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What McBride and Duplin’s Futures Hold
“Beyond All The Answers” 

The Final Pieces Of The Puzzle 

Jr. often uses the expression, “Even a blind monkey can fall out of a canoe and hit water.”  The idea is that sometimes you can be a total idiot, and completely luck into something.  Well Scott McBride and Ray Duplin, Jr. can’t help but have an impact on the future of Blackjack.  Their efforts in developing the Playing 21 Program will ensure their names are associated with the game’s greats, as well as with Blackjack, for years to come. 

When I wrote this article for them I asked them a few questions.  They had done most of the writing for the web site, but a few certain pages they didn’t actually want to write themselves.  When I sat back and looked at both their answers, to my questions, their future jumped out at me.  Piecing together what I heard from them both, I found their future in their own words. 

Scott and Jr. are very open about what they did, and why they did it.  Sure they had theories of their very own, that would be proven when they finished the program, but it was others before them who had inspired them.  They admit to not knowing the answers, but at the same time doubted those who had become pioneers of the game.  They didn’t doubt all that was said, but they didn’t believe it all either. 

A 400-Year Old Puzzle 

To Scott and Jr., Blackjack was a puzzle.  They certainly saw it as one, as had those true pioneers that they respected.  Each pioneer had added in their own pieces to the overall puzzle.  Some, like Thorp, added more pieces to the puzzle than others.  But each one had an important role in the overall development of the game. 

Scott and Jr.’s roll in the larger puzzle has proven to be very interesting.  What they have done is put the final pieces in place for the completion of the puzzle.  Their meticulous thought process with regards to designing the program that will provide, with proof, all the answers, has paid off 10 fold.  All the pieces of the puzzle now sit on the table.  The final pieces are held in the hands of Scott and Jr., as well as tens of thousands of players with the Playing 21 Program. 

One at a time, the final pieces will fall into place.  Each day the puzzle becomes clearer, and at some point in the not too distant future, the game Blackjack will be solved completely.  The final pieces will sit in place.  Those final pieces are undoubtedly coming from the Playing 21 Program. 

A Small Portion 

A very famous quote by Robert Kennedy reminds me of Scott and Jr., “Few of us will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of these acts will be written the history of this generation.”   Clearly the Playing 21 Program has done more than provide a small portion of the answers to the overall game Blackjack.  In the short years that follow the release of this program, its true effects will be written elsewhere.   

Scott McBride and Ray Duplin, Jr. believe in their hearts that they have changed the game Blackjack as we know it today.  If this proves to be true, it will take thousands of players who have a desire to win to ultimately see those changes come about.  “The power to change the game”, as Jr. states “rests not with the casinos, but with the players who use this program.  Enough players win from it, you’ll see the casinos react.” 

The Blackjack history of this generation will be written by these players.