title: Repeat Until Rich: A Professional Card Counter's Chronicle of the Blackjack Wars
author:  Josh Axelrad 
description: Josh Axelrad played blackjack professionally for five years and poker unprofessionally for one. A graduate of Columbia College, he languished briefly in investment banking before he turned to cards. His personal win as a card counter, at $700,000, has left him eighty-sixed from the finest casinos in Vegas and around the United States. His subsequent losses at poker (exceeding $50,000) have cost him credit privileges at the Internets most reputable poker rooms. A commentator on the casino industry for National Public Radios Marketplace program, Axelrad also performs at Stories at the Moth in New York and has been featured on the award-winning Moth Podcast.
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  ![cover](../../cover.jpeg)
  
  
  ![](../img/3_2.jpg)
  
  
  To those who aspired and paid the price
  
  
  —C. A.
  
  
  For lovers of history, seekers of truth
  
  
  —T. B.
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  
  [Foreword by Nic Stone](05_Foreword_by_Nic_Stone.xhtml#page_ix)
  
  
  [Prologue](06_Prologue_split_000.xhtml#page_xiii)
  
  
  [1](07_1__Original_Sin_split_000.xhtml#page_1) [“Original
  Sin”](07_1__Original_Sin_split_000.xhtml#page_1)
  
  
  [2](08_2__But_for_Your_Race_split_000.xhtml#page_5) [“But for Your
  Race”](08_2__But_for_Your_Race_split_000.xhtml#page_5)
  
  
  [3](09_3_Forty_Acres_and_a_Mule_split_000.xhtml#page_15) [Forty Acres and a
  Mule](09_3_Forty_Acres_and_a_Mule_split_000.xhtml#page_15)
  
  
  [4](10_4_Black_Codes_split_000.xhtml#page_23) [Black
  Codes](10_4_Black_Codes_split_000.xhtml#page_23)
  
  
  [5](11_5__We_Showed_Our_Hand_Too_Soon_split_000.xhtml#page_31) [“We Showed Our
  Hand Too Soon”](11_5__We_Showed_Our_Hand_Too_Soon_split_000.xhtml#page_31)
  
  
  [6](12_6__Johnson_Is_with_Us_split_000.xhtml#page_41) [“Johnson Is wit