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Keith Taft – Blackjack Player and Card Counter
There have been quite a few blackjack players who have made significant contributions and are remembered as some of the big names in the game, and one such person is Keith Taft. Not only is he a legend in blackjack, he is also known equally for his electronics wizardry and more. He may not be there with us today, but his spirit lives on and the blackjack world continues to hold him in awe and remember him as a man who changed the way the game was played, literally.
Sometimes, at least in the initial years, it seemed like Keith Taft was way ahead of his time. Not only was Keith an avid blackjack player, he was also a card counter and a person who was very interested in using his expertise in electronics to help him win at blackjack in the casinos. The result was phenomenal – some outstanding devices that continue to be used in casinos even to this day.
Keith Taft – The Early Days
For Keith Taft, the introduction to blackjack came quite by chance. A devout Christian, gambling would be the last profession you would associate him with. Even his educational background gave no inkling of the fame he was to get in the world of blackjack. He got his undergraduate degree in physics and music, two subjects that did not have much to do with blackjack. He then taught music for five years, and also taught physics, for three years. Keith ended up completing his master’s degree in physics.
But life has its own way of taking unexpected twists and turns, and for Taft, that twist came when, in 1969, he made a trip to Reno, Nevada. There he ventured into Harrah’s Auto Museum and got a few coupons for the casinos. He hesitantly entered a casino and, after learning the very basics about blackjack, sat down at a table. The result: he hit a blackjack and won the grand total of $3.50. The amount might have been nominal, but the impact was huge.
Keith Taft – Blackjack Player
Keith Taft read every possible bit he could about blackjack. He had read that Edward Thorp, in his book Beat the Dealer had stated it was possible to beat the dealer in blackjack, and proceeded to pick up some of the tricks of the trade, such as card counting. He was not that skilled at card counting, unlike some of the other legendary figures of blackjack.
After the initial $3.50 win, Keith’s blackjack luck seems to have left him, as he lost more than he won. He went on to examine the possibility of creating a computer that could help him win at blackjack. He jumped into this venture with zeal, and the result was George, a computer that weighed a little over 15 pounds, in 1972. He built it such that a player could strap the computer in sections around his body, with the battery placed on top of it.
George’s task was simple: use mathematics and statistics to determine what the house advantage for a particular hand was, depending on which it would provide an indication of how much a player could wager. It would also count the cards and advise the player on what move to make.
George was not a completely successful venture, however. Despite such advanced form of assistance, Keith continued to lose at blackjack. He then stopped playing the game for a while and in 1975, a story made its way to the San Jose News about Keith and his computer, a story he decided must be told to the public.
Keith Taft – Blackjack Genius
The 1975 computer, George, was just the first of a number of such gadgets that Keith not only built, but also tried out at the casinos. He teamed up with Marty, his son, to create devices that were smaller and smarter than George, a task he was quite successful at.
Keith Taft later went on to meet another legend from the world of blackjack, Ken Uston, and together, the two of them teamed up to create a blackjack team that went on a five-week winning spree using the gadgets Keith created, winning over $100,000 during that period. The 16-member team, consisting of eight players and eight computer operators, was finally busted, but an analysis of their equipment by the FBI brought forth a delightfully surprising declaration that the devices could not be considered cheats, and the charges against them were dropped.
The casinos finally, in 1985, banned devices like the ones Keith was making. Keith Taft made a big impact on blackjack with his gadgets, and for that he was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2004. He died in the year 2006, but his legend continues to live and thrive.
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