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Tommy Hyland is the Greatest Blackjack Team Manager
If you read up on the Blackjack Hall of Fame and study the biographies of its 13 members - from Edward O. Thorp to Johnny Chang - you will find that they are all inter-related and intertwined. Each one is a fan of the other, many have played on the same blackjack teams, and a few have co-authored books or, in the very least, been inspired by them. So it is with Thomas Hyland, one of the original Blackjack Hall of Fame members inducted in 2003.
Tommy Hyland is a unique and special blackjack player. He is a famous card counter and he has stood at the head of one of the best blackjack teams in history. As an example of the link between Hall of Fame members, Hyland has been quoted as saying that he got his start in blackjack - in 1979 - because of being inspired by Lawrence Revere's classic book, "Playing Blackjack as a Business." Hyland also read Ken Uston's books about team play in blackjack. Since 1979, Tommy Hyland's blackjack teams have consistently won millions of dollars a year from the casinos. Based on consistency, longevity, and profitability, Hyland is widely considered the most successful blackjack team manager in the history of the game.
Hyland is a Blackjack Leader and a Winner
Off and on, with different members and in different venues, Tommy Hyland has led the longest-playing blackjack team ever. Individual members of the team have come and gone, but the Hyland team has remained a constant, with Tommy Hyland as the recruiter, trainer, administrator, and manager. The size of the team has fluctuated from 10 to as many as 40 members. It has successfully used card-counting techniques, the big-player format, and computer usage.
Hyland's success has also led to his fair share of troubles. One time, at a casino in the Bahamas, he was caught using a hidden computer. Even though the use of a computer in blackjack play was legal at that time, he was arrested and charged. On another occasion, a casino owner, after learning that Hyland was a card counter, actually forced him at gunpoint to return the money he had won at blackjack. Eventually, other members of Hyland's teams were caught and a few were arrested for cheating. At the ensuing trial, Arnold Snyder - another Hall of Famer - testified for the defense and Hyland's colleagues and protégés were let off the hook.
The fact that Tommy and his team have been playing blackjack for almost three decades is most unusual in the blackjack arena. Amazingly cohesive, Hyland's team has played all over the world and continues to rake in millions with their unbeatable style of play. Hyland has the dubious honor of having his photo in the Griffin book, but that hasn't stopped him from pursuing what he loves most - playing blackjack in a Hall of Fame kind of way.
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