Caught Counting Cards

In the movie, we see Ben (Jim Sturgess) take a beating from Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) after he is caught counting cards. Similarly, in Ben Mezrich's book Breaking Vegas, we find the Fisher character beaten bloody in the bathroom of a Bahamian casino. Card counting = thrown out/arrested/beat up? I was watching a show on Tommy Highland last night, who was one of the best card counters, and i was just wondering if in the year 2005, people still get ruffed up in the back room.

1. Caught Counting Cards Reddit
2. Caught Counting Cards

1. The big downside of being caught counting cards is being placed on a list that will bar you from playing in that casino ever again. Yes, there really is a nationwide database of suspected card counters. Here's a look at how blackjack dealers, casino staff, pit bosses, casino security, and gaming managers spot card.
2. Counting Cards Is Legal But It'll Piss Off the House. Since counting cards is just a matter of.

Counting cards is the stuff of casino legends. In fact, several high-profile Hollywood movies have been made based on the idea.

Have you seen 21? It's actually based on a true story about a legendary team of mathematicians out of MIT who went on a card counting tear and took the casinos for millions of dollars.

Yet, like most legends, the real card counting is often confused with the fantasies people project onto it. It isn't some magical way to trick the casino out of millions overnight, but a mathematical strategy to gain a very slight edge in the long run.

In this piece, I'm going to look at what card counting is, how casinos catch card counters, and how you can do it without getting caught.

What Is Card Counting and How Does It Work?

Put simply, card counting is a mathematical strategy which involves assigning a number value to each card which comes out of the shoe during a game of blackjack. The idea is to keep track of the cards and therefore know when it's more probable that you'll get 21, or close to it, which increases your chances of winning.

You don't have to be a math wizard to card count, but you'll need a few skills:

• You'll need to have an expert-level understanding of blackjack and the rules of the game
• You'll have to be able to add and subtract quickly as cards are dealt
• You'll need to be perceptive enough to keep track of every card dealt at the table, not just your own
• You should be able to act cool under pressure. Dealers and pit bosses are trained to spot and catch card counters

The following table will act as a quick reference on how to assign values to cards:

Naturally, the fewer low cards left in the deck, the higher your chances of getting blackjack. Thus, each time a low card comes out, that's good for your chances of winning. That's why you should add a point to the count.

Once you get your number, the next part involves dividing it by the number of decks left in the shoe. Some blackjack games involve six decks, while some involve eight. There are also single-deck variants.

Let's say your count is four, and there are six decks left in the shoe. You get the final count by diving four by six, for a total of 0.66.

The higher the count, the more likely you are to win. It's simple enough in theory, but it takes a fair degree of skill and practice to pull it off in real life where distractions are rife. One attractive person of the opposite sex walking by can distract you and cause you to lose count. There are many other potential distractions to contend with, too.

Of course, one of the toughest parts is knowing how many decks are left in the shoe. This is simple enough if you start playing at a 'fresh' table which a dealer has just come to, but it can be tricky if you land up and things are already in full swing.

There's no need to be too precise in this regard. Just estimate, and you'll be close enough for card counting to work.

How Do Casinos Catch Card Counters and How Can You Avoid Getting Caught?

While the beat-downs and chopping off of fingers is the stuff of Hollywood fiction (thankfully), you definitely won't get a warm reception if the casino catches you counting cards.

At best, you'll be escorted from the premises, and the security team will be on the lookout for you in the future. At worst, they'll scan your ID, take a photo of you, and send your image to every casino in town. They'll also likely ban you for life. This will make it impossible for you to count cards in the future.

The key to avoiding getting caught is to understand what casino pit bosses are looking for and try your best not to display those particular patterns of behavior.

Signs of card counting include those listed below.

Making Larger Bets When the Count Turns Favorable

Casinos have figured out that the best way to counteract card counters is to count cards themselves. They have complex software which does this for them, and when the count is favorable, the dealers know.

If you suddenly start making much larger bets when the count turns favorable, you can expect a tap on the shoulder from the pit boss. This is a dead giveaway since it's rare for players to deviate from their average bet size at the best of times, let alone when the count suddenly turns to their advantage.

