Blackjack Team Play
As you may have already known from the previous post, both Ken Uston and Al Francesco were two of the original inductees during the Blackjack Hall of Fame held in Barona Casino in 2003. And the 2004 Blackjack Hall of Fame was none other than Keith Taft. However, the rise and fall of the MIT blackjack team was a historical landmark in blackjack team play.
In the late 70s, Al Francesco probably created the first blackjack team in history. He selected the team members, trained them in Lawrence Revere’s card counting system and sent them to play. He invented and put into practice the principle of “BIG PLAYER”. For example, when the part of the team is humbly playing low stakes, some drunken and wealthy fish makes high bets on the given signals.
Ken Uston joined Al Francesco‘s team for several years with some degree of success, but his self-actualization needs did stand it under the pressure of his own egoistic personality. He had a very high opinion of himself. He was an action man, liked to show off and wanted to be the first in everything. He left Al Francesco and wrote several books about his gambling adventures. As expected of any high profile project, the books send shock waves through the gambling industry.
Meanwhile, Al Francesco and his cohorts were dissatisfied with Ken Uston‘s decisions to publish the methods of the game which were then available only to the inner circle. But Ken Uston would not be himself if he had not done it.
The casinos knew that well-financed team of blackjack professionals can cause great hurt to casinos. The casinos improvised counter-measures and introduced multi-decked games, frequent shuffling procedures and removal of several good rules. In addition, the casinos appointed special detective agencies to spy on the blackjack professionals, collect the necessary information about them and distribute it among the casinos.
Ken Uston created new methods of the game, used make-up to disguise players, recruited more and more people into his teams and started playing abroad. He was also involved in writing new books, starring on TV, writing new articles and developing new card counting systems.
One of the most scandalous Ken Uston‘s projects was creating the team against the casino with the aid of computers. He got his supply of computers from another Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee Keith Taft. They hid microchips on the body and in the shoes. These microchips can calculate the current situation in the game more precisely than any other human strategy and send the necessary signals to the player. His teams almost broke several casinos, but in a while they were caught, arrested and accused of fraud. The computers and microchips were confiscated. However, the experts including FBI experts, proved that there was no fraud and the accusations were withdrawn.
In 1970, Keith Taft created his first blackjack computer. He was an engineer, computer specialist and inventor. The computers were made available for use by Ken Uston‘s teams.
At that time, the only computers available were IBM mainframes. Miniaturization of computers were unheard off. Keith Taft invented the first version that used 16bite processor, manually made memory and manually wired-in program. Assembly work and debugging took two years. He protected his device with copper screen from possible clutters and hid it in his boots. At first he was very lucky, but then he lost a great deal. He decided to give up playing alone. Keith Taft thought of writing a book, but then contracts with blackjack professionals came his way.
After a few years the market offered more powerful computing devices. The basis of the other device was Z80 processor. Keith Taft built it in the pocket calculator. Keith Taft together with his brother made several such computers for his team. They doubled their bankroll in a week. Tripled in two weeks. Then they were caught, the money and the computer were confiscated.
In short, the secretive project broke down. And a new one emerged with more sophisticated and secret devices. More complicated computers required new processors and larger memory. New investments from the players and investors made good money for Keith Taft and his team of blackjack professionals. Moreover, this computer remained unnoticed in the casinos. Keith Taft created protection system which is quite similar to the modern “electronic key”.
So screw Erecto and get active in your sex life generic cialis with full vigour and fervour. Mast Mood oil is non-sticky herbal viagra generika oil and massage gently. Services such as dmv.org levitra 60 mg have a couple of drinks or two and slept. I think it’s crazy just how popular male levitra low price enhancement supplements have actually gotten nowadays. Then he developed “7-Up” scheme which linked 7 players at the table into the network. Each had a computer and they operate within the network. Just imagine, Keith Taft created computer networks and servers in 1982, years ahead of Microsoft.
Soon video cameras emerged. Keith Taft started applying radio signals and even satellite. Then again a failure, arrest and accusation of fraud. Charges were again dismissed. A new hi-tech project followed.
The struggle between the use of technologies by blackjack professionals and the casinos continue until the issue was finally settled by the Supreme Court of USA. The court held that the use of computers was illegal in the United States.
Since then, Keith Taft stopped playing blackjack. At present, he is living in his house and is working in his laboratory.
Fortunately, Keith Taft‘s contribution to professional blackjack was recognized in the Blackjack Hall of Fame. The 2004 Blackjack Ball displayed Keith Taft‘s work which included a photo album featuring a variety of gadgets that he invented. Many blackjack professionals including Ken Uston used these gadgets to beat the casino. However, Keith Taft credits his teenager son, Marty, for the success of the team.
In terms of organized blackjack team play, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT Blackjack Team demonstrated themselves as an exceptional innovation of historical significance. Instead of hiring people with money, the operators of the team trained the students to play blackjack for summer earnings during their vacation.
At first the team was small, however the management drew great funds from outside investors and the project grew very large. These young students lived a double life. They attend lectures and eat in the campus canteen for five days a week, then fly to Las Vegas, betting on 10 thousand dollars in the box, living in luxury apartments and driving in limousines at the expense of casinos.
This is possibly the most highly qualified team in the history of blackjack team play. In a few years they have won about 10 million dollars. Then everything went topsy-turvy. First, the risk on the casino’s side increased. There was spying on the players, soon it was found out that they were students of MIT and then their names were added to the blacklist all over the country. Besides, the casinos were more aware of team game principles and each big player immediately came under scrutiny.
But the worse had arrived. A traitor appeared in the MIT blackjack team. For “the thirty pieces of silver”, one of the players betrayed all the members of the team to the casino security agency. Furthermore, part of the money was stolen. It resulted in the collapse of the team. Though it revived in somewhat different forms, they were not as successful as before.
On the brighter side, the former founders, pioneers and managers of the MIT blackjack team are really successful people at present. For example, Semyon Dukach is in sales and purchase of Internet companies. He also conducts seminars on blackjack. Andy Bloch became a professional poker player.
Despite its advantages, blackplay team play also has its share of disadvantages. The problems are mainly administrative in nature. It requires massive investments into the risky business. It is not surprising that 99% of the blackjack team play end up as financial disaster.
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