Ken Uston and Blackjack Beginnings

Ken Uston has demonstrated a remarkable measure of success well before he entered the scene of blackjack card counting. After completing his MBA at Harvard University, he quickly moved from company to company always quickly ascending to the top of the corporate ladder. First, he became the district manager of Southern New England Telephone Co. Then, he became the corporate planning manager for American Cement. Later, he became senior vice president of the Pacific Stock Exchange. During his time in San Francisco he would play blackjack at the local casinos on weekends and soon Ken Uston became notorious as a brilliant blackjack card counter.

Ken Uston Meets Al Francesco

Uston's meeting with Al Francesco became a turning point in his gambling career as this fateful meeting occurred just when Al Francesco was beginning a new advanced card counting team technique known as the "Big Player". Uston joined the team and soon was promoted to "Big Player" in the team. Uston later formed his own blackjack team (in 1978). This team took on the casinos of Atlantic City. He and his group were sufficiently successful that they were soon barred from playing at every casino in Atlantic City.

Uston Takes the Casinos to Court

After Uston was barred from playing at nearly every casino, he proceeded to take on the casinos with a lawsuit claiming that casinos had no right to bar skilled blackjack players from playing at their casinos. The New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled in favour of Uston that casinos in Atlantic City did not have the right to bar skilled players and such is the ruling to this day. Casinos have therefore taken other precautions to protect against such blackjack players by shuffling more frequently and adding more decks to the blackjack game.

Ken Uston Uses Disguise to Continue Playing

Uston became a master of disguise. In order to play at various casinos he would disguise himself and thus avoid detection. In addition he became a master of concealing his bets. Since casinos became on the lookout for card counters and their particular patterns of bets, Uston devised ways in order to wager without being detected by casino systems. Ken Uston did not stop at blackjack and later went on to master a wide variety of video games and even publish books on the subject of blackjack card counting.