The best way to avoid being detected in this way is to either increase the size of your bets slowly or don't change them at all. You could also vary them throughout gameplay, so you're less predictable, for example by making a few larger bets when the count isn't as favorable to throw them off the scent.

The Sudden Arrival of Big Bettors

In the same way that the casino looks out for sudden increases in bet size, they also keep an eye out for the sudden arrival of large bettors. This could be a sign that a team is working together and a player at the table has been watching and has now sent a signal to another team member to roll in and bet big.

If you are working as part of a card counting team, it's best to keep things subtle. If the count turns favorable, perhaps it's best for the big bettor to hang back for a while, perhaps he or she doesn't have to bet so big as to raise suspicions, or perhaps they could join the table earlier in anticipation of the change in count – for example, when you're getting close to a favorable count.

If a high roller is playing and betting big at another table and then switches, this might be enough to muddy the waters. That way, casino security won't find anything suspicious about them betting big, as it will have been their behavioral pattern throughout the night.

However, this comes with its own risks. Can your bankroll support them betting big at a less favorable table for long enough? Can you then make back enough to cover those potential losses? These things must be considered before using a 'big bettor' as part of your team.

Suspicious Communicating and Signaling

For any card counting team to be successful, there has to be a way to communicate with other team members. Any messages sent between parties, no matter how subtle, present a chance for the casino to catch you card counting.

You might cough, roll up your left sleeve, or use some sort of device to communicate with a team member at another table to signal that the count has turned.

Pony Boy 2- Win, Place And Show-Off IMG Year: 2005 Genre: Bareback Sex, Big Cocks, Big Loads, Collegiates, European, Facial Cumshots, Oral Sex. Win Place and Show performing Gold at the Lafayette Club in Manchester NH from 6-8-01. Dick Winn - Rhythm Guitar, Marcel Proulx - Bass/Vocals, Paul.

Casino security crews are far from stupid. They didn't get to be in charge of safeguarding millions of dollars by being vacant between the ears. They are trained and know every move in the book. Even the most subtle things will be picked up on, and they won't wait around to find out if they're right.

If you must communicate, keep it to a minimum. Also, pick responsible team members who know how to be subtle, stay sober, and play their part just like they would on a set.

Tips for Evading Detection While Counting Cards

While the above behaviors should be avoided as they are dead giveaways to casino pit bosses, there are also some things which you should proactively do to increase your chances of staying under the radar.

Follow these card counting tips to avoid being escorted out and having your name/photo spread all over town:

• Keep it secret. During World War II, there was a famous poster which read 'Loose Lips Sink Ships.' This was incredibly effective and easy to remember. It applies to card counting, too. Word spreads fast, especially in our web-connected world. If you tell someone about your card counting activities, you can be sure they know someone who knows someone who works in casino security. Expect the word to get out quickly.
• Don't be greedy. Greed has brought down kings and empires, and it can bring down your card counting gig, too. The more money you win, the more suspicious the casino will become, and the closer they'll watch you. If you start showing up often and win every time, you can be sure you'll soon have your card marked.
• Camouflage is key. One of the best ways to avoid detection is to deliberately lose a few hands when the count is favorable. In fact, it's best to visit the same casino you've won at sometimes and lose altogether. If you win every time, you'll soon be caught. Walk away from favorable counts, lose a few hands here and there, and sometimes play without counting. All of this makes it harder for the casino security to spot suspicious patterns in your behavior.
• Pocket your chips. There's nothing that will draw suspicion quicker than an ever-growing mountain of casino chips on the table. Casino workers know the odds and will grow suspicious when you keep beating them. While they'll take note if you're winning anyway, the pile of chips is an extra visual reminder that might prompt the dealer to alert security.
• Practice makes perfect. Card counting is extremely hard work mentally. Try it and see for yourself. It's not easy to keep track of the cards, let alone pay attention to your own behavior, too. Like everything, practice makes perfect. The more you do this, the better you'll get. Eventually, these counter-tracking behaviors will become subconscious, and you can focus on the cards.
• Pick casinos carefully. You're much less likely to get caught at a mom-and-pop casino in the country than you are at the Bellagio in Vegas. Why? Resources! You can be sure that world-famous casinos have cutting-edge security gear, larger teams, and better access to information. While I'm on this point, I'd also advise you to play at different casinos each time. Don't show up at the same place more than a few times a year.
• Spread the wealth. Everybody loves a tip, and casino workers are no exception. Tip the dealer, tip staff who bring you drink, and spread some of the money you're winning back into the casino. In fact, if you just want to count cards to bankroll a high-rolling night at the tables and a private suite afterwards, the casino might care a lot less about what you're doing, since you're giving most of it back anyway!

