Tommy Hyland: The Impact of Blackjack Books in His Life

As a child, Tommy Hyland was not yet exposed to the world of blackjack. Nevertheless, he was already exposed to the gambling world as early as ten years old. He was particularly interested in a game that he and his friends came up with, wherein they would toss quarters, dimes, and nickels against a wall and the one with the coin that fell closest to the wall would get all the money.

Tommy Hyland discovered his interest in betting as he was growing up. When he was in high school, he was more focused on playing such sports as baseball, golf, and basketball. But since he was already fond of making bets at that time, he often found himself betting on his homeruns, free throws, and other moves.

Tommy Hyland had more time to play gambling games when he was obtaining a political science degree at a college in Wittenburg, Ohio. Such exposure made him more and more interested in the world of gambling, until he had the chance to read the book "Playing Blackjack as a Business," by Lawrence Revere. Such book inspired him to learn how to play blackjack. He encouraged his roommate to practice blackjack with him until they found themselves participating in various blackjack events. When Tommy Hyland realized that he could earn big by playing blackjack, he became determined to learn more about card counting, to practice more and more, and to read more books about blackjack.

Tommy Hyland was very much inspired by one of the books written by professional blackjack player Stanford Wong. He then found himself reading other blackjack books, such as "Million Dollar Blackjack," by Ken Uston and "Blackjack in Asia," by Wong. His passion for playing blackjack led to many successes until he decided to form a blackjack team. This professional blackjack player first formed a team with his roommate until he had to leave them because he wanted to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to play more professionally.

This incident prompted Tommy Hyland to form a new group. He did not know where to get team members and so he tried his luck by training his golf friends. It was in 1980 when this professional blackjack player was able to put up a team with approximately twenty members. Such team still exists and has been successful since then.

Despite the success of this professional blackjack player, Tommy Hyland has also experienced being hated by casino owners. This situation is mostly experienced by players who, most of the time, win big in casinos. Despite such hardships, this professional blackjack player has always known how to confidently fight casinos and the legal battles that he faces.

In spite of having such reputation, Tommy Hyland even became an inductee into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2003. Other members of the Blackjack Hall of Fame are Ken Uston and Stanford Wong, the authors of the books that inspired Tommy Hyland to play blackjack.