BigPlayer Wrote:
"100K a year jobs are not that common ... .
blackjack beats the hell out of making 30K a year selling meat or running a Circle K."
Let's think about the "famous" players.
Stanford Wong: Ph.D.
Ian Andersen: Successful businessman.
Ken Uston: Harvard M.B.A. and Vice President of Pacific Stock Exchange.
Blair Hull: Subsequently founded Hull Trading and became largest individual shareholder of Goldman Sachs (!).
Success in blackjack requires mental dexterity, practice, planning, persistence, tolerance of risk and temporary failure, some social skills, and a thick skin. These qualities are rewarded in other fields too.
Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of blackjack pioneers was their imagination and creativity in exploiting blackjack opportunities. Who would think you could actually earn a living at blackjack? Who would think you could still do it in the 1980's or 1990's?! Subsequently the pioneers shifted to other areas. For example, Woods and Benter became multi-millionaires by creating horse racing syndicates in Hong Kong. Others shifted to poker, video poker, or sports betting. Stanford Wong and Anthony Curtis pursued the crazy idea of publishing blackjack and sports information on the web! The problem is straight counting has become a marginal commoditized activity. At some level it is a skill a teenager could pick up from an easily available books. And it takes little imagination to want to emulate Uston. I have heard of counters who refuse to play other more profitable opportunities because they only want to play blackjack. Other counters insist on dangerous handheld games when superior shoe games exist. Smart ones will sell comps, trade frequent flier points, sell beanie baby toys on E-bay, develop computer software, market financial products, etc.
