Has anyone else read this book?? I just ordered a copy from Amazon today. This book is based on the true story of 6 MIT students who frequented Vegas and won millions by developing a card counting system. The author of the book was on Rome yesterday and I found his 1st hand knowledge of this scheme fascinating. Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else has heard about all this. Book seems like a prime candidate to be made into a movie. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=sr_8_1/104-9532245-4583116?v=glance&n=507846 Here is a review on the book: The amazing inside story about a gambling ring of M.I.T. students who beat the system in Vegas -- and lived to tell how. Robin Hood meets the Rat Pack when the best and the brightest of M.I.T.'s math students and engineers take up blackjack under the guidance of an eccentric mastermind. Their small blackjack club develops from an experiment in counting cards on M.I.T.'s campus into a ring of card savants with a system for playing large and winning big. In less than two years they take some of the world's most sophisticated casinos for more than three million dollars. But their success also brings with it the formidable ire of casino owners and launches them into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas with its private investigators and other violent heavies. Filled with tense action, high stakes, and incredibly close calls, Bringing Down the House is a nail-biting read that chronicles a real-life Ocean's Eleven. It's one story that Vegas does not want you to read.
I've read it. It's a light, entertaining read with drama and suspense. Interestingly, the MIT teacher that spearheaded the group was hired by Robert Varkonyl (sp?), the 2002 winner of the World Series of Poker, to be his coach. Didn't work out too well. What these students were doing was cheating. Card counting is not cheating, but communicating with other players to give them an advantage certainly is. They were trying to rip off the very casinos that make Las Vegas what it is. It's a good book.
Thanks for the link codell. I heard the interview with the author on Rome yesterday. Just bought the book from Amazon. Sounds like a great story. I'm interested in the tales of "back-rooming" and what exactly the casinos did to scare these guys from ever coming back.
According to what the author said, they did get backroomed quite a bit. However, its not like how it was in Casino, with people smashing your hand with a hammer. He said the rooms basically have no rooms and no cameras and usually a couple of big guys come in and just intimidate you. One of the MIT students was apparently followed around town and harassed for a long time, which made him basically stop the whole scheme because he started to fear for his life. Casino happens to be one of my all time fav movies, so thats why I am drawn to the book.
T.J., Thanks for the review. So what exactly was the system they used, as far as counting cards?? Was it just a complicated math formula???
For what it's worth, I played a round of golf on a horrible course named Las Vegas National. It was probably a great course back in the day. Anyway, the main house in Casino was located on the course. At least that's what some guy said to me when we passed by it.
Do you think all the games in Vegas are truly fair and square? Rocket River Curious . .. . I just cannot trust VIDEO slot machines
Saw a good article on this from Wired magazine a year ago: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/vegas.html -- droxford
Thanks for the link. Just go through reading it. Fascinating stuff. Im tellin ya. This book screams "big screen".
They used a technique commonly referred to in the gambling industry as 'chunk betting'. Using a sophisticated team of skilled blackjack players, they would have one person sit at the table and bet a small amount, maybe $10 per hand, and that person's only job is to 'count cards', and determine whether or not the count was favorable for the player or not. Ok, so once that player determined that the count was favorable for the player, now he would signal for another player to come over and join the table. This player would usually fit the description of a drunk, wealthy businessman, just looking for some quick action. Of course what he does is plunk down the maximum bet at this table, maybe $5000 per hand in this case. Assuming that the player had about a 1% advantage in this situation (typically with optimal blackjack play, with no 'counting', the player has a -0.2% edge or so), the $5000 bet should yield (5000*0.01) = $50 profit per bet in the long run. Let's assume that this team was big enough get down about 500 bets in this situation per day, that's $2500 profit per day. Of course this is an absolutely brilliant scheme, given that these guys had a fantastic knowledge of blackjack as well as the mathematics involved. They were adequately bankrolled to weather the ups and downs associated with 'advantage gambling' (gambling where you actually have an expected advantage), and they reaped the benefits as the math indicates you will in the long run. ***FYI, the reason they use a group to accomplish this is because if one person just sits there and bets $10 when the 'count' is poor, then $5000 when the 'count' is favorable, he/she will get banned from the casino. By using a group, it was extremely difficult to tell that they were in collusion together.
Errr, no edit. 500 * $50 = $25000 per day, obviously a good deal of money. By the time the casinos knew what happened, the MIT syndicate were millionaires.
Card counting is the easy part, it's the betting part that's hard. Once you have the count in your advantage it's damn near impossible to consistently raise your bet to the maximum each time without the casino taking notice. They way they did it by having someone else come to the table for them was really clever. Here is a little explanation on card counting http://www.blackjack-tips.co.uk/card-counting/how-to-count-cards.htm
