Anyone who thought blackjack was a tame card game is going to be pleasantly surprised in this article. The tumultuous history of this game is full of intrigue: devious schemes, lawsuits and dubious scenes in backrooms of the casino. Or at least in America, anyway.
To unravel these stories, all we have to do is look at the American Blackjack Hall of Fame. This gallery of honour, which you can view at the Barona Casino in San Diego, counts 29 famous blackjack players in US history at the time of writing. Read about five extraordinary individuals who adorn this wall here.
Al Franceso
Our list would not be complete without Francesco, who is also known as ‘the Godfather’ of blackjack. After much practice, he became an expert at counting the cards left in the card deck, making him almost unbeatable in the 1960s. He earned sky-high sums until he was banned in most casinos.
But Al didn’t let himself get off lightly and came up with a more cunning approach: team play. This involved six team members spreading out across different blackjack tables and secretly counting the cards in play. When there were more high cards left in the deck than low ones, they gave the main player (Big Player) a secret signal. Success guaranteed, until one of his players, Ken Uston, revealed all in his book The Big Player.
Ken Uston
Which brings us to one of the most notorious blackjack players of the 1970s: American Ken Ulston. The then-thirtysomething’s life changed completely when he discovered blackjack. He was apprenticed to Al Francesco and, thanks to his talent for card counting, he emerged as a star player on his blackjack team.
Casinos were mildly reluctant to see the team come in. By their own admission, they had already been dragged into back rooms where things got rough. In an attempt to keep Uston out permanently, several casinos filed lawsuits against him. Fortunately for him, however, the Supreme Court ruled that players cannot be barred based on their skills.
Don Johnson
Clever techniques can take you far, but negotiating with the casino can also work out very well. Don Johnson cleverly exploited the fact that casinos were only too eager to attract high rollers, people who spend a lot when gambling. He was happy to come and play, but only on favourable terms such as a 20% discount for losses and a certain number of card decks.
But we must be honest, Johnson is also known as a first-class blackjack player who always knew how to make the optimal decisions for each hand. He was also flawless at analysing the dealer’s playing behaviour. Regardless, his success was undeniable: he once amassed 15 million in six months.
Stanford Wong
Even at the age of 14, Wong, whose real name is John Ferguson, was fascinated by card games and blackjack. Inspired by Edward Thorpe’s book Beat the Dealer, Wong went to the casino one day to put one of its theories into practice. The success motivated him to delve further into the world of blackjack.
He became the inventor of the technique ‘Wonging’, in which you first observe the blackjack table from the sidelines and only get in at the moment the card count is favourable. That is, the moment there are more high cards in play, giving you a higher chance of winning. Some casinos therefore prohibit entering in the middle of a card deck.
James Grosjean
This then young twenty-something became a true blackjack legend. Grosjean excelled at blackjack thanks to his talent for card counting, plus spotting patterns and mistakes when shuffling and dealing cards. His young age and success made him stand out and wrongly land on a list of ‘fraudulent gamblers’.
In the year 2000, this led to a violent arrest in which he was held in the casino with a friend for more than five hours. James hit back with a charge and he was vindicated. He received damages of hundreds of thousands of dollars and the investigation firm that had labelled him a fraudster went bankrupt. If that’s not a winning move, we don’t know what is.
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