Barry Meadow

Barry Meadow, a character who has overshadowed not just the world of blackjack but also harness racing, where his books have been received with acclaim. If ever there was a movie to be made about a professional gambler with a personality to match, Barry Meadow’s life would make a fitting story. Apart from being a professional gambler, and a successful one at that, Barry Meadow has been a sitcom writer, a tennis professional who has played the game in India, a sports handicapper, journalist, publisher, and also stand up comic.

Barry Meadow –Early Days in Gambling

Unlike many of the other greats, Barry Meadow started off in gambling in a sport that was quite removed from the blackjack tables in casinos: harness racing. He enjoyed an eventful career there, and in 1967 he wrote his first book in that field – Success in Harness Racing. Subsequently, he went on to become editor of a racing magazine. He also remained involved with harness racing as a handicapper. Other activities included writing articles on racing for various magazines.

Barry Meadow – Publications

In the 1980s, Meadow remained an avid gambler at the harness races for five years. He gambled during those times at the races in Los Alamitos, California. Another activity he took up at this time was publishing, launching his own venture, TR Publishing. He brought out the Trot Report during this time.  1987 saw Barry Meadow publish another book, titled Professional Harness Betting. This book was very well received in harness betting and racing circles and was a detailed account of that domain. The next year, he published another book, this one titled Money Secrets at the Racetrack. This book was a reflection of Meadow’s experience in handicapping and ended up almost like a guide for aspiring handicappers. The same year he started another venture, Master Win Ratings, which is essentially a service that provides ratings for each and every thoroughbred in California State. The book also allots a ranking to the horses that is updated regularly.

Other books that Barry Meadow has published include Secrets of the Pick 6 and also Blackjack Autumn: A True Tale of Life, Death, and Splitting Tens in Winnemucca. For the book on blackjack, Meadow actually traveled for two months in the state of Nevada with a pocket recorder and $8,000 and wrote down his experiences during that period.

Besides these, there was also Meadow’s Racing Monthly, a periodical published between 1996 and 2003 and Crushing the Internet Casinos, which he wrote in 2003. He has also written sitcoms for television, played tennis in India, and also done a stint as a stand-up comic.

Today, Barry Meadow is a celebrity in his own right in blackjack and the gambling world. He has been part of The Ultimate Blackjack Tour and has also been featured in a documentary in 2007, titled Players: Blue Collar Gambler.

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