The Blackjack Hall of Fame was first mooted in 2002 and was created a year later when a group of 21 experts was whittled down to seven inaugural inductees at the 2003 Blackjack Ball.

The Hall of Fame honors the best players, theorists and blackjack mathematicians and is located in San Diego’s Barona Casino where it is part shrine, part tourist attraction.

The Magnificent Seven

The first seven names into the Hall of Fame in 2002 were as follows:

• Al Francesco – a pioneer of team play
• Peter Griffin – the author of The Theory of Blackjack and blackjack mathematician.
• Tommy Hyland – a blackjack team manager.
• Arnold Snyder – a professional player and Blackjack Forum editor
• Edward O. Thorp – the author of seminal blackjack text, Beat The Dealer
• Ken Uston – an early exponent of team play and professional blackjack legend
• Stanford Wong – real name John Ferguson, Wong published Professional Blackjack in 1975 and popularized mid-shoe entry when the count was positive, known as Wonging!

After the first seven players, two more were added at the next Blackjack Ball, and these were Max Rubin, who had hosted the previous year’s event and Keith Taft, who was a techie who created computerized machines to help advantage players. Statistician Julian Braun was added next for his work in analyzing game data, along with Lawrence Revere, an author and teacher, but from 2006 nomination of candidates was taken over by existing H of F inductees.

From then on it was decided there would be just one player added each year, although in 2008 four true legends, said to be the creators of Basic Strategy, were inducted together.

• 2006 – James Grosjean – author of Beyond Counting and pro player
• 2007 – John Chang – managed the famous MIT team
• 2008 – Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott – “creators” of blackjack Basic Strategy, on which all future advantage techniques have been based
• 2009 – Richard W. Munchkin – game expert
• 2010 – Darryl Purpose – advantage player
• 2011 – Zeljko Ranogajec – Aussie pro player
• 2012 – Ian Andersen – blackjack expert, author and theorist
• 2013 – Robert Nersesian – lawyer who specialized in cases against casinos
• 2014 – Don Schlesinger – blackjack researcher and author

Casinos are generally thought of as glamorous places and there are countless depictions of casino games in movies. Here we take a look at some of the best blackjack action from the silver screen, ranging from the tense to the thrilling to the comical.

21

21 is based on the brilliant book Bringing Down The House and whilst many will argue that the book is considerably better than the movie, in our opinion you can’t talk about blackjack on screen without starting here. This 2008 film starring Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne is based on the true story (although the movie, even more than the book, is somewhat liberal with the truth) of the infamous MIT blackjack team who used their intellect for things far more exciting – and lucrative – than engineering and science.

They used basic strategy and advanced card counting and tracking methods to take casinos worldwide for millions of dollars, with the biggest win on just one trip reported to be $500,000! It’s a great movie and an even better book – check them out.

The Hangover

If you prefer comedy then you’ve probably seen The Hangover and it’s undoubtedly a classic. The blackjack scene is a nod to the brilliant Rain Man which could also feature on our list but hey, they got Oscars – they don’t need us. In The Hangover the unlikely team manage to win an impressive $80k while card counting in Vegas, which they needed to “buy back” their buddy who had been taken hostage. If only card counting and making almost $100,000 was so easy!

Austin Powers

Blackjack only features briefly in this cult comedy but the scene is a classic. The cheating Bond-style bad guy hits on 17, making 21, remarking he “likes to live dangerously”. Powers – who doesn’t know the rules – stands on five, delivering the following line with perfect comedy timing.

Dealer – I SUGGEST you HIT sir

Powers – I ALSO like to live dangerously…

Casino

If you prefer mobster action with a side order of violence, Casino is more likely to be your sort of movie and the blackjack scene where Joe Pesci catches customers cheating at blackjack is superb. It’s Joe Pesci, he’s a gangster, he does what Joe Pesci playing a gangster does!