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The Blackjack Hall of Fame
It is possible to play and enjoy online blackjack without ever giving a thought to the past. But the game becomes even more interesting if you pause for a moment and learn a little bit about the pioneers who have made blackjack the great game that it is today.
The Blackjack Hall of Fame was conceived in the winter of 2002 by a group of blackjack experts, player and writers. Internet voting commenced, and conclusive voting occurred at the Blackjack Ball, hosted by Max Rubin, renowned gambling author. Thus were nominated the first inductees: Al Francesco, Peter Griffin, Tommy Hyland, Arnold Snyder, Edward O. Thorp, Ken Uston, and Stanford Wong. Principal voting was restricted to professionals, for a variety of reasons. According to the designers of the voting system, only professional players really know the full details of the triumphs of other players, in and out of the casinos, largely because many of these deeds must be concealed from the casinos. The founders also believed that because the professional players have a larger financial stake in strategic innovations for the game, they make a point of being most familiar with other players' accomplishments.
What was so great about these seven people, that earned them this honor? Let's review them one by one:
Al Francesco pioneered the method of team playing for the blackjack game. He was made famous with the publication of Uston's book "Big Player". This also summarily ended much of his playing, as bars quickly barred him from the blackjack tables.
Peter Griffin was a brilliant mathematician, who devoted his talents to the study of blackjack. He authored the classic reference "Theory of Blackjack". He invented the terms: Betting Correlation (BC) and the Playing Efficiency (PE) to evaluate counting systems and other strategies.
Tommy Hyland has the oldest and most accomplished blackjack team, still going, in history. He has used a variety of techniques, all over the world, to win millions of dollars. He also defended the rights of blackjack players in the courts, in cases with casinos.
Arnold Synder has been the editor of the "Blackjack Forum", an online trade journal for professional gamblers since 1981. This periodical is an essential resource for any serious student of gambling, and especially blackjack. He has been a professional blackjack player for more than ¼ of a century. He authored two essential books on blackjack: "The Blackjack Formula" (1980) and "Blackjack Shuffle Tracker's Cookbook" (2003).
Edward O. Thorp has also been known as "The Einstein of Blackjack" and "The Father of Card Counting". He essentially created the method of blackjack card counting, proved it to be a successful strategy, and published a book about it "Beat the Dealer" (1962). This book shook the blackjack scene, brought the game to the forefront of gamblers' attention, and made the casinos nervous. The book was a New York Times Bestseller. Thorp moved on in his later life to use his genius on the stock market.
Ken Uston was an early player Al Francesco's blackjack team playing. He exposed their methods in his book "The Big Player" (1977), and this book brought Ken into the spotlight. The techniques revealed in his book were used by future famous teams that began very shortly after its publication. The included the MIT team, the Tommy Hyland team and the Czech team. Ken went on to also create some highly accomplished teams, and to fight for players' rights in the court system.
Stanford Wong is both an accomplished blackjack professional player and a prolific author on the subject. His first book "Professional Blackjack" (1975) has been read by almost all serious blackjack players, as it reveals his unique and successful methods for playing and winning. "Wonging" is a term used for his innovative method of card counting.
In 2004, two more members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame were added: Keith Taft and Max Rubin. Keith Taft is a brilliant electrical engineer who helped design blackjack computers that were worn by players and helped them beat the casinos time and again. His genius was made especially famous through his concealed strategy computer "George", used the Ken Uston's team. Max Rubin is mostly recognized for his book: "Comp City: A Guide to Free Gambling Vacations" (1994), which helps players get more benefits from the casinos, while spending less on actual gambling. He is a regular consultant for televised blackjack and to many major casinos. He also hosts the annual Blackjack Ball.
Julian Braun and Lawrence Revere were added to the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2006. Julian Braun was the author of "How to Play Winning Blackjack" (1980) and was a significant behind the scenes player in developing the computer simulations for most of the original card counting systems. Lawrence Revere published "Playing Blackjack as a Business" in 1969. He simplified the previously cumbersome card counting system, to make it practical, and practically used by most successful card counters in the future.
In 2006, James Grosjean was inducted to the Blackjack Hall of Fame. He is a brilliant professional player who developed an array of successful playing techniques including hole carding plays. He also confronted major legal issues, and won several key cases, protecting the rights of players.
In the future, current living members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame will be responsible for nominating new members. In 2003, the Barona Casino dedicated a space to the Blackjack Hall of Fame, hanging photos of each member, with a brief caption describing their merits. They also created a museum of cheating gadgets. In a most fascinating move, they also offered each member of the Hall of Fame full room and board comps, for their entire life, in return for committing to not ever play at their tables.
All of the members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame were pioneers in their fields. They truly earned their place in this eternal elite honor roll. The game of blackjack continues to develop, both in traditional casinos and in online blackjack casinos, and throughout the years, we are guaranteed to have more and more inductees who stun the world with their blackjack prowess.
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