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The Story of Keith Taft |
It is probably a pretty good "bet" that the general, non-gambling public has never heard of Keith Taft, but most serious blackjack players have. Taft is a gifted electronics whiz who has dedicated the last 30 years of his life devising hi-tech ways to beat the system and the casinos, particularly at the blackjack table.
A Blackjack Hall of Famer, Taft produced the first blackjack-beating computer in the early 1970s; that "little" piece of equipment weighed in at over 15 pounds. But technology advanced quickly and within a few years he came up with equipment that weighed only a few ounces that could compute the perfect blackjack strategy. Along with his son Marty, Taft spent the next decade or so inventing gadgets that were small enough to hide and smart enough to beat the house. Finally, in the mid-1980s, Nevada outlawed devices brought into casinos for the purpose of strategizing. It is said that this change happened after a casino found a miniature video camera on Taft's brother, a camera that was built into his belt buckle and that could photograph the dealer's "hole card," after which the information was relayed back to Taft. That was all the information he needed to play his hand after that. Not only is Keith Taft a member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame but a number of his more ingenious devices are on display at the museum in the Barona Casino in California. Keith Taft's educational background did not immediately indicate the direction his knowledge would take him. He received an undergraduate degree in both music and physics and then taught music for 5 years. Eventually he received his Masters degree in Physics. He taught music for five years and physics for three, and then completed his masters in physics. Taft "discovered" blackjack on a trip to Reno that he took in 1969. A few hands later - after winning a grand total of $3.50 - Keith Taft was hooked. He started reading every blackjack book he could get his hands on, concentrating on the science of card counting. Pretty soon he felt read to go back into the trenches - the casinos.
Eventually, Taft partnered with Ken Uston, another blackjack hero, and they continued to devise miniature computers and cameras that were eventually deemed illegal in casinos. The two of them trained teams of gamblers to use their equipment. Ken found the personnel and Keith was in charge of the electronics. In a short time their team of blackjack players numbers sixteen - eight players and eight computer operators. The team's success was legendary - they won 80% of the time, which translated into over $100,000 in winnings over a five-week period. But while the casinos were friendly at first to the big winners, thinking they were just gamblers on a roll that was sure to end some time soon, they soon got suspicious as to their methods. Finally, they were "busted." They were taken into a back room of Harrah's, stripped and searched, and found to be covered with wires and gizmos. The roll was over. Eventually, the FBI got involved but when they analyzed the equipment they declared them not to be cheating devices and all charges against the team were dropped. But For his huge impact on the blackjack scene, Keith Taft was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2004. He did in August of 2006.
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