Card Counting – Your Questions Answered

Q. Is card counting illegal?

Caught Counting Cards Reddit

However, you could be tossed out onto the street and banned from gambling at that casino (or any other gambling establishments by the same owner).

Q. Should I wear a disguise when card counting?

If you do decide to wear a disguise, you should keep it subtle. Hair dye, a change of hairstyle, and false facial hair should be more than enough.

Q. Can I count cards at online casinos?

If these machines are used, it will render your attempts to count cards ineffective.

Q. What's the best piece of advice you have for a beginner card counter?

The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide. The team and its successors operated successfully from 1979 through the beginning of the 21st century. Many other blackjack teams have been formed around the world with the goal of beating the casinos.

Blackjack and card counting[edit]

Blackjack can be legally beaten by a skilled player. Beyond the basic strategy of when to hit and when to stand, individual players can use card counting, shuffle tracking, or hole carding to improve their odds. Since the early 1960s, a large number of card counting schemes have been published, and casinos have adjusted the rules of play in an attempt to counter the most popular methods. The idea behind all card counting is that, because a low card is usually bad and a high card usually good, and as cards already seen since the last shuffle cannot be at the top of the deck and thus drawn, the counter can determine the high and low cards that have already been played. They thus know the probability of getting a high card (10,J,Q,K,A) as compared to a low card (2,3,4,5,6).

In 1979, six MIT students and residents of the Burton-Conner House at MIT taught themselves card-counting. They traveled to Atlantic City during the spring break to win their fortune. The group went their separate ways when most of them graduated in May of that year. Most never gambled again, but some of them maintained an avid interest in card counting and remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two of them, J.P. Massar and Jonathan, offered a course on blackjack for MIT's January, 1980 Independent Activities Period (IAP), during which classes may be offered on almost any subject.

First MIT blackjack 'bank'[edit]

In late November 1979, Dave, a professional blackjack player contacted one of the card-counting students, J.P. Massar, after seeing a notice for the blackjack course. He proposed forming a new group to go to Atlantic City to take advantage of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission's recent ruling that made it illegal for the Atlantic City casinos to ban card counters. Casinos instead have to take other countermeasures like shuffling the cards earlier than normal, using more decks of cards, or offering games with worse rules to destroy the advantage gained by counting—even though these all negatively impact the non-counter as well.^[1]

The group of four players, a professional gambler, and an investor who put up most of their capital ($5,000), went to Atlantic City in late December. They recruited more MIT students as players at the January blackjack class. They played intermittently through May 1980 and increased their capital four-fold, but were nonetheless more like a loose group sharing capital than a team with consistent strategies and quality control.

'Mr. M' meets Bill Kaplan[edit]

Casino security crews are far from stupid. They didn't get to be in charge of safeguarding millions of dollars by being vacant between the ears. They are trained and know every move in the book. Even the most subtle things will be picked up on, and they won't wait around to find out if they're right.

If you must communicate, keep it to a minimum. Also, pick responsible team members who know how to be subtle, stay sober, and play their part just like they would on a set.

Tips for Evading Detection While Counting Cards

While the above behaviors should be avoided as they are dead giveaways to casino pit bosses, there are also some things which you should proactively do to increase your chances of staying under the radar.

