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Al Francesco
Al Francesco began his blackjack career as a professional gambler. His sharp gambling skills made him quite successful in many of his endeavors. When he read about card counting he realized that he could easily utilize such a method to make a great deal of money. Unfortunately, his card counting expeditions were spotted very quickly by the casinos and he was soon barred from playing in the casino. This set back led Al Francesco into devising a strategy that would allow players to overcome the casino defenses without being detected. This strategy would later come to be employed by the MIT blackjack team as their primary strategy and proved to be very successful.
The Big Player and the MIT Blackjack Team
The plan introduced by Al Francesco became known as the "Big Player". A group of MIT blackjack team card counters would play until they spotted a good opening. At this point the "Big Player" would step in and bet heavily until his friends signaled that the betting was no longer profitable. His bets would be largely in accordance with signals sent by his team mates and would otherwise be derived from basic strategy. The big player would be viewed by the casino as a high roller who simply got lucky. When the MIT blackjack team began using Al Francesco's strategy they began winning big (Johnny Chang has used the expression "winning like pigs"). The impact of the strategy was such that it is still used today by blackjack teams in one form or another. This is one of the major contributions which eventually led to having Al Francesco included as one of the first seven initial members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Al Francesco's strategy suffered a serious blow when it was exposed to the world in a book published by Ken Uston, a former MIT blackjack team member.
The Blackjack Hall of Fame Inductee Retires
Al Francesco has officially declared himself "retired". This means that he no longer organizes and runs blackjack playing teams as he once ran the MIT blackjack team. This does not mean that he has stopped taking an in gambling or in making money. From Al Francesco's point of view, he has simply left off one venue of gaming for a while. His current gambling interests lie in the realm of sports betting and horse racing. It is reported that he has been relatively successful in many of these endeavors.
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