The Professor Who Beat The Casinos

When Ed Thorp was a young maths professor at MIT he devised a formula for beating casinos at their own game. His technique came to be known as card counting and after he published a book revealing the secret he became so famous that some casinos barred him from playing. He even claims that one of them resorted to drugging him. Ed made a lot of money gambling, but he gained most of his fortune when he began using his maths brilliance to make investments on Wall Street. Image: Ed Thorp Credit: Mark Jordan Photography/Orange County Headshots