The Counter

by Kevin Blackwood

Book Overview

THE COUNTER is a truly authentic gambling novel, written by someone who spent years in the trenches. This book offers a rare glimpse into the intriguing life of a professional card counter, certainly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971727309
• ISBN13: 9780971727304
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Wooden Pagoda Press
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Most authentic gambling story

Not only is Kevin Blackwood's story provocative and riveting, but as a long-time professional gambler myself, I can absolutely vouch for its authenticity. If you have ever dreamed about living the glamorous life of the professional gambler, this is a MUST read. Be prepared however; living "high off the hog" at the expense of the largest, most exotic casinos in the world, may not be all that's it's cracked up to be - especially for the novel's hero and protagonist, who struggles to find a moral high ground in a sea of gorgeous women, money, booze, and other temptations...

Danger, skill, and the ins and outs of gambling

Kevin Blackwood's The Counter is a gripping novel of the life of a professional card counter - one who, through extraordinary mental gifts and discipline, is capable of beating the casino house. Danger, skill, and the ins and outs of gambling permeate this thrilling adventure. This is the kind of riveting fiction from which Hollywood blockbusters are made!

Great Timing for the Counter.

With gaming becoming so wide spread and so many people interested in this "entertainment" The Counter shows the struggle to be successful brilliantly. The honesty about the whole inside scoop of the world of Blackjack was fascinating and I doubt better detailed anywhere else. So if you want to have a realistic view of what the this kind of life is like read The Counter!

Frank Scoblete Says The Counter is a Job "Well Done"

I usually stay away from fiction books about gambling and casinos because often the author displays his or her total lack of knowledge of gambling games as the book progresses. That can get irritating when you've invested your time only to find out on page 103 that the writer hasn't a clue as to what happens in a casino or to casino players. I remember once reading an otherwise decent book that took the protagonists to Atlantic City where they played blackjack using $20 purple chips and tried to hit to hands of 21, no matter what the dealer had showing -- and these characters, the author insisted, were supposed to be savvy gamblers. He even got the location of individual Atlantic City casinos wrong! (Aren't there supposed to be editors that check these things at major publishers?) It almost ruined the experience for me. Luckily, the author got them out of town before I got up and threw the book out. (The one glaring exception to the above was Mario Puzo's Fools Die, a brilliant book.) So, when Kevin Blackwood's book came to me, it had to face my distrust of gambling fiction, and also the fact that I have never heard of the publisher. The book had obviously been read in galley form by some prominent gaming authorities as the back cover was liberally sprinkled with quotes about its virtues. Good enough to give me a reason to read some of it. So I started reading. Immediately I was struck with a scene that I felt was labored and false. The protagonist, Raven Townsend, is playing at a casino and a young lady, obviously a chip hustler or hooker, is asking questions. The dealer is explaining the essence of card counting to her. Those questions were heavy-handedly designed, it seemed to me, to inform the readers about the mechanics of card counting and I thought, "this book is going to be laborious. I'll give it thirty pages." It didn't take thirty pages. Once that initial, and strained, conversation took place, the book took off. I couldn't put it down. Blackwood weaved a world of professional blackjack with a quest for truth and identity, a love lost and found, and a rollicking series of adventures that culminated in a showdown at the conclusion that was teeth clenching and stomach tightening. The Counter is a book that is everything its blurbs say it is. The blackjack information is right on the money. Scene after crackling scene I kept saying to myself: "I've been there and done that, wow!" Mr. Blackwood knows the game inside and out, and he has liberally sprinkled the book with, I believe, true life adventures and thinly veiled true-life characters. (Blackjack buffs might be able to pin down these characters!) Still a work of fiction has to be more than just a series of blackjack anecdotes, no matter how appealing. Such anecdotes are fine for nonfiction, how-to books in order to take away the tedium of reading serious strategic matters. A work of fiction has to have a search for truth, be it the little truth of an individual's existence that we can

Not just about "casino" gambling

This is one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. This story spoke to me personally because I too once dreamt of a life as a professional gambler. As a once avid blackjack player, the descriptions of the make-or-break blackjack hands had me on the edge of my seat waiting for that last card to flip. The locations throughout the book are authentic and all too familiar. Simply put - it's not often that a book can get my heart pounding like "The Counter" did. This novel is not simply about the fast life as a professional gambler, it is about choices, convictions and the personal struggles within each of us. Do not misunderstand - this is certainly a story about gambling, just remember that not all gambling is done with money or in a casino.