Follow these card counting tips to avoid being escorted out and having your name/photo spread all over town:

• Keep it secret. During World War II, there was a famous poster which read 'Loose Lips Sink Ships.' This was incredibly effective and easy to remember. It applies to card counting, too. Word spreads fast, especially in our web-connected world. If you tell someone about your card counting activities, you can be sure they know someone who knows someone who works in casino security. Expect the word to get out quickly.
• Don't be greedy. Greed has brought down kings and empires, and it can bring down your card counting gig, too. The more money you win, the more suspicious the casino will become, and the closer they'll watch you. If you start showing up often and win every time, you can be sure you'll soon have your card marked.
• Camouflage is key. One of the best ways to avoid detection is to deliberately lose a few hands when the count is favorable. In fact, it's best to visit the same casino you've won at sometimes and lose altogether. If you win every time, you'll soon be caught. Walk away from favorable counts, lose a few hands here and there, and sometimes play without counting. All of this makes it harder for the casino security to spot suspicious patterns in your behavior.
• Pocket your chips. There's nothing that will draw suspicion quicker than an ever-growing mountain of casino chips on the table. Casino workers know the odds and will grow suspicious when you keep beating them. While they'll take note if you're winning anyway, the pile of chips is an extra visual reminder that might prompt the dealer to alert security.
• Practice makes perfect. Card counting is extremely hard work mentally. Try it and see for yourself. It's not easy to keep track of the cards, let alone pay attention to your own behavior, too. Like everything, practice makes perfect. The more you do this, the better you'll get. Eventually, these counter-tracking behaviors will become subconscious, and you can focus on the cards.
• Pick casinos carefully. You're much less likely to get caught at a mom-and-pop casino in the country than you are at the Bellagio in Vegas. Why? Resources! You can be sure that world-famous casinos have cutting-edge security gear, larger teams, and better access to information. While I'm on this point, I'd also advise you to play at different casinos each time. Don't show up at the same place more than a few times a year.
• Spread the wealth. Everybody loves a tip, and casino workers are no exception. Tip the dealer, tip staff who bring you drink, and spread some of the money you're winning back into the casino. In fact, if you just want to count cards to bankroll a high-rolling night at the tables and a private suite afterwards, the casino might care a lot less about what you're doing, since you're giving most of it back anyway!

Card Counting – Your Questions Answered

Q. Is card counting illegal?

Caught Counting Cards Reddit

However, you could be tossed out onto the street and banned from gambling at that casino (or any other gambling establishments by the same owner).

Q. Should I wear a disguise when card counting?

If you do decide to wear a disguise, you should keep it subtle. Hair dye, a change of hairstyle, and false facial hair should be more than enough.

Q. Can I count cards at online casinos?

If these machines are used, it will render your attempts to count cards ineffective.

Q. What's the best piece of advice you have for a beginner card counter?

The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide. The team and its successors operated successfully from 1979 through the beginning of the 21st century. Many other blackjack teams have been formed around the world with the goal of beating the casinos.

Blackjack and card counting[edit]

Blackjack can be legally beaten by a skilled player. Beyond the basic strategy of when to hit and when to stand, individual players can use card counting, shuffle tracking, or hole carding to improve their odds. Since the early 1960s, a large number of card counting schemes have been published, and casinos have adjusted the rules of play in an attempt to counter the most popular methods. The idea behind all card counting is that, because a low card is usually bad and a high card usually good, and as cards already seen since the last shuffle cannot be at the top of the deck and thus drawn, the counter can determine the high and low cards that have already been played. They thus know the probability of getting a high card (10,J,Q,K,A) as compared to a low card (2,3,4,5,6).

In 1979, six MIT students and residents of the Burton-Conner House at MIT taught themselves card-counting. They traveled to Atlantic City during the spring break to win their fortune. The group went their separate ways when most of them graduated in May of that year. Most never gambled again, but some of them maintained an avid interest in card counting and remained in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two of them, J.P. Massar and Jonathan, offered a course on blackjack for MIT's January, 1980 Independent Activities Period (IAP), during which classes may be offered on almost any subject.

First MIT blackjack 'bank'[edit]

In late November 1979, Dave, a professional blackjack player contacted one of the card-counting students, J.P. Massar, after seeing a notice for the blackjack course. He proposed forming a new group to go to Atlantic City to take advantage of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission's recent ruling that made it illegal for the Atlantic City casinos to ban card counters. Casinos instead have to take other countermeasures like shuffling the cards earlier than normal, using more decks of cards, or offering games with worse rules to destroy the advantage gained by counting—even though these all negatively impact the non-counter as well.^[1]

The group of four players, a professional gambler, and an investor who put up most of their capital ($5,000), went to Atlantic City in late December. They recruited more MIT students as players at the January blackjack class. They played intermittently through May 1980 and increased their capital four-fold, but were nonetheless more like a loose group sharing capital than a team with consistent strategies and quality control.

