Ken Smith has been competing in and writing about blackjack tournaments
since 1994. Like many avid tournament players, he had a lot of early success, winning
a considerable amount of money in events in his first year competing. Ken lives in South
Mississippi near the Gulf Coast, where the casino industry was still brand-new in the
mid-90's. At that time, the Mississippi casinos were competing for business and there
were weekly blackjack tournaments literally every night of the week at the various casinos.
In the weekly events, players could pay a $50 entry fee and compete for $10,000 in
prize money. Larger events were held several times a year.
Since tournaments were new to the area, many of the players were unfamiliar
with the appropriate strategies and were at a significant disadvantage to the sharper
players. Week after week, the same names appeared at the final table, and Ken was fortunate
enough to be among them. He played often, learned a lot, and made a nice supplemental income.
Ken's appearances on televised blackjack tournaments include all four seasons to date of
the World Series of Blackjack on GSN, the Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS, and
the Las Vegas Hilton Million Dollar Blackjack Tournament on the Travel Channel.
More information about Ken is available here.