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J.P. Massar

Who is he?

J.P. Massar, a MIT member, was among the first few students at MIT who had attended the course "How to gamble if you must" where the team had originated. He along with a few players had started the very first Blackjack team at MIT. For a period of over ten years, he had been a MIT member, a part of the group that went on to achieve a lot of fortune and fame in the US.

The first ever trip that Massar had taken with the very first MIT Team had been in 1979, which had not been very successful. However, the next year when they went again to Atlantic City with an investment of $5,000 they quickly made profits in only a few days. The other players were soon discouraged and left the team, but Massar always remained interested in the game.

That same year Massar met Bill Kaplan at a Chinese restaurant. Kaplan had been operating his own team in Vegas for three years and they immediately got along well. Kaplan travelled with Massar and his trip the next weekend to observe why his team had been struggling with inconsistent performance. With the guidance and the keen observation of Kaplan, Massar was quickly able to learn about the mistakes they were doing.

They put together their own team and recruited serious players and coached them well. With a capital of $89,000 they went ahead with their newly formed team to try their luck. With this new attitude and approach towards keen playing, the new team quickly doubled the investment in only a few weeks.

For the next decade, the team enjoyed great success under the guidance of Massar and Kaplan. However, with the increased security issues and the constant pressure the team soon began to experience a low morale. Around 1990, Massar decided to take a break from the team.

Rebirth of the team

However, only after two years, Massar met Johnny Chang from MIT and formed another team, which focused its attention on the casinos in Connecticut. Massar and Johnny Chang became partners and set about to fund their new team. They raised as much as a million dollars from investors. This particular team enjoyed immense success before the casinos figured out their winning methods.

It became increasingly difficult for the team to play in any casino since the casinos had been increasingly alert. At that point he decided to leave the team for good. Massar has since then focused on poker and has mastered the game. He is even known to have coached Robert Varkonyi, another MIT player who had won the Poker World Series in 2002. Today, Massar can be found playing poker at casinos as well as in various Hold'em tournaments using his abilities to win.