James Grosjean is both a professional poker player and author (of books such as “Beyond Counting: Exploiting Casino Games from Blackjack to Video Poker” released in 2000). With a focus on blackjack but also touching on other casino games, Grosjean offers mathematical insights that can help a players chances. He’s believed to actively follow his own advice in casinos all around the world.
In addition to his time in the casino, Grosjean is known as defender of the player, having taken on casinos in various legal cases. He successfully won a case where he claims to have been illegally detained by a casino. He also won a wider victory for players when he sued an agency for maintaining records on card counters.
“Playing Blackjack to Win” was perhaps the first book ever (pre-dating Edward Thorps) which detailed how to beat the casino edge at Blackjack. It was published in the 1950’s and essentially detailed the basic of the card counting technique that has gained such prominence over the following decades, as well as other tips and strategies.
While the technique at the time didn’t have the computational power of the modern age for all intents and purposes it is card counting and offered the very same advantage.
As you might expect, the four authors (Herbert Maisel, James McDermott , Roger Baldwin and Wilbert Cantey ) were all mathematicians. Ironically, even though they deduced that the technique would work, they didn’t actually put it to use.