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The Rise of Blackjack Professionals Part1

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The Rise of Blackjack Professionals Part1

The dream of beating a casino is as old as the notion “casino” itself. Every gambler wants to win. Every other invents his own “system”. Every hundredth attempts to research the game in great detail. And only a few out of millions succeed.

The most notable achievement in the subject of betting “system” against the casino was the so called “card counting” in blackjack. Card counting is a mathematically based method to enable players to get some advantage over the casino. The casinos certainly are aware of the existence of “card counters” and are trying to implement counter-measures against them. This involves changing the rules, including the introduction of multi-deck shoes and continuous shuffling machines. Sometimes, the casino would ban the card counters if they are seen as a threat to their bottom line. In many cases, the casinos even went overboard in implementing their counter-measures. Historically, blackjack reveals an interesting struggle between the blackjack professionals and the casinos. As to be expected, the casinos have to be smarter because he who makes the rules get the gold.

More than half a century has passed since the discovery that blackjack is beatable, not based on the marked cards and intuition but legitimately based on card counting. The struggle has been fierce and intense, but the war is still going on.

Probably the first person in history who used mathematic to analyze blackjack was Jess Marcum alias Marcovitch. He was born on 30th December 1919.

It happened at the turn of 1949 and 1950, when Jess Marcum, being an expert in mathematic and physic got to Las Vegas. Over there, his mathematic acumen prompted him that most possibly not everything depends on intuition in blackjack.

Jess Marcum started researching blackjack. Firstly, the unusual nature of his research is that he performed absolutely all calculations just using pen and paper. During that time technologies were limited and not readily available. Secondly, his pen and paper research was sufficient for him to find a way to win in blackjack.

Jess Marcum manually developed what is now called basic strategy for card counters ten years ahead of his peers. He counted that theoretically he had an advantage over the casino of about 3%. Under the conditions of that time it was quite real. Moreover, Markum had been playing blackjack in all casinos known to him both in the United States and abroad. His name appeared on the pages of the newspapers as an example of “lucky man” who managed to hit the jackpot.

Jess Markum also went down in history as probably the first man thrown out from the casino because of card counting. At that time the casinos did not understand that such winning system existed. Jess Markum lived in Las Vegas for about a year. The casino owners exchanged the information when they gathered at the general meeting. And they were shocked. After that Jess Markum was barred from play at all Las Vegas casinos. He went to Reno. The same story went on. In half a year after unbelievable “luck” the casino owners started making inquiries about the incredible gambler. Then other states and cities followed. Then Cuba and even the Bahamas. Nobody knows how much money he has won during that time. One thing is known for sure. Jess Markum started the struggle between the blackjack professionals and casino owners, a war that is still going on and getting more intense.

Typical of professional gamblers including blackjack professionals, Jess Markum remained secretive throughout his gambling career. He did not share his calculations with anyone, and completely gave up playing against casinos after a wide public publication of blackjack methods by other authors.
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Jess Markum died in 1992, at the age of 72.

The next wave of great impact on the blackjack mathematics was made in 1956 by a group of four mathematicians, Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Eddie Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott. They were also known as “Four Horsemen of Aberdeen“. You have seen from my post Blackjack Hall of Fame that these four were 2008 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductees.

These Four Horsemen of Aberdeen had never played in casino before. However, they researched blackjack according to the most common rules during that time. They created basic strategy of playing blackjack and published it together with the calculation methods in the specialized mathematics journal for statisticians – Journal of the American Statistical Association entitled “The Optimum Strategy In Blackjack”.

They made several minor mistakes in calculations which is nothing serious taking into account their enormous contribution. A year later in 1957, they published a small book, “Playing Blackjack to Win: A New Strategy for the Game of 21”.

Unfortunately, their book and the article did not spark much interest, and remained at low profile in spite of their innovative approach. However, the research of the Four Horsemen of Aberdeen turned out to be one of the most widely used references in subsequent years.

In recognition of their work, the Four Horsemen of Aberdeen were collectively inducted in the 2008 Blackjack Hall of Fame.

Continue The Rise of Blackjack Professionals Part 2

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Blackjack Hall of Fame Part 2

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Blackjack Hall of Fame Part 2

2006 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was James Grosjean. He authored “Beyond Counting” which focused on the dealer’s hole cards. Although every tactic used by James Grosjean was legal at the time, he was insulted and arrested for his practices. In retaliation, he sued Caesars Casino, Imperial Palace and Griffin Detective Agency for wrongful arrest. James Grosjean won the case forcing Griffin Detective Agency into bankruptcy. This landmark case protect the honour of professional gamblers from defamation by the casino management.

