Of all the casino games, blackjack is one of the very few (and only in most casinos) that actually offers advantage players a mathematical edge over the house and a consequent likelihood of long term gains.
What’s an advantage player? I like to think of them as the Robin Hoods of the casino world. Taking from the rich (the casino) and giving to the poor (well themselves really – but still part of the poor player collective!).
In less romantic terms, they are simply players who intimately understand the game of blackjack and know how to play it optimally to beat casinos. In even less romantic terms, a blackjack advantage player is playing in a manner that offers a positive expected value. That is to say, they are employing a method giving them a mathematical edge over the house.
Many of you, having been repeatedly burnt at the blackjack table may scoff at the suggestion that there are people out there that consistently beat casinos and make a good (sometimes very, very good) living doing it professionally. But it happens.
As casinos continue to try and shut the door on advantage players through better counting detection and counter measures as well as employing more miserly rule variations, advantage play is becoming more difficult according to some. But the legend of the advantage player will always live on, particularly in the well documented exploits of some players who took on the house and won big – over and over again.
Following is a series of true stories of advantage players who beat casinos, starting with perhaps the best known – the MIT blackjack team.
♠ The MIT Blackjack Team – taking down the house
♥ Edward Thorpe – the father of the count
♣ Al Francesco – the inventor of team play
♦ Arnold Snyder – fighting for rights of advantage players
♠ Ken Uston V Atlantic City Casinos
♥ Stanford Wong – the art of Wonging
