In most games there are talented people who stand out, its the same in Blackjack, some people have been recognized for their extraordinary talents and advanced technologies that are unmatched.
These talented people have proven themselves and have therefore been inducted as members of the well known Blackjack Hall of Fame. A lot of interest has been shown about these players even among those who do not play Blackjack.
Edward Thorp
You may have seen the movie 21 with Kevin Spacey as the lead actor or maybe read the book ‘Bringing Down the House’ by Ben Mezrich. Both are Edward Thorp’s life stories, born in August, 1932, he proved to have a very powerful mathematical mind.
He was raised in a normal household with nothing remarkable about it, Edward excelled in his studies and eventually obtained a PhD, and then went on to became a mathematics professor and lecturer at MIT to 1961.
He became fascinated with the game of Blackjack and his mathematical mind helped with the game. He learned FORTRAN one of the first computer program languages, using the program he was able to create databases he was able to put into code his various probabilities and mathematical computations involved in the blackjack game.
He was the first person to make use computer programming for gambling purposes. He also authored a book, proving that Blackjack can be beaten using Mathematics.
He experimented making use of his theories when playing at land-based Vegas casinos making a lot of money. As a card counter, this placed him in a dangerous position if he got caught by the casino goons. Using the information in his counting system and results he authored Beat the Dealer during 1962. He also got into a series of exciting blackjack escapades, this included a group of MIT students he trained to use his new system of counting. He was also a genius on the stock market which was very lucrative for him.
Ken Uston
Ken Uston, is another who is a mathematician who’s talents attracted him into the world of Blackjack, he became quite famous gained a notoriety among casinos to the extent that he could not enter any casino without disguising himself. Mr Uston still took millions from the casinos in winnings even while disguised and the chance of being caught.
Ken who’s real name was Kenneth Senso Usui led a normal life, was accepted into Yale University, then later he joined Harvard where he attained his MBA. He worked in the corporate world except for weekends to play blackjack at the casinos. Ken’s girlfriend introduced him to Al Francesco who was a leader in a card counting team, he joined the team and later quit his job to become a full member of the team, later he formed his own team. His team made millions even under disguise.
His other achievement was writing books on Blackjack which become popular among Blackjack players. Despite the millions he made bad health choices, drugs, booze and other choices which led to a heart attack which killed him.
Stanford Wong
John Ferguson who went by the name of Stanford Wong, became a famous gambling author, professional Blackjack player and the owner of Pi Yee Press, a well known publishing company, is also a recognized member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
His teaching career at Stanford University left him discontented the University greed to pay him only $1 for him to be absent from faculty meetings so he could go casinos to pursue a gambling career. He created a strategy called ‘wonging’ which is banned in most casinos today.
"Wonging" is a strategy where a player will only step in the game during a time when the decks are favorable to him and as soon as the odds deteriorate he steps out immediately. He has also published series of Blackjack newsletters, at first using print, and currently through his website.
