James Grosjean
James Grosjean started playing professional blackjack while
he was still a graduate student in mathematics at the University of
Chicago.
One day, as a result of sloppy technique by the dealer, he was able
to see the dealer's hole (face down) card. He ran mathematical
analyses on how to best exploit the opportunity, and became the
leading expert in the art and science of hole carding.
The youngest member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame, Grosjean is
considered the best actively-playing blackjack player today. He
earned his place in the Blackjack Hall of Fame through his
accomplishments as an author of a blackjack book and as a litigant
protecting blackjack players' rights in court.
"Beyond Counting"
In Beyond
Counting: Exploiting Casino Games from Blackjack to Video Poker,
published in 2000, Grosjean explored all aspects of advantage play.
"Advantage play" is a general term that covers any strategy or
technique by which a player gains a statistical advantage over the
casino. Thus, it includes card counting, shuffle tracking, hole
carding, and other advantage techniques. Grosjean covers all of
these, and provides detailed mathematical analyses of all the
strategies. The mathematics is elegant but difficult; the book is
not for the non-mathematically inclined. Beyond Counting also
discusses the many psychological factors, often overlooked in books
of blackjack theory, that can have great impact on winning or losing
at blackjack
Victories in Court
Grosjean has won significant legal victories against Imperial
Palace, Caesar's Palace, and the security company Griffin
Investigations. The Imperial Palace case arose out of an incident in
which Grosjean had been forcibly detained, handcuffed, and held
against his will by casino security officials. Grosjean sued
Imperial Palace for wrongful imprisonment. A jury awarded him
$99,999 in actual damages plus $500,000 in punitive damages.
Pursuant to Nevada law, the punitive damages were reduced to
$300,000, resulting in a final judgment for Grosjean of $399,999.
The second lawsuit concerned Griffins Investigations, Inc. a company
that compiled dossiers on cheaters, card counters, and other
undesirables on behalf of the casinos. The "Griffin book" contained
false information that James Grosjean and Michael Russo were known
cheaters. Relying on the Griffin book, Caesar's palace detained
Grosjean and Russo and had them arrested for cheating. Russo was
released the next day, while Grosjean was held in jail for four
days. After the charges against them were dropped, they sued Griffin
and Caesar's Palace for libel, false arrest, and violation of civil
rights. They won a judgment of $105,000, which forced Griffin
Investigations to declare bankruptcy, bringing much joy to the
gambling community. |
