A reader writes:

In the Reno area, there is no way to avoid constant attention, if not heat, with blackjack at the black-chip level. I’ve found a style of betting at the single decks in Reno and Wendover that is good for keeping the welcome mat out. Depending on what the bottom card is (viewed as I cut, by a hopefully undetectable motion of arm and wrist), I play what I hope will be perceived as either a “casual” or “hunch” deck. If I see a 3, 4, 5, or 6, I play a hunch deck; with any other card on the bottom, I play a casual deck.

A hunch deck starts with three hands, each bet at the maximum. Sometimes the bets are graduated, $300 on the first hand, $400 on the second hand, and $500 on the third, so I look like an idiot to the pit. My attention is rapt. I sustain this betting level for three rounds if I maintain an advantage, however slight. If I lose the advantage, I immediately cut back to one hand of $100 or $200.

A casual deck begins with one hand of $100, and I try to appear to be only slightly interested, chatting to anyone who will listen. If the count warrants it, I might progress to higher bets.

Don Schlesinger Senior IT Leader with deep experience in data strategy, governance, quality, integration, warehousing and BI reporting. Don Schlesinger Don Schlesinger has been involved with blackjack, in several capacities, for over 40 years. As a writer, lecturer, teacher, and player, Schlesinger has “done it all,” in casinos worldwide. Schlesinger was born in 1946 and graduated from the City College of New York (CCNY) with a B.S. Degree in mathematics. We have information on 10 results for Don Schlesinger, including phone numbers and addresses. We also found 10 background checks for Don Schlesinger, including criminal records. Every second, Whitepages helps 19 people do reverse phone lookups, find people, and get background reports, including public records, in order to make smarter, safer.

I thus get a large bet spread, although with high variance. I have found the fluctuations frightening, but the win rate has been large. I always seem to get the seal of approval from the pit bosses for this style of play. Even if nervously, they comp me to the hilt.

This is an explanation of the “hopefully undetectable motion of arm and wrist” I mention in my first paragraph: The deck is best situated at an angle of 45 degrees to a line drawn between the dealer and me, with the tilt going NW-SE for a right-handed cut, or NE-SW for a lefty. I lift the cards off towards the dealer, maintaining the 45 degree angle of the deck as it sits on the table. I lift the cards several inches. At the top of the parabolic motion of cards from deck to table, a slight rolling motion of my wrist enables me to catch sight of the top right corner of the bottom-card-to-be. I perform the whole gesture quickly and with panache, so the peek should be undetectable.

Another tip: When wonging, I try to approach a table just as the deck is being cut. I often glimpse either the bottom card or the burned card, and so pick up a little extra knowledge.

Heat

Don Schlesinger says:

During a long New Year’s weekend, the main pit at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas was all $100 minimum or higher tables, you could not ask for a marker of less than $1000, and purple chips were common. One lady played yellow chips each night at a reserved table and began each session by asking for a rack of chips, which, in this case, was $100,000. At another table, one of the highest rollers in Caesars’s history was back in town after a three-year absence. He had lost millions at Caesars and the pit was buzzing in anticipation of his play. Throughout the casino, the floormen watched all the play with their customary detached, vacant stares as if they did not know which $1000-a-hand player to observe first. During the week prior to New Year's weekend, I played with the kind of card counter I personally dislike.

He would bet $25 or $50 on bad counts and then suddenly, without any attempt at camouflage whatsoever, spread to two hands of $300 or $400 on high plus counts. He never spoke, never smiled, never tipped, never lifted his eyes from the table, and played for nothing but cash. He played with absolute impunity for the entire week, back-counting tables in the main pit to his heart’s content, and never once received so much as a single word of admonition from the pit.

Heat is when the floorman turns his back on the game and talks surreptitiously to the dealer. Heat is when the shoe is suddenly cut in half and/or shuffled before the stop card is reached. Heat is three bosses converging on your table, where one watches from first base, one from third base, and one leaves the pit to stand behind you! Heat is when you get up and move across the aisle to another pit and that floorman is already on the phone talking to the one you just left before you sit down at the new table.

Wong says: My definition of heat is different from Schlesinger’s. I try to be sensitive to the times when the bosses are saying to each other, “He is winning, so he must be doing something to get an edge. Let us figure out what he is doing.” So to me, heat is any attention I receive that is excessive considering my bet size. I may keep playing rather than leave when that happens, but that still is what I would call the onset of heat.

Excerpted with permission from the e-book version of Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong, edited for this format.

Don Schlesinger Blackjack

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Don Schlesinger Blackjack

Don Schlesinger is a blackjack aficionado, card counter, mathematician, educator and the world’s most profound authority on advantage play. The author of Blackjack Attack: Playing the Pro’s Way, some of the foremost strategies that appear the book may not have originated with Schlesinger, but he has perfected and polished them in a way no one else could. His edifying wisdom, including the introduction of the “Illustrious 18” card counting indices, earned him a spot in the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2014.

