Andrew W Scott (born 1969) is an Australian-born writer and successful high stakes gambler. He has been gambling since 1986, but in recent years has concentrated more on his writing activities.

Early life

He was born in Mackay, Queensland in Australia in 1969. He then moved to Brisbane and Auckland before settling in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia in 1979. He moved to Melbourne in 1993.

Accounting career

His first profession was accounting. After completing his schooling in 1986 he joined a firm of Chartered Accountants in December 1986. In December 1987 he changed to a different Chartered Accounting firm and remained there working as an accountant full-time until June 1992. During this time he attended the University of Tasmania, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1994.

Gambling activities

Scott first attended Wrest Point Hotel Casino in 1986. He was immediately drawn to the game of Blackjack. However, in his early career he had no knowledge of techniques to hide his abilities, and was quickly identified by casino owners as a skilled player. Since then, casinos have accused him of advantage play and many casinos, including but not limited to all Australian casinos, have frustrated his efforts to win at the game.

Despite these measures by the casinos, it is rumored that Scott has won over $15 million playing Blackjack in over 100 casinos around the world.

Media appearances

From 1993 onwards, frustrated by what he described as his harassment by casinos in Australia, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, Scott appeared on a number of Australian national TV shows, exposing his treatment by the casinos (see above). These included Four Corners, A Current Affair, Today Tonight, The Midday Show and the Today show. He has also been the subject of numerous newspaper, magazine and internet articles.

He continues to appear in the Australian media from time to time to comment on gambling-related matters.

BlackJack teaching career

In 1993 Scott founded Blackjack Masters, an Australian based private school teaching techniques for winning at Blackjack. He operated the school until early 2006, when he handed effective control of the school to one of his Blackjack protegés, Chris S Martin. He remains a consultant to the school. Many of his greatest protegés have gone on to enter into Blackjack profit sharing arrangements with Scott.

Business

Although Scott no longer practices as an accountant, he does have an investment company, Awston Holdings, through which he manages his investments. Scott founded Awston Holdings in 1993.

Writings

In the late 1990s Scott began writing articles, mostly on gambling related topics. In recent years, his scope has widened to poker, business, and social commentary.

Scott writes a regular column in poker magazine Bluff Australasia, has written for MSNBC and is the Gambling Correspondent for Crikey. He also writes for gambling websites Smartgambler and Punting Ace (see external links below). He is a member of the Australian Journalists Association and the International Federation of Journalists.

Poker

In 2007 Scott began playing in high stakes poker tournaments. He played in the 2007 and 2008 World Series of Poker and every main event of the 2007 and 2008 Asia Pacific Poker Tour. He has also played in the Aussie Millions.

His most notable achievement to date was finishing second to Nam Le in the 2008 Asian Pacific Poker Tour Macau High Rollers event, collecting HKD$2.1 million. This result was discussed on the Bluff Australasia Radio Show on Melbourne's SEN radio here

He is third on the poker winnings All Time Money List for China

Traveling

On his official website Scott lists over 50 cities in 22 countries he has visited. He travels so often that he describes himself as a perpetual traveler, with no fixed base anywhere in the world. In truth, he is loosely based in Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Las Vegas.

External links

• Andrew W Scott's official website
• Blackjack Masters website
• Awston Holdings website
• Andrew W Scott's section on Punting Ace
• Andrew W Scott's section on Smartgambler
• Coverage of 2008 Asian Pacific Poker Tour Macau High Rollers Event
• Andrew W Scott's poker record on The Hendon Mob poker database

References