The first edition of Blackjack in the Zone, published in 2000, started with the assumption that the reader had already learned basic strategy and a counting system. The book was organized into three sections, titled "The Red Zone," "The Green Zone," and "The Black Zone."

The Red Zone covered the basics of casino comportment, trip bankroll, and the importance of good record keeping.

The Green Zone discussed the various problems one might encounter when one's betting level is increased to green chip levels. Considerable attention was devoted to cover and camoflage, with much information not seen in print elsewhere.

Then, in the Black Zone, Blaine provided an introduction to team play, discussed various forms of cheating, and briefly covered some advanced techniques such as hole-carding. Also included was a discussion of back-counting, various techniques for working the comp system, and an overview of the resources available on the Internet.

Blackjack authors seem to fall into two general categories: There are writers who occasionally play the game, and serious players who occasionally take time to write a book. Blaine is definitely in the latter category, along with other authors such as George C. and James Grosjean. As such, he does not mince words. The first edition weighed in at a slender 54 pages, but was packed with useful information, much of which had never before been seen in print.

So now, two years later, we have a new edition, and the author has taken a most unusual tack with it. Rather than merely update the original, he has added an entirely new section, The Silver Zone, that is aimed squarely at the beginner.

For the first time since Lawrence Revere's Playing Blackjack as a Business, the neophyte counter is provided with an explicit, detailed guide to selecting a card counting system and step by step instructions on exactly how to learn to count cards. Numerous examples and drills are also provided. This section alone adds 40 pages to the book, which now is nearly twice the size of the first edition. The type is a larger font, but that is a pleasant improvement to these aging eyes.

The rest of the book is pretty much a verbatum reproduction of the first edition, with a few typos corrected. However, the section on Internet recsources has been completely updated, as might be expected in that rapidly changing area.

The first edition was a worthwhile addition to the library of the experienced player. The new edition, while still being that, is also an outstanding guide for the beginner.

For someone considering learning to count cards, "The Silver Zone" alone is worth the price of the book. I wish that I had had it when I was starting out — it would have saved me a lot of time and effort.

For those who already have the first edition, the new edition is probably redundant. For anyone else, this book is highly recommended, for the experienced player, and now most especially for the novice.

— Parker