Million Dollar Blackjack is a great book, but not for the reasons you might think! Written decades ago many other blackjack books have since been written with stronger, easier to apply, and simply more effective card counting systems. So if you're looking for 'the system' look elsewhere! Uston SS Card Counting System for Blackjack The Uston SS Card Counting System is the creation of card counting expert, Ken Uston. When it comes to counting cards, no one knows more or does it better than Ken Uston. The Uston SS is just one of several methods developed by this blackjack legend.

Ken Uston (January 12, 1935 – September 19, 1987) was an American blackjack player, strategist and author, credited with popularizing the concept of team play at blackjack.^[2] During the early to mid-1970s he gained widespread notoriety for perfecting techniques to do team card counting in numerous casinos worldwide, earning millions of dollars from the casinos, with some bets as high as $12,000 on a single hand.

He was banned from casinos around the world and would adopt various costumes in order to conceal his identity and still be able to play.^[3] He filed a high-profile lawsuit against these casinos and successfully received a ruling from the New Jersey courts that absent a valid New Jersey Casino Commission regulation excluding card counters, casinos could not ban someone simply for counting cards at blackjack. In response, many casinos changed their systems, increasing the number of decks in games or changing rules to increase the house edge.

In the early 1980s, Uston also authored several popular books on video games and personal computers. He was the subject of a 1981 segment on 60 Minutes and in 2005, he was the subject of the History Channel documentary, 'The Blackjack Man'.^[3][4]

History[edit]

Uston was born Kenneth Senzo Usui in New York City, the oldest of three children born to Elsie Lubitz, a native of Austria and Senzo Usui, a Japanese immigrant and businessman.^[5] At the age of 16, Uston was accepted to and henceforth began attending Yale University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Shortly after graduating from Yale, he earned an MBA from Harvard University. He became district manager of the Southern New England Telephone Co., then a senior management consultant with Cresap, McCormick & Paget in San Francisco, where he relocated with his wife and two daughters. After several years in consulting, he became corporate planning manager for American Cement in Los Angeles before returning to San Francisco where he became a Senior Vice-President at the Pacific Stock Exchange. On weekends, beginning in his years at Cresap, he read Thorp's Beat the Dealer and began to spend time in the casinos, becoming what the ClevelandPlain Dealer called 'a genius card-counter'.^[4] Uston was also a talented musician, proficient on the bass as well as the piano. He was frequently asked to play in several San Francisco jazz clubs.

Blackjack[edit]

In a 1983 Blackjack Forum interview,^[6] Uston related that he became fascinated by blackjack and its inherent strategies after meeting professional gambler Al Francesco in a poker game. Francesco had recently launched the first 'big player' type of blackjack card counting team, and he recruited Uston to be one of his main team players. Their system was that members of the team would play at different tables around a casino, counting cards. When a count became extremely positive, they would flag the 'big player' member of the team who would come in and place large bets. This technique would prevent the increased bet spread from being noticed by the pit bosses. On his first five-day run, the team won $44,100, of which Uston's share was $2,100.^[3] After two months of being a counter, Uston was promoted to 'Big Player'.

Although Al Francesco and other team members have recounted in subsequent Blackjack Forum interviews that Uston made very little money for their team, Uston co-authored with Roger Rapoport a book entitled The Big Player in which he shared credit for many of his card-counting successes with his fellow team members, including noted Blackjack master-strategist Bill Erb. Soon after the publication of Uston's book, it is reported that Al Francesco's team found itself effectively barred from playing in Las Vegas.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978, the year legal gambling began in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Uston moved to the area and formed a profitable blackjack team of his own (discussed at length in a 2005 Blackjack Forum interview with team member Darryl Purpose). As with most other casinos around the globe, Uston was soon barred from playing at those locations within Atlantic City as well.^[3] After he was barred in January 1979 by Resorts International, he filed a lawsuit, claiming that casinos did not have the right to bar skilled players. In Uston v. Resorts International Hotel Inc., 445 A.2d 370 (N.J. 1982),^[7] the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Atlantic City casinos did not have the authority to decide whether card counters could be barred absent a valid New Jersey Casino Commission regulation excluding card counters. To date, New Jersey casinos—by statute—are not allowed to bar them. In response to Uston's legal victory, Atlantic City casinos began adding decks, moving up shuffle points, and taking other measures to decrease a skilled player's potential advantage.^[3]