In his book “Beyond Counting”, James Grosjean explores the games in great detail to discover new ways to exploit the hidden advantage that few can see. He is one of the few blackjack professionals who has the skills to point out further advantages beyond card counting. These mathematical advantages turn the edge in favour of the players. After reading this book, you become the casino, while the casino become the player. In other words, you are playing with a small edge and at the same time the casino has to foot all the costs associated with running a casino. Unfortunately, this much sought after book is not available at your local bookstores because it is not available to the public. You must know James Grosjean or be recommended by someone in his inner circle before you can get hold of the book.

The 2007 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was John Chang. John Chang was the former manager of the MIT Blackjack Team. The Mickey Rosa character in the movie 21 was inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team.

Movie 21 is a 2008 American heist drama film based on the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team as told in Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich. Movie 21 is directed by Robert Luketic. The stars are Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, and Aaron Yoo. Despite some criticism over the the selection of the cast, movie 21 was a number one box office hit in the United States and Canada during its first and second weekends of release.

2008 saw four inductees. Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Eddie Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott were collectively inducted. They were also known as “The Four Horsemen of Aberdeen”. Roger Baldwin was the mastermind. While serving in the U.S. Army in the fifties, they discovered and published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association the first accurate basic strategy for Blackjack, using only desk calculators. The publication is known as “Mathematician Co-Authored Guide to Winning at Blackjack”.

Wilbert Eddie Cantey was a hardworking Army sergeant and mathematician at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland’s Harford County in the 1950s. He loved mathematical challenge. So when a private in his analytical office gave him a mathematical quiz, he accepted the challenge.

Wilbert Eddie Cantey joined Roger Baldwin, James McDermott and Herbert Maisel to figure out the best way to beat the Las Vegas casinos in blackjack. They spent thousands of hours burning the midnight oil for more than one and a half year. They researched the blackjack game using desk calculators and probability law to find a statistically winning strategy.

From their research, the mathematicians wrote a 1956 article for the Journal of the American Statistical Association, “The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack,” and in 1957 published a small book, “Playing Blackjack to Win: A New Strategy for the Game of 21,” which became one of the most widely used references.

We were going to be young rich people,” recalled Herbert Maisel, who went on to teach at Georgetown University and who remained close friends with Wilbert Eddie Cantey. “We worked out the best way to play the game. Unfortunately, we figured out we would lose in the long run.”

The colleagues, who came to be known in the gambling world as the Four Horsemen of Aberdeen, never tried to beat casino dealers to garner big bucks from gambling. But they were rewarded this year in Las Vegas for their contributions to the game.

“It was an honour, in so many ways, to be able to use mathematics to figure out the game of blackjack,” Cantey told the Las Vegas Sun, after he and his friends were inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame.

Cantey died at the age of 77 from complications of pancreatic cancer at Genesis Layhill Center in Silver Spring.

2009 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was Richard W. Munchkin.
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In “Gambling Wizards”, Richard W. Munchkin explored the minds of eight masters of the game. He interviewed them in-depth to learn how they think, how they play, and what made them successful. The interview subjects include: Billy Walters (sports betting), Chip Reese (poker), Doyle Brunson (poker), Mike Svobodny (backgammon), Stan Tomchin (backgammon and sports betting), Cathy Hulbert (blackjack and poker), Alan Woods (blackjack and horse racing), and Tommy Hyland (blackjack).

Richard W. Munchkin lives in Santa Clarita, California, with his wife Nelia and sons Nicholas and Alexander.

2010 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was Darryl Purpose. He was a former professional advantage player and a performing songwriter.

This famous gambler and musician did a benefit concert for a carousel at a planetarium. Besides his love for music, Darryl Purpose also believe in contributing for a good cause. As a Nederland resident and friend of Carousel of Happiness, he is pleased to support a good cause by offering music.

2011 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was Zeljko Ranogajec, a professional gambler from Australia, and a former blackjack professional player. Ranogajec won by two votes ahead of new nominee Bob Nersesian. Other nominees included Bill Erb, Ian Andersen, Don Schlesinger, Allan Wilson, and Jess Marcum.

Zeljko Ranogajec was one of the most prolific and innovative advantage players of all time. Starting with a few hundred dollars decades ago, his feats of winning hundreds of millions dollars in blackjack (and in other gambling ventures) have been written about in numerous publications, and he is now known as “the world’s biggest punter.”

2012 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was Ian Anderson.

In the mid-1970s, Ian Andersen wrote “Turning the Tables on Las Vegas”, the classic book on casino comportment. With regard to card counting, this book is out of date as you can easily find better books today. This is the first book that teaches you how not to get barred as a card counter. Indeed, this book offers enough tips to show you how to look more like a regular gambler. Anyone who count cards to win in blackjack should read this book.

