The MIT Blackjack Team

A group of students and past students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were known as The MIT Blackjack Team.

Who was the Leader?

Bill Kaplan, a Harvard graduate, turned the MIT Blackjack team into a thriving group, even though he was not the founder.

From a young age, he was a keen reader. However, he had a fascination with Blackjack, and more specifically, with card counting.

Who was the Founder?

Mr M ( His proper name was JP Massar ) was also a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student studying mathematics. He also had an interest in gambling due to reading a book called “ How to Gamble if you must “ He got a few students together, and they started the original MIT Blackjack team. They had a few wins here and there but were not particularly successful in the long run.

JP Massar and Kaplan Join Up

In 1980, JP Massar and Bill Kaplan met at a Chinese Restaurant where JP invited Bill to observe their errors. After spending a weekend with them observing, Bill decided to join. He gave it a serious try, and it became a thriving enterprise with many investors wanting a slice of the action.

The new MIT Blackjack team started operating on 1 August 1980.

It was a successful team for ten years, and the investors were pleased with their returns. However, Bill Kaplan became too well known and got banned at most of the Casinos in Las Vegas. He had no choice, and had to step down as the Team Manager.

After Bill Kaplan left, JP Massar joined forces with Johnny Chang. They did well for two years until they also got banned from the Vegas Casinos.

What happened to them?

JP Massar now plays professional poker, while Bill Kaplan runs a property development company and an email management service.

Tiki Princess Slot by SYNOT

Developed by SYNOT, Tiki Princess is an online slot with 20 paylines. There have been quite a few Tiki-themed slots recently. Developers often use the theme of tropical islands, tribes, and idols. Tiki Princess has an RTP of 96.02%, which means you will get back 96.02 if you wager 100 on it. There are also Free Spins, Hold and Win, Expanding Wilds, and a bonus Risk Game.

Slot Features

The Tiki Princess online slot has five reels, three rows and 20 paylines. From the leftmost reel onward, players must match three or more identical icons in a row to win.

The Tiki Princess is the Wild Symbol, appearing as an Expanding Wild on reels 2, 3, 4 and 5 to replace all other icons except the Bonus Shell and Scatter.

The Hold & Win feature triggers by landing six or more Shell Bonus Symbols, beginning with 3 respins and shells locked in place. With each new Shell Symbol, the remaining respins reset and remain in place for the remainder of the feature.

Instant prizes are available with Shell icons, as well as minor and major jackpots.

Three or more Scatters trigger the feature and award six free spins where the middle reels merge and spin together as one reel. A landing of a Giant Scatter awards three extra spins, while a landing of a Giant Shell awards a Hold & Win.

You can win up to 15 additional spins for free during this round, and the Wild Symbol expands on the fifth reel.

Verdict

In terms of online slots, SYNOT Games’ Tiki Princess is a true masterpiece. This title has many features and offers plenty of opportunities in both the base game and bonus game. The Hold & Win extras feature four jackpots.

Overall, an impressive performance from this provider.

Dan Smith

Introduction

Dan Smith is a Vegas professional poker player who started playing the game at 16 before he was legally allowed to gamble. Having been a chess player for several years, he won a chess scholarship to attend college. He was born in Manalapan Township, New Jersey, and now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has won numerous titles in his short but fruitful poker career, including a World Poker Tour title ( WPT ) and a championship event at the Aussie Millions.

Dan’s Poker Career

Known by various names such as King Dan, Dan Cowboy Dan, and Dan Smith, Dan Smith gave up his scholarship to pursue a poker career in 2007. It was the 2008 Heartland Poker Tour Main Event that gave him his first cash victory. He won the Bellagio Super High Roller $100 000 buy-in event in 2014 with a grand prize of $2,044,766. Dan has cashed in over 74 live poker tournaments and won over 36 million dollars.

In addition, he has multiple strong showings in WSOP EVENTS. In 2015 he finished third; in 2014, he finished 20th in the $10000 Main Event. Throughout 2012, King Dan won six tournaments. He won the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic in 2013 and finished second in the 2016 WSOP No-Limit Hold’em High Roller.

Dan Smith has had an impressive poker career, and in September 2014, he ranked 1st on the Global Poker Index when he was 25. His winning streak continued when he came in third in the WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop event for $4 million.

Total Winnings

The amount Dan Smith’s won at live tournaments exceeded $36 700 000 by August 2019. The young poker player is a fast thinker and has proved that he has an advantage over other live tournament players by switching from chess to poker.

Wild Expedition Slot by Red Tiger Gaming

Introduction

Wild Expedition is a typical Hollywood story from the developer Red Tiger Gaming. This five reels, 30 paylines slot is a definite movie-inspired slot with the main characters bearing a solid resemblance to Lara Croft and Indiana Jones. In this high variance slot, the hit frequency is 2/5 with an RTP of 95.67% and a max win of 2101x your stake. Wild Expedition’s main attraction is the Free Spins that rewards 20 Free Spins with Sticky Wilds. The game has a dark foreboding feel with a soundtrack that injects excitement and immersive gameplay.

Wild Expedition Slot Features

There are 4 Bonus Features in Wild Expedition. The Wild Kiss is the first one. It triggers at random on any spin whereby Cara blows a kiss onto the screen, turning any Nick symbols Wild. The Nick symbols then become Sticky on the next spin. Like Cara, Nick also appears randomly. It triggers the Jungle Treasure feature when he appears, with Nick adding more of the top-paying symbols to the reel, creating winning combinations. Nick also adds Bonus symbols here and triggers the Free Spins Feature.

The two characters turn one another Wild. If Cara lands directly adjacent to Nick on the reels, he turns into a Wild symbol, and it’s locked into place. Should Cara appear next to an already locked wild, they lock into position for another spin allowing for more winning combos. Now for the highlight of the game, the Free Spins: Land 3 Bonus symbols and receive 10 Free Spins, 4, and you receive 15 Free Spins and five, and you reel away with 20 Free Spins.

Final Summary

Wild Expedition is a solid example of the Jungle Treasure Hunt genre, and it offers a decent amount of variety thanks to Nick, Cara the Free Spins and Sticky Wilds.

Johnny Moss

The Early Years

Johnny Moss was born in 1907 in Marshall, Texas. In 1978, he won the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for the first time and was nicknamed “The Grand Old Man of Poker”. In addition to winning nine WSOP Poker events and eight bracelets, he remains one of the greatest poker players ever. The Poker Hall of Fame inducted Johnny Moss as one of its inductees in 1979.

His Career

As a young man, Johnny Moss had no access to resources for Poker, so he had to learn about the game while overseeing others. In Johnny’s early days, Poker was an unregulated field, so there were hardly any legal casinos, poker rooms, or major tournaments. To play at different casinos, he travelled from one to another, playing all the available table games. In essence, he was a travelling gambler who earned his living on the road.

No Tolerance for Cheaters

One time, Moss noticed a peephole in the ceiling over a backroom as he was playing cards with the players to see what cards they were holding. He had no tolerance for cheaters, so this made him very angry. The house was aware that Moss carried a pistol with him, and he warned the spy to cover the hole if he did not come down. The house tried to call Johnny’s bluff, and Johnny fired a few rounds, wounding the man in the ceiling.

Moss also won $4 million by playing against Nick the Greek in a five-month-long poker marathon. The game between these two poker legends is credited with giving birth to the World Series of Poker.

Where is he Now?

In 1995, this Poker legend passed away at the age of 88, but to this day, many of the older generations of Poker players still have fond memories of him.