Thorp demonstrates a chin-up at his home in Laguna Beach, California.
Photographer: Pat Martin for Bloomberg BusinessweekHow a Pioneering Blackjack Master Beats the Odds of Aging
Legendary gambler and hedge fund manager Edward Thorp, 91, shares what he’s learned about exercise, diet and managing risk in all areas of life.
The mathematics professor and hedge fund manager Edward Thorp rocketed to fame in the early 1960s by showing readers how to best casinos in blackjack. His book Beat the Dealer laid out a groundbreaking system of card counting, followed by guides to roulette and other gambling games. Thorp also invented or perfected a number of the quantitative hedge fund strategies being used today, and he delivered 30 years of 20% annual returns for the hedge funds he operated, with only a handful of down months, none large.
Less well known is that Thorp has devoted his talents as much to health and longevity as to beating casinos and markets. At 91 he’s remarkably healthy and vigorous. Although he’s no longer running marathons or doing serious weight training, Thorp jogs and works out at the gym regularly. He weighs 155—2 pounds above his weight at age 17—and can do two chin-ups and 15 pushups. He analyzes scientific literature and manages his regimen carefully.