After his numerous casino barrings—now on his own and without a team—Uston adopted a wide variety of physical disguises in order to continue to play blackjack. He was also known for his aggressive approach along with his flamboyant playing style. In an article in Blackjack Forum, Arnold Snyder describes playing with Ken Uston at Circus Circus Las Vegas near the end of Uston's life. He states that Uston was disguised as a worker from Hoover Dam and got away with spreading his bets from table minimum to table maximum on a single-deck game. Since this took place at a time when card counting was well understood by casino executives and managers, and since the primary clue by which casinos detect card counting is a card counter's 'bet spread' pattern, most card counters would also consider Uston a genius of disguise, and/or 'card counting camouflage'.

After The Big Player, Uston wrote Million Dollar Blackjack. This book includes details about professional gamblers' techniques for gaining an advantage at the game. Uston also authored a companion piece, Ken Uston on Blackjack.

Video games and computers[edit]

In an interview published in Video Games,^[8] Uston revealed he got hooked on the games Pong and then Breakout. In 1979 Space Invaders became his video game of choice and, after his blackjack team made $350,000 in Atlantic City, they rented a house in California and bought a Space Invaders machine. The game appealed to him in part because of the trick of counting one's shots to get the maximum number of points for the spaceship at the top of the screen.

In 1981, Uston began frequenting the Easy Street Pub near the Playboy Casino in Atlantic City. It was there he began a competition with some other regulars for having the high score on the bar's Pac-Man arcade game. He realized the game had patterns and, in order to gain an advantage, he began experimenting and writing them down on diagrams of the maze he had created, but he was unable to go beyond a certain level. On a trip back to San Francisco, he came across two Chinese-American boys by the names of 'Tommy' and 'Raymond' who taught him how to go further in the game. People had been telling Uston he should write a book about Pac-Man, but he had felt he didn't have enough knowledge. After receiving lessons from the two boys, Uston decided to go ahead with the book, titled Mastering Pac-Man, and wrote it in four days. It appeared in the New York Times Best Seller list.^[8][9]

Uston wrote several more books about video games and home computers during the 1980s. He also licensed his name to Coleco for the ColecoVision game, Ken Uston's Blackjack/Poker. In 1983, Screenplay published software titled Ken Uston's Profe$$ional Blackjack for the Apple II series, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and IBM PC to assist in the learning and practice of Uston's relatively complex, yet highly accurate card-counting techniques.

He was also credited with the idea for the 1984 game Puzzle Panic.

Death[edit]

On the morning of September 19, 1987, Ken Uston, age 52, was found dead in his rented apartment in Paris. The cause of death was listed as heart failure.^[10]

Bibliography[edit]

Blackjack[edit]

• The Big Player, 1977 (ISBN0-03-016921-6)
• One Third of a Shoe
• Million Dollar Blackjack, 1981, Carol Publishing Group. (ISBN0-89746-068-5)
• Ken Uston on Blackjack (ISBN0-942637-56-9)

Video games[edit]

• Mastering Pac-Man, 1981 (ISBN0-451-11899-5)
• Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games, 1982 (ISBN0-451-11901-0)
• Ken Uston's Home Video '83, 1982 (ISBN0-451-12010-8)
• Score! Beating the Top 16 Video Games, 1982 (ISBN0-451-11813-8)

Computers[edit]

• Ken Uston's Guide to Home Computers, 1983 (ISBN0-451-12597-5)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the Adam, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514647-X)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the Apple IIe, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514688-7)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the Commodore 64, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514621-6)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the Compaq, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514696-8)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the IBM PC, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514704-2)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the Kaypro, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514795-6)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the Macintosh, 1984 (ISBN0-13-514829-4)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to Today's Most Popular Computers, 1984 (ISBN0-317-13333-0)
• Ken Uston's Illustrated Guide to the IBM PCjr, 1985 (ISBN0-13-514720-4)

