About Stanford Wong
John Ferguson, also known by his pen name Stanford Wong is known as the “guru” of Blackjack, and a member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Born in 1943 Wong started playing Blackjack in 1964 while teaching finance courses at San Francisco State University.
Not content with a life of teaching, he decided to pursue his gambling career. He published his first book in 1975 called Professional Blackjack. Wong also developed a computer programme initially for personal use called Blackjack Analyzer. However, it became one of the first commercially available Blackjack odds analyzing software programmes in the market.
Stanford Wong has also appeared on many televised Blackjack Tournaments as a contestant. Furthermore, he also owns a publishing house Pi Yee Press based in Las Vegas and has published books by other authors on Gambling.
Achievements
Wong started playing Blackjack in 1964 and in 1980 he made the term “wong” or “wonging” popular. This term has come to mean a specific advantage technique in Blackjack and involves watching a play of cards in a game without wagering your own money until the count becomes advantageous. Wonging is the reason many casinos have signs on some of their Blackjack Tables saying “No Mid Shoe Entry.”
Wong has also acted as a consultant for Blackjack writers and researchers, and they include well-known aficionados on the game like Don Schlesinger and Ian Anderson. Wong also wrote a book called Wong on Dice which purported to reveal how to beat the odds on Craps through controlled dice throwing. He also has an official website Stanford Wongs BJ21 which has been around since 1997 and contains a subscribers-only area called Green Chip.
This Blackjack legend has dedicated his life to Blackjack. He has written many books on various casino games and his name Stanford, which is his alma mater name combined with Wong certainly creates the mystique of the Orient and adds to his allure.
Don Johnson is a professional American gambler, Blackjack player and former corporate executive born in Salem. He rose to fame when he beat Atlantic City Casinos and walked away with over $15 million over six months in 2011.
Don Johnson is one of the most famous names in modern advantage playing and not because he was some lucky high roller player. He used his PhD in Mathematicians to help develop a strategy. Furthermore, he gained an insurmountable amount of knowledge running a profitable Horse racing syndicate in Philadelphia Park which evolved into Parx Casino. This alone was enough to make him the success story he has become.
Don Johnsons Gambling Career
In the early 2000s, Johnson founded Heritage Development, a company that uses computer-assisted wagering programmes for horse racing. In 2010 he was invited to play at a high stakes Blackjack game. However, before accepting, he negotiated several changes to the standard game of Blackjack to gain the mathematical edge. Some of the changes included a 20% rebate on his losses, six decks and re-split of aces.
He also beat Tropicana out of close on $6 000 000, Borgata out of $5 000 000 and Caesars out of $4 000 000. His totals winnings were on $15.1 million, and the casinos felt the losses. Tropicana and Borgata didn’t ban him, but they stopped him from playing under specific conditions and limits, while Caesars banned him with immediate effect.
Conclusion
Don Johnson is what is referred to in the casino industry as a whale. Casinos earn 80% of their profits from these high rolling gamblers. However, Johnson did buck the loser’s trend and never cheated. Instead, he used mathematical elements and strategy. However, he has been penalized by many casinos due to his profitable strategy.
Phil Hellmuth is a Professional Poker player from the USA. His rants and tirades like “I can dodge a bullet baby” and “If it weren’t for luck I’d win them all” are well-known, and earned him his nickname the Poker Brat.
He was born in Madison, Wisconsin on July 16, 1964, and had a troubled adolescence. He battled through school, and his friends were tough on him and said he was the “ugly duckling” of his family. After High School, he studied at the University of Wisconsin and finally dropped out after three years to pursue his Poker career.
He has never looked back and is the winner of fifteen World Series of Poker Bracelets.
Poker Career
In 1988, at the WSOP ( World Series of Poker ) Hellmuth came 33rd. He then became the youngest player to win the Main Event of WSOP at the age of 24 by beating the two-time defending champion Johnny Chan in heads-up play.
Thirteen of Hellmuth’s fifteen bracelets have been in Texas Hold ’em, and at the 1993 World Series of Poker Phil became the second player in WSOP history to win three bracelets in one WSOP. One of those bracelets were for winning the main event. Hellmuth’s live tournament winnings exceed $23 million, and as of January 2020, he is ranked 22nd on the All-Time Money List. Hellmuth is also the holder of the record for the most WSOP Tables as well as the most WSOP clashes overtaking TJ Cloutier.
Conclusion
Hellmuth is known for his Brat personality, especially after bad beats and is said to take his seat at Poker Tournaments a while after they have begun. All said and done he adds a whole lot of drama to the Poker game and has achieved incredible wins placing him amongst the best in the world of poker players.