The story behind the hype on the mit blackjack card counting team longtime mit blackjack team manager johnny c discusses the reality behind the mit team s training practices, playing strategies, successes and failures in this blackjack forum interview in its professional gamblers at blackjack series. Edward thorp explained the concept of card counting to all average players in 1962 when published his book beat the dealer. The book follows the real characters and true story in only parts. If not, then this article will provide you the story about the mit blackjack team. This group of geniuses met when they were studying at the most prestigious universities in the united states, including harvard, columbia and the massachusetts institute of technology mit. Their escapades were widely reported by the news media, by hollywood with movies glamorizing their successes and failures and by numerous books. The mit blackjack team has become famous worldwide for their success at beating the game of blackjack in the casinos of las vegas. The videos below include interviews with john chang, jeff ma, and mike aponte. Mit card counting team masters of the heist mike aponte. Movies become so much more enjoyable when they are based on actual events. The inside story of six mit students who took vegas for millions is a book by ben mezrich about a group of mit card counters commonly known as the mit blackjack team. Training, extensive training, checkout procedures, two hours of perfect play, leaving the table right away.
The mit blackjack team mit black jack team in the media. They proved the vegas blackjack system was beatable by beating the hell out of it. How the mit students beat the casinos at blackjack by henry tamburin bringing down the house by ben mezrich, a book the describes how a team of mit students won millions playing blackjack, has sparked a lot of interest from the general public in blackjack and in particular card counting. If you know the mit blackjack team you should know all strategies and systems they used for winning. Select any poster below to play the movie, totally free. This method seeded the idea of the mit blackjack team in the early 1990s, events chronicled in the new york times bestseller bringing down the house and the subsequent movie 21. Learn how the mit blackjack team from the movie 21 beat the casinos for millions. What was it like to be a part of the mit blackjack team originally appeared on quora.
Mar 29, 2017 this method seeded the idea of the mit blackjack team in the early 1990s, events chronicled in the new york times bestseller bringing down the house and the subsequent movie 21. As bill kaplan the leader of the mit blackjack team and a 1980 harvard mba graduate explains in his interview to boston magazine, mit was the only team who really won year over year, because we ran it like a business. May 26, 2014 but in the 1990s the mit blackjack team proved the punter didnt have to be the loser. The mit blackjack teams were vaulted into the public eye with publication of ben mezrichs book bring down the house in the early 2000s, and the subsequent 2008 major motion picture 21. Everything started in 1979, when professional blackjack player bill kaplan was strolling through the mit campus in.
Jun 29, 2012 based on the books by ben mezrich that cover the legendary mit blackjack teams. Features world series of blackjack champion, mike aponte. The whole thing was completely secret for years and years and years. When people refer to the mit blackjack team, they are really talking about a team of blackjack players from massachusetts institute of technology, harvard, and other prestigious universities who counted cards in order to defeat casinos and rake in massive winnings from games of blackjack. Kevin lewis is the main character in the book, he is an mit graduate and was invited to join the mit blackjack team in 1993. Im often asked how i became a member of the mit blackjack team. He had played with the team strategic investments, which was formed by john chang, bill kaplan and massar in 1992. A campus club turned serious underground blackjack ring comprised of mit students, the mit blackjack team formed a quickwitted crusade to pinpoint and take advantage of casino vulnerability.
With jim sturgess, kate bosworth, kevin spacey, aaron yoo. Released in 2008, 21 blackjack movie is a drama movie from columbia pictures. Though many of the group were of indian and asian descent, the movie whitewashed the cast, using mostly caucasian actors. Documentary tracing the attempts of a team of massachusetts institute of technology. Breaking vegas the story of the mit blackjack team documentary guru. If found to be incorrect please contact us for immediate correction. The book was a ny times bestseller and it was made into a movie 21. The movie had been directed by robert luketic and starred kevin spacey, kate bosworth, jim sturgees and jacob pitts.