As the first book to address the meticulous details of how to get away with winning in blackjack by card counting, “Turning the Tables on Las Vegas” was the book that converts recreational winners into blackjack careers. After its publication, however, Andersen disappeared from the scene to produce a sequel “Burning the Tables in Las Vegas–Keys to Success in Blackjack and in Life”.

Since 1976, Ian Andersen has been developing his personal approach for success in blackjack, poker, and other of life’s games. His strategy combines elements of mathematics, psychology, mental and physical well-being to create a brand new approach to winning.

“Burning the Tables in Las Vegas” addresses virtually every aspect of blackjack advantage play: game selection, table selection, casino selection, tipping, guises, disguises, false identification, credit, comps, risk, heat, employee relations, dress, demeanour, diet and longevity. Ian Andersen also explains that not only emotions, in particular guilt and anger, but also skills, such as discipline and interpersonal competence, can affect your potential for profit.

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Blackjack Hall of Fame

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Blackjack Hall of Fame Part 1

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Blackjack Hall of Fame Part 1

The Blackjack Hall of Fame is located at the Barona Casino, in San Diego, California. The Barona Casino awards to each inductee a permanent lifetime rewards for full room, food, and beverage, in exchange for each member’s agreement never to play on Barona’s tables.

The Blackjack Hall of Fame was formed in 2003. Until 2005, it has inducted a total of 11 members for their outstanding contributions, both at the tables and beyond.

Edward O. Thorp, one of the original Blackjack Hall of Fame members, was a mathematician and scholar, known as the Father of Card Counting by professional players and the public at large. In 1962, he authored the book “Beat the Dealer”, which was the very first winning blackjack system ever published. In this book, his Ten Count system was first introduced to the world. It was also the first publication to beat any casino-style gambling game mathematically. Every card counting system available today is a derivative of Edward O. Thorp Ten Count system.

Ken Uston, an original inductee, passed away in 1987, long before the inception of Blackjack Hall of Fame. Ken Uston was the author of the book “The Big Player”. This book brought the secrets of the big card counting teams mainstream, creating an uproar throughout the casino industry. After his landmark publication, card counting teams began to spread across the globe.

Al Francesco, another member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame was the inventor of blackjack team play. Al Francesca was the driving force and the mastermind behind Ken Uston and his book, “The Big Player”.

Peter Griffin was the first to introduce card counting system into two points in his book, “The Theory of Blackjack”. These two points are the Betting Correlation (BC) and the Playing Efficiency (PE). Blackjack researchers have been using the mathematical methods of this book, along with his many other mathematical papers. This made Peter Griffin an easy pick for the original Blackjack Hall of Fame line-up.

Stanford Wong, often referred to as the “Godfather of Blackjack”, was an original inductee into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. The term “wonging” is related to his proven techniques of card counting across the globe. Stanford Wong was one of the first to beat the continuous shuffle machines of Las Vegas before they were removed and updated.

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Tommy Hyland started playing professional blackjack while still in college, and till now has been for over 31 years. He is the leading man in the longest running and most successful blackjack team in the entire world. Admired by his peers and hated by casino owners, Tommy Hyland has made his mark in the blackjack world and was an original inductee into the Blackjack Hall of Fame.

2004 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee was Keith Taft. The Blackjack Ball also displayed a complete set of photo album featuring a variety of gadgets that Keith Taft invented to facilitate the process of beating the casino games. Keith Taft give credit his son, Marty for making it possible for the father and son to be unbeatable pair since Marty was a teenager.

Max Rubin is the second Blackjack Hall of Fame’s inductee for 2004. Max Rubin is the author of “Comp City”, a publication crafted to beat the Blackjack tables of Las Vegas without having to master the art of counting cards.

The 2005 Blackjack Hall of Fame brought with it two new inductees Julian Brown and Lawrence Revere. Julian Brown was an IBM computer programmer who was fascinated by the mathematics involved in blackjack. In the 1960’s Julina Brown wrote to Edward O. Thorp and requested a copy of the blackjack computer program. Since Julian Brown had access to some of the fastest computers available, he researched diligently to develop a better program. He contributed significantly to the improved version of Hi-Opt blackjack and Hi-Lo strategies. Most of the work of the present day blackjack experts are derived from the work of Julian Brown.

Lawrence Revere was a card shark and hustler. He created a series of amazingly simple, colour coded charts. In other words, he made it so easy for anyone to understand. Lawrence Revere is considered to be the man who brought blackjack to the average player.

Continue Blackjack Hall of Fame Part 2.

Blackjack Hall of Fame

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