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Keith Taft Combined Computers with Blackjack
Many members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame are great card players (Wong and Chang come to mind); others, like Edward O. Thorp and Ken Uston, are known for their groundbreaking books. Still others, like Julian Braun, are the behind-the-scenes computer experts who developed systems of play that they themselves didn't try out at the tables. Keith Taft is another non-playing blackjack hero who may not be known to the public at all but still made a big enough impact on the game to be inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2004. What Keith Taft did to deserve this honor is to develop equipment to beat the system. Taft was a computer and electronics genius who also loved blackjack and he spent a good part of his life inventing computers, cameras and other electronic devices that would help blackjack players win at the tables. These computers may not have been legal but they worked.
Keith Taft had degrees in music and physics, which already sets him apart from the average math-loving blackjack player. Taft discovered blackjack on a 1969 trip to Reno. Quickly afterward, he started reading every blackjack book he could get his hands on, concentrating on the science of card counting. Soon he felt ready to go back into the casinos. But card counting wasn't Taft's strong suit and he set out to find a computer "hardware" strategy that would be more of a surefire way to win.
Keith Taft Hits the Blackjack Tables with Technology
Taft's first computer, which weighed in at 15 pounds (and was named George), was created in 1972. Within a few years, technology advanced and so did Taft's work; four years after his first computer, Taft and his son Marty introduced David, a light computer that was as big as a pocket calculator. The keyboard, which was the size of a credit card, was taped to the player's leg and operated through a hole in his pocket. In less than a second, this device could compute the odds based on the cards showing on the blackjack table. It was not until 1985 - when Keith's brother, Ted, was caught with one of Keith's inventions - that Vegas casinos banned these types of devices from use at the blackjack tables. Until then, Taft and his inventions had a great run.
The Taft device that his brother used was a mini-video camera built into his belt buckle. This camera was able to read the dealer's hole card and an image was relayed through satellite and a series of accomplices back to Ted who was actually playing and betting at the table. Keith and Co. ran out of luck and the casinos shut down their show. Keith Taft died in August of 2006, a few years after his election to the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
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