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Ken Uston: A Brilliant Blackjack Card Counter

When Ken Uston met Al Francesco at a poker game one night, he discovered that there was an incredible potential that could be realized from using his skills in the gambling arena. Following this meeting, Ken Uston began developing his blackjack card counting skills. He eventually joined the MIT blackjack team and began working the Las Vegas casinos. As an early member in the MIT blackjack team, he was soon promoted to "Big Player". This was the strategy developed by Al Francesco which allowed the MIT blackjack team to evade casino security. Ken Uston's skills at card counting became world famous with the publishing of his first book on the subject. His skill was such that he often resorted to a wide variety of disguises in order to continue playing. He became a master of disguise as well as a mater of disguising his bets so that they would not be detected by the casino security as coming from a card counter.

A Skilled Author on Blackjack

During his career as a professional gambler, Ken Uston authored and co-authored several books. Many of these made it on to the New York Time best seller list. Some of these books detailed many of the strategies being used by him and his friends. This publicity effectively exposed the MIT blackjack team and got them barred from playing at Las Vegas casinos. The details provided also served to help the casinos develop counter measures which would protect them from such strategies in the future. Ken Uston's publicizing of the strategies of his friends was not well accepted by many of them who felt that he had betrayed their most well kept money making secrets.

Ken Uston is Recommended for the Blackjack Hall of Fame

Aside from Ken Uston's obvious card counting skills and best selling books on blackjack which of their own would have been sufficient to get him inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, Ken Uston is also famous for his legal victory in Atlantic City. Ken Uston got a ruling out of the New Jersey Supreme Court which declared that Atlantic City casinos did not have the authority to bar skilled players from playing at the casinos. This opened the Atlantic City casinos to card counters and team like the MIT blackjack team. It also forced the casinos to change how they handled their blackjack games in order to make card counting less profitable and more difficult (like more shuffling of the deck and more decks in a game). This blackjack related ruling also helped recommend Ken Uston for the Blackjack Hall of Fame.

Ken Uston Also Masters Video Games

Another realm where Ken Uston received much publicity has very little to do with blackjack. Ken Uston took an interest in arcade games and once he realized that these often had certain patterns of play he analyzed them for winning strategies. He also published a book on the subject which details how to play Pac-Man successfully (titled: Mastering PAC-MAN).

Blackjack History
Blackjack Hall of Fame
Edward O. Thorp
The Beginnings of the MIT Blackjack Team
J.P. Massar a Card Counting Pioneer
Al Francesco
Bill Kaplan the MIT Blackjack Team
Johnny Chang, a Blackjack Hall of Fame Member
The MIT Blackjack Team
The World Series of Blackjack
History of Atlantic City Blackjack