Joe Bernstein

Who was Joe Bernstein?

Joe Bernstein was a poker player and road gambler.

He was born in Russia, and as a young boy emigrated to the United States with his family. The family settled in Pendelton, Oregon. After leaving home at age 21, he spent many years on the road, looking for poker games and other gambling opportunities at the time when gambling was illegal everywhere in the United States. He spent most of his life in Las Vegas, after gambling was made legal there, and was living there at the time of his death.

Joe Bernstein is credited as being one of the very early developers of "card counting" in the game of blackjack. In the late 1940s, while at a gambling den in San Francisco, Joe watched as a game of blackjack was being played. During the course of the game, Joe noticed that no aces had yet been dealt with less than a quarter of the deck remaining. He quickly made a bet, and won, hitting the ace and ten. With just a few cards remaining in the single deck, and knowing another ace was still to be dealt, he again bet, and sure enough, he hit the ace, winning again. Joe returned the next day and continued to play and observe. He expanded his focus on not only the aces, but also the face cards and tens. Joe realized that if he kept track as to how many aces, face cards, and tens remained in the last quarter or so of the deck, it could give him an advantage as to when to hit or hold, and when to place more significant bets. After walking away a winner at the end of the day, Joe realized that he may have stumbled onto something significant.