While the great majority of casino games feature a house advantage, blackjack is the one game that can generate some impressive payouts when approached with intricate mathematical or statistical strategies.
During the history of the game as small selection of dedicated blackjack players have managed to consistently beat the house, earning a coveted spot in the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
Peter Griffin: Peter Griffin is one of the founding members of the blackjack hall of fame. This mathematician put his talent for numbers to good use by attempting to crack the patterns that govern table blackjack.
Griffin is most famous for writing the 1978 classic, The Theory of Blackjack, which helped dedicated blackjack players understand the mathematics behind the game. Griffin also compiled a massive statistical database on the game, which he used to help formulate card counting strategies.
Larry Revere: Larry Revere was not only a gifted mathematician, but also a professional gambler. Revere spent time working in the casino pit as a supervisor, before turning his attention to cracking blackjack. His efforts resulted in several card counting strategies detailed in his book Playing Blackjack as a Business.
Revere not only used his clever number systems for his benefit, but also offered his services to casinos, selling his knowledge of card counting to casino executives wishing to detect and stamp out the practice.
James Grosjean: James Grosjean is a professional gambler, former economics student and card counter, who is a hero of professional blackjack players everywhere. Grosjean made a name for himself in 2005 by taking on Caesars Palace and the Imperial palace in court cases which arose due to maltreatment and illegal investigations commissioned by the casinos.
Grosjean not only successfully defended the practice of card counting, but also won punitive damages worth over half a million dollars. Once he had beaten down two of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas, Grosjean continued with his career and competed in the Ultimate Blackjack Tour. He is the youngest inductee into the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
Bryan Kelly uses his UK Casinos Guide website to provide loads of information about playing blackjack, poker betting and gambling on sporting events.
