Repeat Until Rich: A Professional Card Counter's Chronicle of the Blackjack Wars

This book is a good read, it contains drama, pathos, excitement and lifts the curtain to another world.A world that is enticing to the outsider (I am sure I could do that) and a morality tale ( I could never do that). it charts one mans journey through the rabbit hole that is professional gambling, specifically Blackjack. At first glance you think, how hard can that be? Children can add up to 21 with no problem, and you can buy those little cards at the casino that tell you basic strategy, so what is all the fuss about? Of course, it is more complex, orders of magnitude more complex. By following the cards dealt, (not easy) and allocating a weighted score to the remaining cards, (harder still) favorable moments occur in the game when the player has a distinct edge over the dealer. By betting low amounts during the counting phase and massive amounts when the decks are optimized, hardy souls may make a decent living over the long haul. The system is based on mathematical variances and was first detailed in the early sixties. Bright young things from MIT brought a large amount of brain power to the issue, the least of which was devising a system of secret signals that could alert team members to 'hot' tables and basically declared intellectual war on the casinos. Who in turn were investing heavily in a variety of local and national counter measures. The constant tension between the casino staff and the counters was the best part of the book. Casinos have to walk the wire between presenting a cordial welcome to the average player and a steel wall to a good counter. It gets vicous and personal at times, with the law becoming a grey area that both sides lay claim to.The book also documents the inside of one individuals head as he rides the roller coaster of self loathing, hallucinatory exultation and compulsive decline. The angst quotient is pretty high and what some may see as searingly honest, I thought was, at times, a little over wrought. Even the guinea pig dies.In spite of a rather dark tone, it is refreshing, in that it details a fascinating slice of Americana, it was not as good a read as Positively Fourth Street, although that had the advantage of an experienced writer and a high profile, bizarre murder. It is worth reading and I hope Mr. Axelrad will write another book and that it does not cause him as much misery as producing this one seemed to. I will buy the next book and recommend you buy this one.

Ok, let me preface this by saying I am using one of my casino names in case there are some sad-ass casino surveillance dopes trying to get info on associates of Josh; however they are sure to screw that up somehow: case in point, I played (with Josh circa 2002) at Bally's AC under an assumed name all the while there was a picture of me posted in the pit; I was alerted to this by burst out laughter comeing from Josh who pointed it out to me as I blew em up for $18K. AX man knew how to have fun!!!!!I read a pre-release copy, being mentioned in the book, but also bought it for nostalgia and to support Josh and the publishing industry! What I found most interesting was Josh's struggle when he was not with the team, I had no idea. I shared rooms with Josh in all sorts of hotels/motels in and out of the USA and never imagined this cerebral guy would fall victim to an addiction that did not come in a Starbuck's cup!Anyhow, now onto the review:If you are hoping to read this book and get the Hollywood version "21" you will instead find a truthful, insightful and honest life experience of a young man who happened to be a professional card counter who made some mistakes while "growing up". I felt his isolation when I read the book. The book is well written and keeps the reader wanting more and I found myself rooting for Josh in more ways than one. The weaving of exciting stories from blackjack with his personal experiences, on and off the team, delivered with his colorful editorial was brilliant. It is worth the read for sure. While some may criticize former members for writing 5 star reviews, read the book first and then read the reviews again before you snap to a judgment. One thing about talented card players like us is we know when there is pure "edge" and I am willing to bet that many will find the book worth the money and the time to read it.Ok I have to go back to my "straight-person job" and by the way I still snore.............MUH!

If you have done a good deal of gambling in your life (as I have), you will relate to this authors’ descriptions of his emotions as he experienced both success and failure. It’s a very realistic portjrayal. It’s not all good and it’s not all bad. What someone experiences is an emotional rollercoaster.This author was a member of a successful blackjack card counting team for five years. He made enough money to accumulate a bankroll of $200,000. Then, for various reasons, the team broke up. After that, the author turned to online poker. Unfortunately, with this endeavor, he became compulsive and, over two years, lost all his money.Poker has been a serious hobby of mine for 25 years. Based on my knowledge of the game, I could see that the authors’ knowledge and understanding of poker was, at best, superficial. Poker strategy is not purely mechanical as it is with counting cards when playing blackjack. Poker strategy is constantly evolving as opponents, over time, adjust to your tactics. Plus, successful poker strategy is as much an art as a science. The authors’ failure to understand this is what led to his downfall. His success at blackjack caused him to believe that a mechanical approach would work for poker.This book does not offer any great insights into either blackjack or poker. However, it does offer a very good study of the emotions people feel when experiencing both success and failure. More importantly, it shows how a person becomes tortured when he or she is continually frustrated by failure. From this perspective, I think that this authors’ experiences would make a good movie.