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Jerry L. Patterson originally published 'Blackjack: A Winner's Handbook' in 1977, though it has been revised and re-released in three newer editions, including it's latest publication in 2001. In it's latest revision, Patterson included the aspect of online casinos, as they make up more than twice as many land-based casino offering Blackjack in America alone. The author felt this a necessary step in the updating of Blackjack: A Winner's Handbook, as the primary goal of the book has always been to teach the reader how to win in today's Blackjack gaming environment.Blackjack: A Winners's Handbook, covers several card counting techniques, as well as a count-reverse system in chapters 14 and 15. Patterson also introduces the idea of 'card-clumping', a mental break-through for most Blackjack players whose card counting strategies have failed since casinos began more random shuffling. This idea also sparks an great interest in Patterson's theory of shuffle-biases, found in chapter 7.
Blackjack players of all levels will find Blackjack: A Winner's Handbook highly informative - not just Blackjack aficionados who have already mastered previous winning systems and techniques like card counting. Money Management tips are found in chapter 11, along with Self-Management in chapters 12 and 16. This aspect is more important than a novice blackjack player may realize, making it an invaluable text.
Patterson describes Professional Play in chapters 17 and 18, a must read for any Blackjack enthusiasts. While many Blackjack players have their own idea of the perfect betting strategy, Jerry Patterson details a fabulous Takedown betting strategy in chapter 13.
Blackjack: A Winner's Handbook describes a controversial idea called, TARGET 21 (developed by Eddie Olsen), a non-counting blackjack strategy. He split blackjack players into two groups - 'traditional' players and 'new era' players. Traditional players would be those who continue to use card-counting blackjack strategies and expect to win in the long run, where new era players are defined as players who evolve with the game of blackjack as it changes over time, seeking short-term gains. Though quite and interesting read, blackjack experts have often called Patterson's TARGET 21 system too unscientific.
While the original 1977 and 1991 revision and reproduction of Blackjack: A Winner's Handbook, has been called flawed, sometimes confusing and even incomplete in some of it's finer details - Patterson himself paper-clipped every 2nd or 3rd page where he found typos, misprints and errors - the latest 2001 publication presents a much more accurate (and better edited) version. In short - don't buy the old book, get the new one!
