It is quite unlikely that one would ever hear the name James Grosjean used in a context that did not include blackjack in some way. He is a significant champion for card counters whose rights have been infringed by the casinos, in addition to being a card counter himself who has mastered the trade. Casinos have been known to abuse the rights of card counters.

James is also a published author, and his book “Beyond Counting: Exploiting Casino Games from Blackjack to Video Poker” is one of his most well-known works. Through the use of this book, he not only provides players with advice on how to play to the best of their skills but also explains the mathematics that lies behind many of the most famous casino games. Please take the time to go through this in-depth biography so that you can learn more about the life of James Grosjean and the influence that he had on the world of blackjack.

Initial Accomplishments

Early in James’s life, he was fortunate enough to spend his formative years in the gorgeous New Jersey city of Chatham. There is a rumor circulating that his father worked with the great Ken Uston as an editor for a magazine with a computer-related topic called Sync. It would seem that Ken had a significant influence on the younger James’ life, motivating him not just to pursue a career as a writer but also to learn how to play blackjack.

James, like many other boys his age, enjoyed spending time with his pals playing games, and one of his favorites was a game called Mah Jong, which is played using tiles. While he was competing against his pals in this game, he would utilize a Sinclair ZX80 computer to keep track of the various approaches they took to the game. He would then put that knowledge to use in order to guarantee a victory for himself, which is why his buddies finally stopped competing against him in games. He was well-known for his ability to consistently determine the best moves to make, irrespective of the games he participated in.

James’s dedication to his studies throughout his time in high school resulted in a scholarship offer from Harvard Business School. Even while his workload at school kept him highly occupied throughout the week, he would spend the weekends competing against his pals in blackjack games. James’s twenty-first birthday was the occasion of his first trip to Las Vegas, where he was excited to try his hand at blackjack at one of the city’s traditional casinos. On the way there, while he was driving, he read the book “Winning Casino Blackjack for the Non-Counter” by Avery Cardoza, which provided him with some fundamental strategy knowledge.

Even though he started playing blackjack more often after that moment, he didn’t start realizing his full potential until he was in his mid-twenties. At this time in his life, he was a student at the University of Chicago, where he was pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Mathematics. When he was playing one evening, a negligent dealer accidentally showed him her hole card. This experience made him think that knowing the dealer’s hole card may provide him with a significant edge over the casino.

James once again consulted his computer in order to ascertain which moves would be the most effective in light of the fact that the dealer was concealing one of their cards. He conducted an extensive amount of study on additional methods he might use to get an advantage, which led him to the discovery of shuffle tracking and card counting. After putting in a significant amount of practice time, he was finally able to learn these talents and put them to good use at the casinos.