'Mr. M' meets Bill Kaplan[edit]

In May 1980, J. P. Massar, known as 'Mr. M' in the History Channel documentary, overheard a conversation about professional blackjack at a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge. He introduced himself to the speaker, Bill Kaplan, a 1980 Harvard MBA graduate who had run a successful blackjack team in Las Vegas three years earlier. Kaplan had earned his BA at Harvard in 1977 and delayed his admission to Harvard Business School for a year, when he moved to Las Vegas and formed a team of blackjack players using his own research and statistical analysis of the game. Using funds he received on graduation as Harvard's outstanding scholar-athlete, Kaplan generated more than a 35 fold rate of return in fewer than nine months of play.^[2]

Kaplan continued to run his Las Vegas blackjack team as a sideline while attending Harvard Business School but, by the time of his graduation in May 1980, the players were so 'burnt out' in Nevada they were forced to hit the international circuit. Not feeling he could continue to manage the team successfully while they traveled throughout Europe and elsewhere, encountering different rules, playing conditions, and casino practices, Kaplan parted ways with his teammates, who then splintered into multiple small playing teams in pursuit of more favorable conditions throughout the world.

Kaplan observes Massar and friends in action[edit]

After meeting Kaplan and hearing about his blackjack successes, Massar asked Kaplan if he was interested in going with a few of Massar's blackjack-playing friends to Atlantic City to observe their play. Given the fortuitous timing (Kaplan's parting with his Las Vegas team), he agreed to go in the hopes of putting together a new local team that he could train and manage.

Kaplan observed Massar and his teammates playing for a weekend in Atlantic City. He noted that each of the players used a different, and overcomplicated, card counting strategy. This resulted in error rates that undermined the benefits of the more complicated strategies. Upon returning to Cambridge, Kaplan detailed the problems he observed to Massar.

Kaplan capitalizes a new team[edit]

Kaplan said he would back a team but it had to be run as a business with formal management procedures, a required counting and betting system, strict training and player approval processes, and careful tracking of all casino play. A couple of the players were initially averse to the idea. They had no interest in having to learn a new playing system, being put through 'trial by fire' checkout procedures before being approved to play, being supervised in the casinos, or having to fill out detailed player sheets (such as casino, cash in and cash out totals, time period, betting strategy and limits, and the rest) for every playing session. However, their keen interest in the game coupled with Kaplan's successful track record won out.

The newly capitalised 'bank' of the MIT Blackjack Team started on 1 August 1980. The investment stake was $89,000, with both outside investors and players putting up the capital. Ten players, including Kaplan, Massar, Jonathan, Goose, and 'Big Dave' (aka 'coach', to distinguish from the Dave in the first round) played on this bank. Ten weeks later they more than doubled the original stake. Profits per hour played at the tables were $162.50, statistically equivalent to the projected rate of $170/hour detailed in the investor offering prospectus. Per the terms of the investment offering, players and investors split the profits with players paid in proportion to their playing hours and computer simulated win rates. Over the ten-week period of this first bank, players, mostly undergraduates, earned an average of over $80/hour while investors achieved an annualized return in excess of 250%.

Strategy and techniques[edit]

The team often recruited students through flyers and the players' friends from college campuses across the country. The team tested potential members to find out if they were suitable candidates and, if they were, the team thoroughly trained the new members for free. Fully trained players had to pass an intense 'trial by fire,' consisting of playing through 8 six-deck shoes with almost perfect play, and then undergo further training, supervision, and similar check-outs in actual casino play until they could become full stakes players.

The group combined individual play with a team approach of counters and big players to maximize opportunities and disguise the betting patterns that card counting produces. In a 2002 interview in Blackjack Forum magazine,^[3] John Chang, an MIT undergrad who joined the team in late 1980 (and became MIT team co-manager in the mid-1980s and 1990s), reported that, in addition to classic card counting and blackjack team techniques, at various times the group used advanced shuffle and ace tracking techniques. While the MIT team's card counting techniques can give players an overall edge of about 2 percent, some of the MIT team's methods have been established as gaining players an overall edge of about 4 percent.^{[citation needed]} In his interview, Chang reported that the MIT team had difficulty attaining such edges in actual play, and their overall results had been best with straight card counting.

