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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