7. Griffith Owens
Not many people will have heard of Griffith Owens but if I were to tell you that he was one of the most famous names in blackjack in the 1970′s then it may help you to identify him. Just like Stanford Wong, this guy went by an alias which made him famous and that name was Lawrence Revere.
Revere died from cancer in 1977 but he was also a famous author and his seminal work, “Playing Blackjack as a Business” still sells well today. Owens also worked as a casino pit boss and blackjack trainer to numerous card counters. Revere is also reputed to have operated on both sides at the same time by advising casinos on card counters and advantage players whilst also still playing the game incognito in other casinos and training up novice players in how to beat the game.
This is a difficult and rare achievement but it is also reputed that Revere actually grassed up the very players that he had trained up when he worked as a “spotter”. Griffith Owens also went under several other aliases as well including Paul Mann and Specks Parsons but his main alias was Lawrence Revere and this was the name credited to his famous landmark book.
Blackjack was still very big business for card counters in the 1970′s and this had followed on from the huge impact created by Edward Thorp and his “Beat The Dealer” book which was almost like the blackjack equivalent of “SuperSystem” in poker.
But whether you like what Revere did or not, he was an absolute master of disguise and to carry on playing blackjack even though you are known to the casinos is an incredible feat and so he deserves to be in my Hall of Fame.