The MIT Team's approach was originally developed by Al Francesco, elected by professional gamblers as one of the original seven inductees into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Blackjack team play was first written about by Ken Uston, an early member of Al Francesco's teams. Uston's book on blackjack team play, Million Dollar Blackjack, was published shortly before the founding of the first MIT team. Kaplan enhanced Francesco's team methods and used them for the MIT team. The team concept enabled players and investors to leverage both their time and money, reducing their 'risk of ruin' while also making it more difficult for casinos to detect card counting at their tables.

Team history 1980–1990[edit]

The MIT Blackjack Team continued to play throughout the 1980s, growing to as many as 35 players in 1984 with a capitalization of as much as $350,000. Having played and run successful teams since 1977, Kaplan reached a point in late 1984 where he could not show his face in any casino without being followed by the casino personnel in search of his team members. As a consequence he decided to fall back on his growing real estate investment and development company, his 'day job' since 1980, and stopped managing the team. He continued for another year or so as an occasional player and investor in the team, now being run by Massar, Chang and Bill Rubin, a player who joined the team in 1984.

The MIT Blackjack Team ran at least 22 partnerships in the time period from late 1979 through 1989. At least 70 people played on the team in some capacity (either as counters, Big Players, or in various supporting roles) over that time span. Every partnership was profitable during this time period, after paying all expenses as well as the players' and managers' share of the winnings, with returns to investors ranging from 4%/year to over 300%/year.

Strategic Investments 1992–1993[edit]

In 1992, Bill Kaplan, J.P. Massar, and John Chang decided to capitalize on the opening of Foxwoods Casino in nearby Connecticut, where they planned to train new players. Acting as the General Partner, they formed a Massachusetts Limited Partnership in June 1992 called Strategic Investments to bankroll the new team. Structured similar to the numerous real estate development limited partnerships that Kaplan had formed, the limited partnership raised a million dollars, significantly more money than any of their previous teams, with a method based on Edward Thorp's high low system. It involved three players: a big player, a controller, and a spotter. The spotter checked when the deck went positive with card counting, the controller would bet small constantly, wasting money, and verifying the spotter's count. Once the controller found a positive, he would signal to the big player. He would make a massive bet, and win big. Confident with this new funding, the three general partners ramped up their recruitment and training efforts to capitalize on the opportunity.

Over the next two years, the MIT Team grew to nearly 80 players, including groups and players in Cambridge, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, and Washington. Sarah McCord, who joined the team in 1983 as an MIT student and later moved to California, was added as a partner soon after SI was formed and became responsible for training and recruitment of West Coast players.

At various times, there were nearly 30 players playing simultaneously at different casinos around the world, including Native American casinos throughout the country, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Canada, and island locations. Never before had casinos throughout the world seen such an organized and scientific onslaught directed at the game. While the profits rolled in, so did the 'heat' from the casinos, and many MIT Team members were identified and barred. These members were replaced by fresh players from MIT, Harvard, and other colleges and companies, and play continued. Eventually, investigators hired by casinos realized that many of those they had banned had addresses in or near Cambridge, and the connection to MIT and a formalized team became clear. The detectives obtained copies of recent MIT yearbooks and added photographs from it to their image database.

With its leading players banned from most casinos and other more lucrative investment opportunities opening up at the end of the recession, Strategic Investments paid out its substantial earnings to players and investors and dissolved its partnership on December 31, 1993.

1994 and forward[edit]

After the dissolution of Strategic Investments, a few of the players took their winnings and split off into two independent groups. The Amphibians were primarily led by Semyon Dukach, with Dukach as the big player, Katie Lilienkamp (a controller), and Andy Bloch (a spotter). The other team was the Reptiles, led by Mike Aponte, Manlio Lopez and Wes Atamian. These teams had various legal structures, and at times million dollar banks and 50+ players. By 2000 the 15+ year reign of the MIT Blackjack Teams came to an end as players drifted into other pursuits.

