Introduction

The Blackjack Hall of Fame is known as an institution which honors the most famous and greatest personalities connected with the card game of blackjack: professional players, experts, authors of books about blackjack – everyone who had an influence on the noble and magnificent game of blackjack.

Having been found in 2002, the Blackjack Hall of Fame website nominates two new members each year and, according to experts voting, only one of them gets a right to become the next member of this institution.

History

In 2002, the group of professional blackjack players nominated 21 (a lucky number for blackjack, isn’t it?) candidates for the Blackjack Hall of Fame membership. The voting took place through the Internet, and the 7 first members were chosen to become the stars of the Blackjack Hall of Fame; all their names are widely known today and nobody can imagine the game of blackjack without the influence of these 7 personalities who are considered to be the gurus and idols of blackjack.

Their names had become known in January 2003 at the annual Blackjack Ball, the event for all famous blackjack players from all over the world.  First 7 members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame were:

1. Arnold Snyder
2. Ken Uston
3. Edward O. Thorp
4. Al Francesco
5. Stanford Wong
6. Tommy Hyland
7. Peter Griffin

Where?

The residence of the Blackjack Hall of Fame is located in San Diego, California, at the Barona Casino; and the annual Blackjack Balls for the kings of blackjack take place at the Barona Hotel: it gives the members of the Hall of Fame free rooms, food and beverages on the only one condition – they should promise that they will never try to play casino games at the Barona Casino.

Other members

Each year the Blackjack Hall of Fame website chooses one new member; the exception was made in 2008 when four people instead of one had become the Hall’s members ‘as a group’. So, the latest Blackjack Hall of Fame members are:

2004 – Max Rubin (media reports about events of gambling world)

2004 – Keith Taft (manufacturing of computer devices for playing games)

2005 – Julian Braun (usage of computers for blackjack statistics analyses)

2005 – Lawrence Revere (a blackjack teacher and the author of Playing Blackjack as a Business)

2006 – James Grosjean (a professional player and the author of Beyond Counting)

2007 – John Chang (a former manager of MIT team)

2008 – “The Four Horsemen of Aberdeen” (Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, James McDermott)

2009 – Richard Munchkin (a leading blackjack tournament player)

So, everybody’s waiting for the Blackjack Hall of Fame 2010 member. To be continued….