Topps Creates Trading Card For World Series Of Blackjack Winner

Michael Aponte, manager of infamous MIT Blackjack Team and World Series of Blackjack Winner, honored with trading card.

Naples, FL (PRWEB) July 31, 2007 -- It's not unusual for baseball, football or basketball stars to be featured on a trading card. But a blackjack legend on a card -- now that's rare!

Michael Aponte, the inaugural World Series of Blackjack champion, is the first ever blackjack player featured on a Topps trading card. He is part of the 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter set in stores now. These cards include the likeness of 20 world champions from various fields, as well as more than 300 baseball personalities and 25 historic figures. The original Allen & Ginter cards, created in the 1880s, were slim 1-1/2 inch by 2-3/4 inch lithographs sold in cigarettes packs and showcased baseball stars along with accomplished pugilists, wrestlers, riflemen, rowers and billiards experts. Aponte and others in the current set personally signed a limited number of the 2007 cards that will be randomly distributed in six-card packs.

Not in his wildest dreams did Aponte believe there would be a Topps card featuring his likeness. As a collegiate football player at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Aponte knew his wide receiver skills would never land him on a trading card. Little did he know that his unique card counting ability and an infamous blackjack career would make a card possible.

"I never thought a blackjack player would be featured on a trading card in the same company with professional athletes and world champions," Aponte said. "Considering the prestigious history of the Allen & Ginter series, I feel incredibly honored and fortunate to be a part of this set."

Aponte is best known for his tenure as manager of the MIT blackjack team. In the early 1990s, a handful of MIT students banded together to form a high stakes card-counting team which won millions of dollars at blackjack tables around the world. Their incredible story came to light in the New York Times bestseller, Bringing Down The House, in which Aponte's tale is told through the "Jason Fisher" character. Also, the major motion picture "21", slated for a 2008 theatrical release, is based on the story of the very successful MIT students.

The 20 world champions selected for the 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter edition have all excelled in their respective fields. This year's honorees include boxing champion Joe Frazier, martial arts master Bruce Lee, and soccer star Mia Hamm. Previous world champions featured in the 2006 set include race car driver Danica Patrick and legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.

The son of a U.S. Army tactical instructor, Aponte graduated valedictorian in 1988 from Ewing High School in New Jersey. That fall he attended MIT where he studied economics. During his senior year, Aponte's career path took an unexpected turn when he was recruited by a team at MIT that used special mathematical techniques to win at blackjack. Aponte joined the group in 1992 and became one of the team's most successful players. Through 2000, Aponte and his cohorts enjoyed an incredible run at casinos, walking away with millions.

While card counting is completely legal, casinos in some states can bar suspected counters from playing. By 2000, Aponte had become so well known as a highly skilled card counter that he could no longer play in casinos and his career essentially came to an end. But in 2004 he competed in and won the first ever World Series of Blackjack, and in 2006 he finished third in the Ultimate Blackjack Tour's Legends of Blackjack.

Aponte rarely plays blackjack in casinos now, but hasn't turned his back on the game he loves. He co-founded the Blackjack Institute® which offers a comprehensive instructional program, as well as one-on-one private mentoring which emulates the training system the MIT blackjack team used to win millions.

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