Notes[edit]

1. ^ ^abBiography on Ken Uston's Blackjack World – The Official Ken Uston Web Site
2. ^Stanford Wong (1982). Basic Blackjack. p. 17.
3. ^ ^abcdeEddie Olsen (18 April 1981). 'Ken Uston: Big Player Without a Game'. Philadelphia Inquirer.
4. ^ ^abSarah Crump (5 May 2005). 'History Channel gives a hand to late local card counter'. The Plain Dealer.
5. ^Uston, Kathleen. 'Bio'. Uston.com. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
6. ^Arnold Snyder (June 1983). 'Interview with Ken Uston'. Blackjack Forum. Retrieved 28 June 2007.
7. ^Summary of Uston v. Resorts International Hotel, Inc.
8. ^ ^abDionne, Roger (December 1982). 'Video Games Interview: Ken Uston'. Video Games. Pumpkin Press. ISSN0733-6780.
9. ^'Pac-Man Fever'. Time. 5 April 1982. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
10. ^Obituary from Blackjack Forum Magazine – 1 December 1987

External links[edit]

Atlantic City is different from any other major gambling destination in the world. It’s the only place that prohibits casinos from discriminating against skilled players.

Therefore, Atlantic City must be the mecca of card counting, right? You can count cards at a table without fearing the pit boss tapping you on the shoulder.

We have Ken Uston to thank for these perfect conditions. Actually, the card counting conditions in AC aren’t so great because of Uston.

You can read more on his story below along with if he’s truly responsible for destroying Atlantic City blackjack games years later.

Who Is Ken Uston?

Born in 1935, Ken Uston was a (video) gamer, early PC expert, author, and advantage gambler. He became the most famous for the latter.

Uston got into card counting in the 1970s. He linked up with Al Francesco, a blackjack legend who developed the “big player” concept.

But while Francesco developed it, Uston popularized it. He wrote The Big Player: How a Team of Blackjack Players Made a Million Dollars.

This book immortalized Uston in the blackjack world and made him seem like one of the world’s foremost experts.

Francesco would later say that Uston didn’t really make a lot of money for his particular team. The latter, though, would eventually start his own team and become a great player in his own right.

Aside from The Big Player, Uston showed his expertise in other areas by writing Mastering PAC-MAN (1981), Score! Beating the Top 16 Video Games (1982), and Ken Uston’s Guide to Home Computers (1983). This limited selection of his works show just how well-rounded of an individual he was away from the gambling tables.

In 1987, Uston passed away in his Parisian apartment at the age of 52. The listed cause of death was heart failure.

Uston Blackjack System

Uston’s Blackjack Career

Ken Uston met Al Francesco while playing poker. He got an inside look at Francesco’s immense blackjack knowledge during this chat.

Upon hearing about the Big Player technique, Uston was immediately hooked. He joined Francesco’s card counting team shortly thereafter.

Uston was just a “spotter” for Francesco’s team. His job was to count cards and signal the big player when the deck was hot.

The big player, meanwhile, can come in and start placing large bets right away. Therefore, they appear to be a high roller rather than a card counter who’s spreading bets wildly.

However, spotters don’t actually bring in the winnings for the team. Francesco’s notion that Uston didn’t make much money for the team came from this dynamic.

Eventually, Uston would attain big player status on Francesco’s team. After some level of success, he chose to start his own team with members like Darryl Purpose.

The team made a great deal of money playing in Las Vegas casinos. Eventually, though, they were banned from Vegas casinos and moved to Atlantic City.

Ken didn’t help his cause by releasing The Big Player. Not only was his face on the cover, but he also provided the casino with further tidbits that they weren’t already familiar with regarding team play.

Uston and His Team Take on Atlantic City

In 1976, New Jersey voters approved a referendum to allow casino gambling in Atlantic City. These new casinos attracted advantage gamblers looking for a new target.

Uston and his team were among those to shift their operation to New Jersey. Part of this move was due to the opportunity, while the other was out of necessity after being banned elsewhere.

