Early to mid 1970s he gained widespread fame a brilliant blackjack player and to do a team which beat the Resorts Internationals and numerous casinos worldwide which profit them and earned million of dollars from casinos using the skills in blackjack. A famous blackjack player, strategist, and author, credited with popularizing the concept of team play at blackjack Ken Uston was named as the “genius card-counter”.
Cleveland Plain Dealer called “a genius card-counter”, Ken Uston at the age of 16 began attending Yale University. He also went for an MBA at Harvard University. He was on the road of success quickly becoming a Senior Vice-President at the Pacific Stock Exchange. His knowledge in blackjack was back boned by the works of Edward Thorpe, and Lawrence Revere mastering the Revere’s Advanced Point Count. After this Uston began to form and develop several techniques on how to count cards.
A blackjack hero was born. He was fascinated by blackjack and being amazed by its strategies. Meeting professional gambler Al Francesco in a poker game he was soon recruited to play for Francesco team as a main player. Their method is that the members would play different games inside a casino and they would flag the big player of the team when a count became extremely positive and place large bets. This strategy prevented them to be noticed by the pitt bosses inside the casino. He was finally promoted as a big player after two months of being a counter.
In 1978 Uston formed his own team and played blackjack in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and around the world. Earning and profiting millions of dollars from blackjack they spend thousand of hours in casinos. They develop different advance techniques which are not yet known to the game in order for them to maximize their profit.
Playing for 91/2 days his team beat Resorts International for $145,000 this event led him and other members to be barred from playing blackjack. He filed a lawsuit in January 1979 after he was barred by Resorts International for claiming that casinos don’t have the right to bar skilled players where in the New Jersey state supreme court ruled in favor of him. In 1981 with an interview with Harry Reasoner on “60 Minutes” he quoted that” Basically I am just using skill in a casino. I’m not cheating, I’m not doing anything other than trying to use my brain.”
After his too many barrings upon his team, he was now on his own. He then became famous for being banned from casinos around the world. In response to this and his eagerness to continue playing blackjack he adopted different kinds of disguises. He was indeed a master of disguise he conceal his true identity and still be able to play. Ken’s game was big money and casinos weren’t about to just give it up easily so many casinos changed their systems, increasing the number of decks in games, or changing rules to increase the house edge.
He was an author writing many books based upon on his experiences and his strategy. Million Dollar Blackjack & Ken Uston on Blackjack includes basic strategy and simple and advanced counting systems. Other books are the chronicles of his first assault on the house which is entitled “The Big Player” and “One Third of a Shoe” where in he describes his team who beat Resorts International. He was also a game addict and fascinated by computer and video games like “Pac-man”, “Asteroids” and “Space Invaders” where in he was an expert on this games. His Uston’s Institute of Blackjack taught blackjack seminars along with this he also distributed teaching materials and video about blackjack.
At the age of 52, Ken Uston was found dead in his rented apartment in Paris,France on the morning of September 19, 1987. An autopsy was performed upon his death and was concluded to be a heart failure. He was cremated at Pere Lachese, and his ashes are scattered in the San Francisco Bay.
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Article Source: The Legendary Black Jack Man
