A Quick Rundown on the People in the Blackjack Hall of Fame

Posted by Millar on June 27th, 2019

From it’s inception in 2003, the Blackjack Hall of Fame has inducted a total of 11 members for their outstanding accomplishments, both at the tables and away from them.

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 general populous alike. His Ten Count system was first introduced to the world in his 1962 book, “Beat the Dealer”, which was the very first winning blackjack system ever published, not to mention that it was also the first mathematician publication to beat any casino-style gambling game. Every card counting system available today is a derivative of Thorp’s Ten Count system.

Ken Uston, an original inductee, passed away in 1987, years before the Blackjack Hall of Fame was even a thought. Uston brought the secrets of the big card counting teams mainstream with his book, “The Big Player”, creating a commotion throughout the gaming industry. After his landmark publication, card counting teams began to generate across the globe.

The inventor of blackjacks’ “team play” is one of the original members of the Hall of Fame- Al Francesca. Francesca was the driving force and mastermind behind Ken Uston and his book, “The Big Player”.

Blackjack researchers have been using the mathematical methods of Peter Griffin, as he was the first to break down any card counting system into two points-the Betting Correlation (BC) and the Playing Efficiency (PE). His book, “The Theory of Blackjack”, along with his many other mathematical papers made him an easy pick for the original Blackjack Hall of Fame lineup.

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

Yet another original member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame, Arnold Snyder, was inducted for first to publish what is now common knowledge amongst professional blackjack players; the importance of penetration. Although he has written many publications on the topic of blackjack, Snyder refrains from publishing much of what he has learned to allow current players the opportunities to play and win.

While still in college, Tommy Hyland began playing professional blackjack, and has been for over 25 years. He is the leading man in the longest running and most successful blackjack team in the entire world. Adored by his peers and despised by casino owners, Tommy has made his mark in the blackjack world and is an original inductee into the Hall of Fame.

2004 and the Blackjack Ball brought Keith Taft to the Hall of Fame, complete with a photo album featuring a variety of gadgets and such that he invented to aid in the casino beating process, with his primary focus always on blackjack. Taft credits his son, Marty, for the two were an unbeatable team since Marty was a teenager.

Max Rubin is the author of “Comp City”, a publication aimed at beating the Blackjack tables of Las Vegas even without mastering the art of counting cards. Rubin is the other Hall of Fame’s inductee for 2004.

The 2005 Blackjack Ball brought with it two new inductees into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, one being Julian Brown, an IBM computer programmer became captivated with the mathematics involved in blackjack. In the 1960’s Brown wrote to Edward O. Thorp and requested a copy of the blackjack computer program. Since Brown had access to some of the fastest computers available, he worked diligently to produce an improved program, resulting in the creation of Hi-Opt blackjack and Hi-Lo strategies. Most of today’s blackjack experts have built upon the work of Julian Brown.

2005’s second inductee is none other that Lawrence Revere, a card shark and hustler who created a series of amazingly simple, color coded charts and such so that anyone could understand. Revere is considered to be the man who brought blackjack to the average player.

The professional hole-carder’s bible, “Beyond Counting”, was authored by none other than James Grosjean, thus sealing his fate as the 2006 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee. Although every tactic used by Grosjean was legal at the time, he was ridiculed and arrested for his practices. In turn, he sued Caesars and Imperial Palace for wrongful arrest, as well as the Griffin Detective Agency, forcing them into bankruptcy, paving the way to stop libeling professional gamblers.

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