aspects, these details are rarely the focus of working pros. Ifyou’re trying to grind out the rent money, not having cash available for aplaying trip because you naively tried to use a bank hurts your EV more than afew hundred misplayed hands.

For The Theory of Blackjack, by the great Peter Griffin,my 2-second review is, “I think I might be learning something here, but thetitle is apt, … yawn.” On Million Dollar Blackjack, by the flamboyantKen Uston: “Informative, useful, entertaining, but this stuff about signalingbig-stiff/little-stiff … naw.” On Steve Forte’s collection: “Wow, does thisaffect me???” On Exhibit CAA: “Does this guy really expect me to usethese charts?”

But with Colin’s book, I quite unexpectedly found myselfjust nodding, circling passages and putting exclamation points in the margin,and just thinking, “Yup, yup, uh-huh, yeah, true, true, true that, been there, oooh,yeah, that’s the spot, nailed it right there!”

I didn’t agree with 100% of what’s in there, but I’ll chalkup the few disagreements to my own different playing style and longer-termgoals. I think any veteran would be entertained by the book, while any newbie thinkingof taking things to the next level would get critical insight into how this gigactually works.

[Next: Will Colin be playing the title character in Season 6 of Lucifer?]