1. Ken Uston was an American blackjack player, strategist and author, credited with popularizing the concept of team play at blackjack.
18 Facts About Ken Uston
1. 2.
Ken Uston 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.
Ken Uston 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.
4.
Ken Uston 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".
5.
At the age of 16, Ken Uston was accepted to and henceforth began attending Yale University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
6.
Ken Uston became district manager of the Southern New England Telephone Co.
7.
Ken Uston was a talented musician, proficient on the bass as well as the piano.
8.
Ken Uston was frequently asked to play in several San Francisco jazz clubs.
9.
Francesco had recently launched the first "big player" type of blackjack card counting team, and he recruited Ken Uston to be one of his main team players.
10.
On his first five-day run, the team won $44,100, of which Ken Uston's share was $2,100.
11.
In 1978, the year legal gambling began in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Ken Uston moved to the area and formed a profitable blackjack team of his own.
12.
Ken Uston was known for his aggressive approach along with his flamboyant playing style.
13.
In 1981, Ken Uston began frequenting the Easy Street Pub near the Playboy Casino in Atlantic City.
14.
Ken Uston 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.
15.
Ken Uston wrote several more books about video games and home computers during the 1980s.
16.
Ken Uston was credited with the idea for the 1984 game Puzzle Panic.
17.
Ken Uston was married three times, all of which ended in divorce.
18.
Ken Uston had three children, Beth Anne, Katie and John.