The team lasted about a year, or so, before they received bans from Atlantic City casinos. Resorts International 86’ing the team was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Ken filed a lawsuit against Resorts International in January 1979. In the case of Uston vs. Resorts International Hotel Inc., the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that AC casinos aren’t allowed to ban card counting.

This judgement, which still stands today, initially seemed like a victory for card counters everywhere. However, Atlantic City gambling venues weren’t about to start paying advantage players’ way.

They responded by adding decks, letting dealers hit on a soft 17, and moving the cut card up in the shoe. Local card counters soon found themselves dealing with tougher conditions than at Vegas casinos.

Uston’s team broke up after this ordeal. He went back to counting cards in Vegas casinos while using various disguises.

Fellow blackjack legend Arnold Snyder recalled how Uston once disguised himself as a Hoover Dam worker. He fooled the casino into letting him spread bets from the table minimum to the table maximum.

The Aftermath of Uston’s Fight Against Atlantic City Casinos

Atlantic City gaming establishments may have been new when Uston took Resorts International to court. However, they weren’t naïve.

Casinos quickly adjusted to having to accommodate all blackjack players—from the person splitting 10s to the advantage pro who incorporates shuffle tracking.

The rules changed not long after Uston won his court battle. This legal victory wasn’t really a win for advantage gamblers or amateurs (based on increased house edge).

The house increases by 0.58% from a single to eight-deck game. This lone rule change gave Atlantic City a much bigger advantage than before.

Casinos also began having dealers hit on a soft 17, rather than stand. This rule discrepancy boosts the house advantage by 0.2%.

Ken Uston Blackjack Man Youtube

The biggest death knell to counters was the casinos that placed the cut card earlier. Dealers shuffling the shoe earlier prevent adequate deck penetration.

Long story short, the Atlantic City blackjack scene sucked for both counters and amateurs alike after Uston v. Resorts International.

Should Card Counters Hate Uston?

Ken Uston’s legal win may have hastened the bad conditions that are still present in AC blackjack today. However, these changes were coming anyways.

You can’t find any gambling destinations today that make it easy for gamblers to count cards. Las Vegas, at least much of it anyways, is notorious for having poor blackjack rules.

Many Vegas games only pay you 6:5 on natural blackjacks. This payout increases the house advantage by 1.39% compared to 3:2 payoffs.

Sin City isn’t the only place that has terrible rules. Everywhere from Biloxi to Reno has changed the game to thwart counters.

East Coast card counters and anybody who moved there in the late 1970s most likely did hate Uston. After all, he forced Atlantic City’s hand earlier than many gaming destinations around the world.

But it’s not like his legal battle did anything that wasn’t coming already. Vegas had been, for years, altering rules to their benefits before AC gambling even become legal.

Does Card Counting Still Work in Atlantic City Casinos?

Ken Uston Blackjack

Rather than hating Ken Uston, today’s advantage players should thank him to some degree. Atlantic City still features beatable conditions in certain cases—and you can’t get thrown out!

You can find AC tables that offer profitable counting opportunities. You can also look to use more-advanced methods, such as hole carding and shuffling tracking in some instances.

Of course, Atlantic City is still no card counter’s paradise. The rules are, on average, a little worse than what you’ll see in other gambling hubs.

Uston Blackjack

Furthermore, pit bosses can still bring heat by closely watching games, chatting with you, or even citing some minor infraction you’ve done.

The key, though, is that you can’t be 86’d for counting cards. Assuming you’re able to exploit a casino for winnings, then you can keep doing so until the conditions change.

Conclusion

Ken Uston Blackjack

Ken Uston became one of the most-famous people to play blackjack due to his skill, authorship, and legal fight with Resorts International.

The latter changed Atlantic City into a strange place that can’t legally boot card counters. Here, casinos must welcome advantage gamblers by law.

Ken Uston Blackjack

AC casinos are just like anywhere else, though, in that they alter rules to stop counters. Most notably, they can tell dealers to shuffle the shoe earlier and stop deck penetration.

Ken Uston Blackjack Book

Nevertheless, this city still offers susceptible tables in some cases. You can take advantage of them without being kicked to the curb too.