Thorp applied probability theory to beat roulette and blackjack.

Evidence

In 1959-1961, while at MIT, Thorp had collaborated with the celebrated information theorist Claude Shannon on a tiny, wearable analog computer system that could predict where the ball would be deposited on a roulette wheel (Thorp interview). Thorp went on to devise the first effective methods for beating the casino at blackjack by keeping track of cards that had already been dealt and thus identifying situations in which the probabilities were favorable to the player (Thorp 1961; Tudball 2002). — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 547

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Casino crime drove Thorp from gambling to financial markets. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 549