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J.P. Massar: A Founding Blackjack Team Member
J.P. Massar was with the card-counting team from the very beginning.
He was one of the few student’s at MIT’s mini-course, “How to Gamble if You Must”, to take Blackjack strategy very seriously. Massar teamed up with a few avid players to form the first MIT Blackjack Club.
Throughout a period of more than ten years, Massar stuck with the group. And the MIT Blackjack Team went on to achieve fame and fortune, winning millions of dollars in casinos all over the U.S.
A Bumpy Beginning for the Blackjack Team
It was December 1980 when Massar and the other new team members made their first trip to Atlantic City, to take advantage of the new casino rules which made it illegal to ask card-counters to leave. The team achieved instant success- their $5000 initial investment grew to $20,000 in a number of weeks.
But after their initial brush with fortune, the players began to consistently lose. At the end of the year, JP Massar and the other players were discouraged, and the team fell apart.
The MIT Blackjack Team Turns Around
But JP Massar was not ready to quit. One afternoon, he was eating in a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge when he overheard someone at a nearby table speaking about his card counting exploits in Vegas. Who was the mystery man? It was Bill Kaplan, a Harvard grad who had put together his own team in Vegas based on careful strategic research. Massar immediately introduced himself, and asked Kaplan if he would like to come watch the MIT team in action. Kaplan agreed, and the following weekend, the team went to Atlantic City.
It didn’t take long for Kaplan to figure out what the problem was. He told JP that the team members were making mistakes, using all sorts of complicated card counting techniques, and spending most of the time fighting. But Kaplan was interested in coaching the team, as long as they would agree to take the game seriously and to play to win instead of playing for fun. Massar quickly agreed, and together, they set a new and improved Blackjack team in motion, with starting capital of $89,000.
Long- Lasting Success for the Blackjack Team
With this new beginning, Massar and Kaplan instituted a new set of rules: players would use a uniform card counting method and were subject to a trial period and casino supervision. Over the next ten years, the team enjoyed long-lasting card-counting success, and they watched the initial investment grow steadily. But in 1990, the team morale took a dip - casinos were beginning to recognize repeat players, and the team member were getting tired of avoiding security. Massar decided that it was time to take a break from MIT team Blackjack.
A New Blackjack Team: Strategic Investments
Two years later, Massar teamed up with long time MIT player Johnny Chang to form a new Blackjack team that would focus its training in nearby Connecticut casinos. The partners decided to re-create the team as a registered partnership, and they raised one million dollars to fund the investment. Once again, MIT had a Blackjack team, one that enjoyed unfettered success - until private casino investigators got involved. The casinos slowly put together the pieces of the puzzle, and figured out exactly how the MIT kids were winning. It wasn’t long before they couldn’t play in any Vegas casino without being recognized and escorted from the floor.
The End of Blackjack for JP Massar?
At that point, the Massar left the MIT Blackjack team for good. But that didn’t put a stop to his interest in logical gambling. Massar went on to become an avid poker player, and even coached MIT graduate Robert Varkonyi, who won the 2002 Poker World Series. Today, you might find JP Massar at a Texas Hold’Em Tournament, crouched over his cards, and continuing to use his mathematical ability to win.
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Left to the draw! |
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Win an
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Refer the most friends and win an iPod |
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$2,100
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