Don Schlesinger Obituary

The Scholar Becomes the Educator

Born in New York, Don grew up with a superior level of intelligence that was evident from a young age. As an early teen, he was already diligently studying the intricacies of probability theory; in particular its application to casino gambling and sports betting.

In 1962, when Edward Thorp published the first authoritative book on card counting, Beat the Dealer, Schlesinger snatched it up and read it cover to cover, along with any other texts he could find on the subject of game theory. That’s when Don began focusing his studies most heavily in the direction of casino 21.

Oddly enough, despite his estimated proficiency in such matters, it would be many years before Don made his way to any blackjack table. In the meantime, young Schlesinger was busy continuing his education, earning a B. S. in mathematics from City College of New York, then going on to City University of New York where he graduated with an M. A. and M. Phil. in French.

All the while, Don continued to learn about blackjack game theory, reading the exceptional strategic texts of Lawrence Revere (Playing Blackjack as a Business, 1969) and Stanford Wong (Professional Blackjack, 1975), both of which are now members of the esteemed Blackjack Hall of Fame alongside Schlesinger.

After finishing his scholarly lessons, Schlesinger went on to become an educator, teaching mathematics and French within New York City’s public school system. It was around that time that he finally made his way to Las Vegas to test out all of the knowledge he had been absorbing since he was a teenager.

Unlike most Blackjack Hall of Famers, who were over-confident and thus destroyed by Vegas in their initial attempts to count cards, Schlesinger had spent so much time studying game theory and advantage play that he actually did well for himself from the start. But his most important role in the gambling community was as an educator to other players.

He began letters from the blackjack community asking about the application of his strategies, and never one to turn down a mentoring role, Don did his best to answer them. The most studious way to do it, however, was to publish the answers for the public, rather than answering the same questions over and over individually. That’s when he teamed up with another future Hall of Famer, Arnold Snyder, who had been running his own periodical, Blackjack Forum, since 1980.

Don Schlesinger San Francisco

Snyder offered Schlesinger a column in his magazine to respond to the questions of players who sought his knowledge. Not only did he respond, he delved deeply into each inquiry, and while Blackjack Forum’s audience was a small one, it gave the gambling community a whole new outlook on the game.

From 1984—the same year Don changed jobs, transitioning to a role as Executive Director of an astute investment bank on Wall Street—to 1996, he contributed to more than 50 issues of the periodical. For the last several years of his involvement with Blackjack Forum, Stanford Wong encouraged Schlesinger to compile all of his knowledge and professed strategies into a single text, and he finally did.

Blackjack Attack: Playing the Pros’ Way

In 1997, Don Schlesinger authored one of the most insightful and enlightening books the blackjack world have ever known. He called it Blackjack Attack: Playing the Pro’s Way, but admitted that the name was derived from his editor’s request for a “snappy” title that would grab the attention of readers. He said a more appropriate title might have been, Blackjack: The Finer Points.

Unlike just about every other manifesto on the subject, Don’s book is not a resource for wanna-be card counters. It does not explain blackjack rules or offer page after page of basic strategy charts. This book did something no other book had ever done, detailing those “finer points” of the game and giving expert advice that even the most experienced blackjack players could—and still do this day—appreciate.

With that said, Blackjack Attack probably shouldn’t be the first book a novice player reads, but it should definitely become an early edition to their library.

The Illustrious 18, SCORE and Floating Advantage

One of Schlesinger’s most famous philosophies is known as the “Illustrious 18”. Having studied card counting indices intensively, he came up with just 18 indices that impact a player’s edge significantly enough to be worth following.

Don was responsible for the introduction of SCORE (Standard Comparison of Risk and Expectation). By using his SCORE method, players have been able to compare blackjack games under specific circumstances and come up with an optimized evaluation of advantage play for different scenarios.

He also developed what’s known as the Floating Advantage, which designates the advantage for players in carrying a true count deeper into the shoe.

Don Schlesinger Blackjack Attack

All of these techniques and philosophies are detailed in Blackjack Attack.

Blackjack Hall of Fame

Don Schlesinger Denver

Don retired from investment banking in 1998, one year after publishing Blackjack Attack, finally able to focus his full attention on family, as well as playing blackjack and educating others in the ways of advantage play. His superior knowledge has been referenced and/or acknowledged by well-known authors of three dozen other blackjack books.

Don Schlesinger Website

In 2014, Schlesinger was inducted to the Blackjack Hall of Fame for his multitude of contributions to the game, including research and edification of optimal betting strategies, back counting, advantage play, risk analysis, card counting system comparison, camouflage and team play.

To this day, Schlesinger still plays blackjack, mostly in Las Vegas and the Caribbean, but as a devoted family man, he now only makes a few trips a year. He also continues to host lectures as one of the finance industry’s most respected consultants.