A REAL ACE: After Edward O. Thorp’s...

A REAL ACE: After Edward O. Thorp’s “Beat the Dealer” became the bible for serious blackjack players in the ‘60s, he turned to Wall Street, where he amassed a personal fortune. Now the Newport Beach investor will combine those two interests in a series of free lectures for UC Irvine’s mathematics department, beginning tonight at the Science Lecture Hall. . . . Thorp’s casino days are pretty much over. “I did go to Las Vegas a few years ago just to see if you could still win at blackjack,” he says. His assessment: If you’re good, you can still beat the casinos.