Well, Edwin or Ed Thorp as many would love to refer to him is the very first person who came up with the ideas that are now making the modern methods of counting cards. His name is well known especially when the card counting history is being discussed. However, it is rather ironical that he is not the first one who counted cards while playing blackjack nor is he the first one to invent card counting.

Actually Ed published his book “Beat the Dealer” 5 years after “Playing Blackjack to Win”, had been published. Actually this was the pioneer book to be published on the strategy that could help someone win the game. The book outlined 16 strategies that one could use for card counting but these were a little crude and could not help someone out better. The missing information that was also crucial was the recommendations with which someone would be able to vary their bet sizes based on the count.

This may be the reason why Thorp is famous. His book outlined several gambling characters with different systems that would help one beat blackjack and quotes the crude systems that never worked. He never gave details on what they said and maybe that also explains why their ideas somehow just faded away.

Card counting history streams back to 1949 and there is a physicist who is famous for his contributions. His name is Jess Marcum. What he came out with is about how to count cards and he got into it so much that 1 year later he resigned from his profession to join the gambling profession as a blackjack player.

There is another great name that is also worth mentioning in the card counting history and that is Harold Smith Sr. Harold wrote the book ‘I want to Quit Winners’. What made him famous is how he placed bigger bets whenever the deck was full of Aces. Actually, he published his book a year before Ed Thorp’s.

Ed Thorp excelled in his mathematics. His book remains famous because of how he highlighted the mathematically proven system that enables one beat blackjack which has brought about the professional gamblers you may know today. Somehow, his celebrity status was earned overnight just because of the success of this book. It is this publication that earned his fame and even though he wasn’t always respected, the role he played cannot be taken off the card counting history. Learn more on how to win by reading the page on blackjack winning tips and then test them and you will see how easier it is to actually win.