Nathaniel Tilton (born October 8, 1972) is an American former professional

blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

player, author of ''The Blackjack Life'' (Huntington Press, 2012), and

Certified Financial Planner The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation is a professional certification mark for financial planners conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) in the United States, and by 25 other organizations affiliated ...

Blackjack

Tilton was introduced to

card counting Card counting is a blackjack strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Card counters are advantage players who try to overcome the casino house edge by keeping a running count of high and low ...

by reading the books '' Bringing Down the House'' and ''

Busting Vegas ''Busting Vegas'' (stylized as ''Busting Vega$'') is a 2005 book by Ben Mezrich about a group of MIT card counters and blackjack players commonly known as the MIT Blackjack Team. The subtitle of the original, hardcover edition was ''The MIT Whi ...

'' by

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. Early life and education Mezrich was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich, a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland Schoo ...

, which later served as the inspiration for the movie 21. In 2005, Tilton enrolled in a private instructional program offered by

Semyon Dukach Semyon Dukach (born 25 October 1968) is a Russian-American entrepreneur and former professional blackjack player. He is the founding partner of One Way Ventures, a venture capital fund that backs immigrant entrepreneurs. He was the managing dir ...

, the former MIT Blackjack team manager who was featured in ''Busting Vegas''. There, Tilton also met fellow attendee, D.A., and the two developed into skilled blackjack professionals. Beginning in 2006, they received additional mentorship from

Mike Aponte Mike Aponte, also known as MIT Mike, is a professional blackjack player and a former member of the MIT Blackjack Team. Aponte was part of a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students that legally won millions playing blackjack at ...

("MIT Mike"), another member of the MIT Blackjack team, who was the basis for one of the main characters, Jason Fisher, in ''Bringing Down the House''.

, winner of the

World Series of Blackjack The ''World Series of Blackjack'' is a televised blackjack tournament created and produced by the cable network Game Show Network, GSN. It is a closed tournament; players are either invited to play or attempt to win a spot via a satellite tournamen ...

, further groomed the pair into world-class players. The meticulous training process included requiring them to pass the MIT Blackjack team's rigorous Big Player test (the "BP Checkout"). From 2007-2012, Tilton and D.A. went on to flourish independently as a two-person team, melding a variety of playing methodologies together into a multi-strategic approach to blackjack advantage play.

Book

In ''The Blackjack Life'', Tilton outlines the skills required to effectively count cards, the development of his multi-strategic methodology, sustainability tactics for small team advantage play, and a personal narrative of his journey as an expert blackjack player.

Accolades

Tilton has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including ''Gambling With an Edge'', ''The 207'', ''House of Cards Radio'', ''The POGG'', ''Seacoast Online'', ''Card Player Magazine'', ''Blackjack Insider'', ''Cigar Aficianado'', and ''The Daily News of Newburyport.'' In 2022, Tilton was a contributor to the book, ''Tales from the Felt: An Anthology'', published by Colin Jones (blackjack player), a coffee table book in which 21 professional card counters go on the record to share their first-person tales of their playing experiences.

Career

Tilton began his career in sports business in 1994, where he worked with professional teams including the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

and the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. In 2001, Tilton left sports for a career in financial planning with

American Express Financial Advisors American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was founde ...

. In 2006, he became an independent advisor. Tilton owns and operates Tilton Wealth Management.

Personal life

Tilton grew up in

Kennebunk, Maine Kennebunk is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 11,536 at the 2020 census (The population does not include Kennebunkport, a separate town). Kennebunk is home to several beaches, the Rachel Carson National Wildlife R ...

and later attended the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

, where he graduated in 1994 with a degree in Sport Management. Tilton is a member of

Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa formally compr ...

. He current resides in

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilton, Nathaniel Living people People from Mercer County, New Jersey American blackjack players Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Place of birth missing (living people) 1972 births