Gambling Celebrities: Edward Thorp
Edward Thorp is credited as the father of blackjack card counting. Throp was a casino gambler who was also an expert mathematician. This proved a winning combination both for him and professional gamblers around the world who would benefit from his knowledge. His 1962 book "Beat the Dealer" revealed the very first card counting system that could successfully beat the casino in the game of blackjack.
Thorp held a Master's Degree in Physics and a Doctorate in Mathematics. As a professor he taught math and also finance. While teaching, he made friends with Claude Shannon, who was a fan of blackjack and other casino games just like Thorp himself. In 1961, the two corroborated on a portable "advantage play" device. Thorp was happy with this invention and proceeded to test it in various big-time casinos. His tests proved successful in his eyes, and Thorp decided to publish his card counting system. So the groundbreaking work, "Beat the Dealer" went off to press.
After its publication, the casinos scrambled to either discredit Thorp's system or thwart it, whichever would work. Neither did. Casinos tried changing blackjack rules but customers would not accept the new rules. All the houses could do was use several decks (called "shoe") instead of a single deck to make card counting more difficult.
The casinos also enlisted the help of the (hitherto) foremost gambling expert of the day, John Scarne. Until Thorp's book came out, Scarne had been the most respected authority on casino games. He was a flamboyant personality who enjoyed being in the limelight, appearing in Senate hearings and writing books on gambling strategy. Scarne was consultant to many major casinos then, so they turned to him for help to disprove Thorp's system. But Scarne had personal motives too, as Thorp had criticized Scarne's methods in "Beat the Dealer" and pretty much stole the spotlight from him.
Scarne challenged Thorp to play blackjack using his card counting system, but with Scarne as the dealer. Since he was a known card trickster, Thorp wisely refused. Instead he issued his own challenge to casinos using his rules and limits. None ever rose to the challenge.
Thorp published an updated version of "Beat the Dealer" later on. Many blackjack card counting systems have since arisen. But they and their inventors all owe a debt to the one genius who started it all. Thorp was also the author of "The Mathematics of Gambling" and other books.