Thereafter, Thorp shifted his sights to “the biggest casino in the world”: Wall Street. Nonetheless gambling was forever changed. They barred him from their premises, instituted new rules, and put his life in jeopardy. His remarkable success-and mathematically unassailable method-caused such an uproar that the casinos altered the rules of the game to thwart him and the legions he inspired.

Thorp invented card counting, proving that you could do the seemingly impossible-beat the dealer at the blackjack table-and in doing so launched a gambling renaissance.

The incredible true story of the card-counting mathematics professor who taught the world how to beat the dealer and, as the first of the great quantitative investors, ushered in a revolution on Wall Street.Ī child of the Great Depression, legendary mathematician Edward O.