In 1999, a member of the Amphibians won at Max Rubin's 3rd Annual Blackjack Ball competition. The event was featured in an October 1999 Cigar Aficionado article, which said the winner earned the unofficial title 'Most Feared Man in the Casino Business'.^[4]

In the media[edit]

Books[edit]

• A variety of stories about a few of the players from the MIT Blackjack Team formed the basis of The New York Times best-sellingBringing Down the House, written by Ben Mezrich. While originally marketed as nonfiction, Mezrich later admitted characters and stories in the book were mostly fictive and composites of players and stories he had heard about through hearsay. The private investigation firm referred to as Plymouth in Bringing Down the House was Griffin Investigations.^[5]
• Mezrich wrote a follow-up book, Busting Vegas, which took even greater liberty with the actual happenings of the team. Many events in this book were at least partly based on incidents that occurred during the team's Strategic Investments era.^[6]
• Jeffrey Ma wrote a book titled The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business about his time on the 1994 MIT blackjack team.
• Nathaniel Tilton, a student of former MIT team captains Mike Aponte and Semyon Dukach, authored The Blackjack Life detailing his experiences playing and being trained by the MIT Blackjack Team players.^[7]

Caught Counting Cards

Films[edit]

• The 2004 film The Last Casino is loosely based on this premise and features three students and a professor counting cards in Ontario and Quebec.^[8]
• The 2008 film 21, inspired by Bringing Down the House and produced by and starring Kevin Spacey and Jim Sturgess, was released on March 28, 2008 by Columbia Pictures. Jeff Ma and Henry Houh, former players on the team, appear in the movie as casino dealers, and Bill Kaplan appears in a cameo in the background of the underground Chinese gambling parlor scene. The script took significant artistic license with events, with most of its plot being invented for the movie, hence it refers to being 'inspired by true events' rather than 'based on true events.' One of the most significant departures from reality was the portrayal of the team being run by a professor (the Kevin Spacey character), when in reality the team was always run by students and alumni. The characters in the movie were also fictionalized amalgams of various players throughout the years of the team's existence - for example, the character Choi is very loosely (and inaccurately) based on Johnny Chang, and the character Ben Campbell, is an amalgam of numerous players, with the opening scene based on Big Dave's interview, and subsequent admission to Harvard Medical School, where much of the interview revolved around his participation on the team.
• The 2010 film Teen Patti is an uncredited remake of 21.

Television[edit]

• The Mysteries at the Museum series on the Travel Channel featured the story of the MIT Blackjack Team in the episode titled 'Siamese Twins, Assassin Umbrella, Capone's Cell'.
• The story of the MIT Blackjack Team, in its incarnation as Strategic Investments, was told in The History Channel documentary, Breaking Vegas, directed by Bruce David Klein.
• The Bringing Down The House period was featured on episodes of the Game Show Network documentary series, Anything to Win, and HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (episode 116).
• The BBC documentary, Making Millions the Easy Way, addressed the Bringing Down the House period as part of the renowned 'Horizon' strand (directed by Johanna Gibbon), told the story of a Strategic Investments breakaway group, and revealed the science behind the winning formula.
• 'Double Down', an episode of Numb3rs concerned a counting group, led by a High School teacher, which launders money through casino winnings.

Other[edit]

Several members of the two teams have used their expertise to start public speaking careers as well as businesses teaching others how to count cards. For example:

• Mike Aponte of the Reptiles co-founded a company with former MIT Blackjack Team member David Irvine called the Blackjack Institute.
• Semyon Dukach of the Amphibians founded Blackjack Science.

References[edit]

1. ^Griffin, Peter A. (1979). The Theory of Blackjack. Huntington Press. ISBN0-915141-02-7.
2. ^'How a team of students beat the casinos'. BBC.com. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
3. ^Blackjack Forum interview with Johnny Chang
4. ^The Twenty One Club: The annual blackjack ball hosts Gambling's Most Furtive (and Quirky) FraternityArchived 2009-04-20 at the Wayback Machine cigaraficionado.com, Sept/Oct 1999
5. ^Ian Kaplan (March 2004). 'review of Bringing Down the House'.
6. ^ThePOGG (10 November 2012). 'ThePOGG Interviews – Semyon Dukach – MIT Card Counting team captain'.
7. ^'ThePOGG Interviews – Nathaniel Tilton author of 'The Blackjack Life''. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
8. ^The Last Casino at IMDb.Retrieved 2009-11-03.

External links[edit]