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James Grosjean - Blackjack Author and LitigantJames 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.
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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.
The World's Greatest Blackjack Player
The Blackjack Cup, recognizing "The "World's Greatest Blackjack Player," is awarded every year at the annual Blackjack Ball. James Grosjean has won the Cup twice: in 2004 and in 2007. It is no wonder that Max Rubin, the host of the Blackjack Ball, states that Grosjean is "currently regarded among those in the know as the best blackjack player on earth - and possibly the smartest."
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