Stanford Wong – Blackjack
Posted on 18th Jun, 2009
The name Stanford Wong is synonymous with winning blackjack — literally. The term “wonging” refers to a point count technique that is crucial to the success of many blackjack teams and that Wong himself popularized. Wong is famous in blackjack circles for his books on winning blackjack techniques.Stanford Wong’s true name is John Ferguson. Wong is a nom de plume created for his series of blackjack books that still sell today. The name is taken from the school where he got his degree and a desire to capitalize on the common perception that Asians are highly experienced with cards and gambling. Stanford Wong is known for creating one of the first “Blackjack.Wonging refers to Stanford Wong’s technique of country without actually sitting in the game. Wong would stand nearby, observing the count, then step in when the count was high without having had to risk any of his own money. Blackjack card counting squads like the MIT blackjack team built on this concept by designating certain players to sit and play at low stakes to generate a high count, then surreptitiously signaling a confederate who would step in and start wagering large amounts when the deck was favorable.
The Gambler’s Fallacy simply states that the outcome of each individual trial of an event is independent of previous outcomes. For example the odds of flipping a coin so that it comes up heads 20 times in a row, assuming the coin is fair, are extremely long, longer than one in a million. Therefore, if you have flipped a coin and it has come up 19 times in a row, you may be eager to lay very high odds against the next flip coming up heads.
However, to do so would be a mistake. Once the 19 heads have already been flipped, the odds of the next flip coming up heads is one in two, just like every flip before it. The coin has no memory of what has gone before. Believing a certain outcome is “due” because it has not appeared in a statistically unlikely amount of time is the Gambler’s Fallacy.