Scarne was one of the greatest card magicians I've ever seen. I was in awe of hm. He was also a talented mathematician, and his
Scarne's Complete Guide to Gambling was, at the time, one of the greatest books on the subject ever written. But, while he was deadly accurate in his analyses of virtually all of the other casino games, he got a lot of the blackjack part wrong, because, well, the math of blackjack is a great deal more difficult and complicated. And so, when people read him today, especially blackjack players, they tend to disrespect him and paint all of his work with a single brush (the blackjack one), which is simply not fair.
That said, he was an extremely cocky individual who practiced self-aggrandizement in the best Trump style. And so, when Thorp came along and stole all of Scarne's thunder, Scarne did what Trump would do--he attacked unmercifully anyone who disagreed with him. In the end, he would wind up an extremely bitter person, who saw the gaming world eventually pass him by, which must have been very hard for him to swallow.
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