The mit blackjack team is probably the most famous group of professional players in the game of blackjack and the sport of card counting. On the back of that, the bank of the mit blackjack team was formed on august 1, 1980. The mit blackjack team, formed in the early 1990s, was a group of collegiate mit gamblers that used mathematics to beat the house at the game of blackjack. To book speaker jeff ma, visit his speaker profile. Thorps beat the dealer and successfully implemented its card counting techniques to. The movie 21was based on the bestselling book, bringing down the house. Jul 24, 2015 the mit blackjack team the basis for the 21 movie. The last casino, which was released in 2004, is about a professor and his three students who count cards in various casinos in canada. Mit blackjack team 21 movie mit card counting team. Bringing down the house describes a collection of math whizzes from m. Massar, who was not only an active player, but also the manager of the. The adventures of the mit blackjack team recap of the events. It wasnt so much a team as it was a corporation that included leaders, players, and even investors. A brief history of the mit blackjack team, including a listing of media mentions on tv, in books, and the upcoming kevin spacey movie 21.
Semyon later became the leader of the team and the founder of. The mit blackjack team differed greatly from this model, though. The sophisticated strategies that the tactile team used are still an inspiration for everyday activities and this is something the massachusets institute of technology is still proud of. Behind the 21 film the real faces of ben campbells blackjack. One of the primary signalers on the mit blackjack team was jane willis. Agent and an interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their. Sep 27, 2019 read the full story of the mit blackjack card counting team. Jan 06, 2006 how mit students broke the bank in vegas. The movie 21, a fictional work loosely based on the story of the mit blackjack team that won millions of dollars from casinos across the country. Mike aponte, leader of the mit blackjack team featured in the movie 21, provides a card counting 101 from the def con xx conference in las vegas. Mit blackjack team college students who brought down the. Mit blackjack in wikipedia disclaimer the players in this article have not authorized the material on this website.
The film is inspired by the true story of the mit blackjack team as told in bringing down the house, the bestselling book by ben mezrich. Hirschtick was director of engineering at computervision from 19811983, and a manager at the mit cadlab. The movie 21 was based on the book bringing down the house by ben mezrich. The 2008 movie 21 centered on the reallife story of the mit blackjack team, a group of current and former students who beat the casinos at their own game by counting cards. That was how the mit blackjack team were always going to win.
Yuchun lee was part of the infamous mit blackjack team that inspired the movie 21. A journey through the inner world of card counting, the lessons of teamwork, and the clandestine pursuit of beating the odds by nathaniel tilton, joseph bevilacqua, et al. The movie was marketed as being inspired by a true story and was very much the hollywood version of what really happened. And now you want to count cards like the mit blackjack team. Count cards like the mit blackjack team winning blackjack.
The articles were written based on public domain research. The 21 true story reveals that the real mit blackjack team, on which the movie was based, played in the early 1990s. 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. Really a pretty good dramatic recreation of the popular mit blackjack team. Mit blackjack team who can resist a movie with a tag line like they proved vegas was beatableby beating the hell out of it.
Professional blackjack had been written by one of the most famous members of the mit team. The mit teams operated from 1979 through the mid 1990s and changed the way casinos view and protect their blackjack games. Keep on reading to learn the whole mit team story about how we beat the casinos. It might seem rather serious, but that was how kaplan intended it. Mit blackjack team how much money did they win playing. In the beginning, however, the team was little more than a bunch of college guys getting together to drink beer and play cards. The mit blackjack team has since been immortalized in books such as bringing down the house by ben mezrich, a documentary breaking vegas and the blackjack movie 21, directed by oscar winner kevin spacey. On imdb tv, you can catch hollywood hits and popular tv series at no cost. The mit blackjack team first came into existence in 1980. Card counting is a skill where players can count the type of cards. While attending mit, dukach was trained as a player on the mit blackjack team whose exploits were loosely depicted in the hollywood movie 21. He was a player and instructor on the mit blackjack team featured in the movies 21 and breaking vegas.
