Risk of Ruin

Blackjack Legacy

18 snips
Mar 4, 2024
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ANECDOTE

From Thorp To The MIT Team

  • Ed Thorp discovered card counting with early computers and proved it worked, then largely left the practice.
  • His theory sparked MIT students to turn counting into a professional craft and teams like the MIT Blackjack Team formed.
ANECDOTE

How Collins Big-Player Plays Worked

  • The MIT team used spotters and “big players” in coordinated plays called Collins to hide betting patterns.
  • They used coded phrases and varied game types to avoid detection and preserve their edge.
INSIGHT

Small Rules, Big Impact

  • Small rule differences and cut-card placement materially change a table's edge and AP strategy.
  • Advantage players obsess over these details while recreational players treat blackjack as a single uniform game.
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