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Al Francesco: Always a Card Player
Most successful Blackjack card counters started life as intellectuals without any serious gambling experience. But Al Francesco is one of the few professional Blackjack players who actually enjoyed playing cards in his youth. In his late teenage years, Francesco played everything from Greek Rummy to Craps in his hometown Gary, Indiana. Yet, it wasn't until 1963 that Francesco discovered Edward Thorp's book, Beat the Dealer, which put him on the path to gambling innovation and the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
Discovering Blackjack Card Counting
Al Francesco credits Edward O. Thorp with introducing him in to the intricacies of the game of Blackjack. After reading Thorp's book, Francesco devoted five weeks to learning and practicing his original Ten Count System. Once he was thoroughly prepared, Francesco decided to put his new-found knowledge to work in a real casino. Seeing that card-counting actually worked, Francesco was hooked. He began to play Blackjack on a regular basis, and consistently win, to the dismay of the casino dealers.
Inventing Team Play Blackjack
Years later, Francesco was in Lake Tahoe with his family waiting for their dinner reservations and hanging out on the casino floor. Francesco's brother was familiar with card counting, and he was playing at a nearby Blackjack table and placing small bets. When the count was low, his brother would bet a dollar, which he would raise to five when the count was favorable.
Meanwhile, Francesco was chatting with his brother-in-law, and not paying much attention to the game. Noticing that his brother was counting cards, he started throwing in $100 when his brother bet $5 and nothing when his brother bet $1.
But when it came time to leave, the dealer ran after him, and tried to convince him to stay and play. To him, Francesco was a careless wealthy player, who was randomly throwing in large bets, and was bound to run out of luck at some point. It was this incident that put the concept of Team Play Blackjack into Francesco's mind.
Implementing the Big Player Strategy
Francesco suspected that if he could organize a team of several counters and one player, he could develop a card-counting strategy that would be undetectable by casino management. He started with a group of three or four spotters. These spotters would sit at the various Blackjack tables, counting cards and placing consistently low bets. When the count was favorable, the spotter would signal a "Big Player" to come to the table. The BP would swoop in and place outrageous bets until the count went down again. To the dealer, the Big Player seemed like nothing more than a reckless, wealthy player, who happened to be on a lucky streak.
Gradually, Francesco increased the number of spotters on his team, so that the Big Player would never be standing on the floor and waiting around. One of his new recruits was Ken Uston, who later went on to publish a book on Francesco's strategy called "The Big Player."
The Blackjack Team Play Giveaway
Uston's book essentially put an end to Al Francesco's team. Once the casinos understood the strategy, and were familiar with the team members, the players weren't able to play without being asked to leave. But Francesco holds no grudges against Uston. It was Uston's book that brought the concept of team-play to Blackjack players all over the U.S., including Blackjack Hall of Fame's Johnny Chang and the MIT Blackjack Team.
After becoming one of the first seven inductees into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, Al Francesco retired from the game, and became involved in sports betting, horse racing, and other enjoyable pastimes.
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