During my senior year at mit, a good friend recruited me to join a card counting team. Meet former players from the real mit blackjack team, who were the inspiration for the 21 movie true story. Based on the books by ben mezrich that cover the legendary mit blackjack teams. The story of the mit blackjack team hit the big screen in the major motion picture, 21. The mit blackjack prodigy who inspired the movie 21 sold. The 4 venoms of the mit blackjack team online blackjack. They travelled all over the world to beat casinos at blackjack through card counting and a range of more sophisticated strategies. The team and its successors operated successfully from 1979 through the beginning of the 21st century. This site would not be complete if we didnt write a little bit about them and what the true story was behind the famous blockbuster 21 movie. The team once more disbanded in 1993, bringing about the official end of the mit blackjack team. Mit blackjack team detailed information on their history. Mike aponte, leader of the mit blackjack team featured in the movie 21, provides a card counting 101 from the def con xx conference in las. There was a mit blackjack team, and they did manage to earn millions by playing casino games.
The mit blackjack team has been a source of entertainment for decades now, with many books and movies being inspired by their story. I didnt know the first thing about card counting but i had to find out more. Semyon dukach, our founder, was a member of the mit blackjack team and a professional blackjack player. This page pretty much relates everything you would hope to know about the card counters on the mit black jack team. The movie has since then brought to light many details about the team.
The 2008 movie, 21, was inspired by the bestselling book bringing down the house by ben mezrich. Though the book is classified as nonfiction, the boston globe alleges that the book contains significant fictional elements, that many of the key events propelling the drama did not occur in real life. The mit blackjack team was a group of students and exstudents from massachusetts institute of technology, harvard business school, harvard university, and other leading colleges who used card counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide. The mit blackjack team was made up of students and exstudents from leading colleges like harvard university, harvard business school and massachusetts institute of technology. The movie had been based on the book bringing down the house by ben mezrich which was inspired by the true story of the mit team. There are many events described in the movie did not take place at all and were greatly embellished. The mit blackjack team was a group of students and exstudents from massachusetts institute. The hit hollywood movie 21 was based on ben mezrichs book, bringing down the house, which chronicled the resurgence of the mit blackjack team in the 1990s. In the movie 21, willis was portrayed by actress kate bosworth. A vertical stack of three evenly spaced horizontal lines.
According to john chang who was the original teams manger and investor the book got it half right and the movie threw out that half. The 2008 film starring kevin spacey and laurence fishburne was largely. Las vegas single deck blackjack rules pat benatar ip casino. Jun 11, 2015 youve read about them in articles and books. Nov 07, 2019 this is a brief glimpse into the serendipitous lives and times of the mit blackjack team, one of the most enduring legends of contemporary gambling.
For two years in the early 90s, the team reaped millions from casinos. Even people who are unfamiliar with blackjack and gambling know the story of the mit students, thanks in large part to the popular movie 21. The movie was instantly a success and made the mit blackjack team and the concept of card counting popular all over again. The mit blackjack team, formed in the eighties, comprised six old students of massachusetts institute of technology mit, who shared a keen interest in card games and wanted to use their knowledge, skills, and expertise to win in millions. Mit blackjack team mit card counting blackjack movie 21. The actors were quite good and the pacing and editing skillful for such a limited budget film. Dec 01, 20 desperate to pay off his debt, barnes recruits three brilliant graduate students and teaches them the secrets to win at blackjack, with team play and card counting. Card counting 101 mike aponte mit blackjack team youtube. The movie shows the characters talking on cell phones and playing blackjack at the red rock and planet hollywood casinos, which didnt open until 2006 and 2007, respectively. It may be difficult to believe, but the team that was founded in 1979. Fichas casino gran madrid mit blackjack team movie several ultimate russian roulette android download develop on to both the is it of view because taxpayers program the president airports. The mit blackjack team s origins arent traced back to mit at all, but to harvard, where bill kaplan had been working with friends on creating blackjack teams for a number of years. We were totally paranoid about security and the casinos could throw you out at any time so.