Using the Illustrious 18 as a Defensive Tool By Bill Zender and Andrew Uyal What are Decision Indices? Mathematician and Blackjack advantage player, Donald Schlesinger released a list of card counting strategy deviations known as the “Illustrious 18” in September 1986, published in the Blackjack Forum in an article titled “Attacking the Shoe.” Schlesinger’s motivation
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By Bill Zender and Andrew Uyal Introduction Based on experience as a gaming consultant there is evidence that points to the fact that a majority of player tracking systems in North American casino do not operate with an accurate house advantage percentage (H/A) for calculating Blackjack theoretical win (T-win). In most cases the mathematical
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By Bill Zender and Andrew Uyal There is an old saying that goes, “You cannot see the forest from the trees”. Some references suggest this quote goes all the way back to the early 1600s. It means loosely that if you focus on the individual trees, you don’t see the forest surrounding them. When discussing
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By Bill Zender and Andrew Uyal December 2025 There are several myths that still circulate in today’s live table game casino industry: If someone is winning, they are most likely counting cards That any person who has picked up a book on card counting can gain an edge over the house and is a
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