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Blackjack legends the MIT blackjack team |
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There are plenty of stories about
infamous casino cheats that have done the rounds over the years, but although
they didnt break the law and didnt do anything particularly
innovative in the way they played the casinos at their own game, the MIT
blackjack team has to be one of the most legendary blackjack success
stories.
A group of Massachusetts Institute
of Technology students decided to use the frowned upon, and just about legal,
practice of card counting to beat the dealers in casino games of blackjack.
Back in the 1970s, the group of MIT students practiced their card counting
techniques and team work in dorm rooms and basements so that they were well
prepared for a number of different situations, both in what could happen during
a game and in how to handle the casino staff. Already at this time, casino
staff were well-versed in how to spot card counters and once they did, they
would politely take them to the exit!
After hours of practice play over
a period of months, the team set themselves loose on the casinos and during
their first weekend at the blackjack table won an incredible $400,000.
Following their success the
MIT
blackjack team continued this shady practice through the years, recruiting
new and highly-intelligent members from both MIT and other top colleges like
Harvard. They gained such a reputation that as they became better known that
they ended up playing abroad more often than at home in the States.
Their exploits featured in a non-fiction book by Ben Mezrich, Bringing
Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for
Millions. Although presented as non-fiction, many of the characters in the book
are composites and some of the events described have been refuted by the people
the characters are actually based on. Bringing Down the House was used as the
inspiration for the film 21, released in 2008, and starring Kevin Spacey as a
professor at MIT who recruits a group of students to pull off a casino heist
using blackjack.
MIT is also widely acknowledged to be the birthplace of
card counting as a system to beat blackjack, and an MIT professor Edward Thorp
is often referred to as the father of card counting. Thorp analysed the
probabilities of the game of blackjack using an IBM 704 computer. He tested his
theory out with a road trip to casinos in Reno, Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. With
co-conspirator Manny Kimmel, Thorp earned $11,000 during the first weekend of
playing his system. However, instead of using the card counting system to rip
off casinos completely, Thorp decided to publish his findings and theory in his
book, Beat the Dealer (1996). The book sold more than 700,000 copies and even
made it onto the New York Times best seller list, providing Thorp with an ample
income to enjoy on pursuits such as the odd trip to the casino!
It
should be unsurprising, then, that both the MIT Blackjack Team and Richard
Thorp have both been inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. |
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