Gambling

What is the first thing that enters your mind when you think of MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: engineering genius hacker, math whiz, visionary, geek? If you choose one of them, you’d be right. Mix together, add some smoke and mirrors, big-time anonymous investors, a dash of anarchy get a great extent, and one of the best scams of all time - the MIT blackjack team - the high risks in the final instance, the genius of support piracy! Infamy is nothing new at MIT. Some of the pirates in the world originated in the hallowed halls of MIT wants, but if a gifted math professor and six gifted students together, organized piracy was promoted to dizzying heights and snookered organized gambling to the tune of million! It was sweet music to the ears of millions of people who have left behind a small fortune in trying to beat the casinos.

After School

The MIT Blackjack team began as an after school club in classrooms where students gathered on campus to apply their genius to card games, unwind (at least by the standards of the MIT), held, and have fun. The club eventually became a serious matter. The team created a complete set of models underground casino, apartments, warehouses, and classrooms scattered across Boston where he worked diligently to perfect their system. Before the game live at the casino, each player must be a series of rigorous tests that all roles in simulated casinos, including harassment and distraction. But they were not ready for the majors to further their skills in Boston’s Chinatown before heading to Las Vegas.

Card Counting

Card counting, the heart of your system is a proven winner. Blackjack odds offer the unique opportunity for knowledge, diligence and discipline to consistently beating the house. The casinos know that Blackjack is vulnerable (ie intelligent player, disciplined, actually have a chance to win), and that is why they ban the big winners and harass and threaten potential winners.

Casino management further understands that it takes only one or two errors, the system gain for a player to win to make it at home, and that’s the only reason to tolerate card counting - “until used in against him. appeal to human weaknesses such as lack of discipline and distraction, to return to the house edge.

The MIT team used card counting as the foundation of his system, was one of a number of tools in your toolbox, magic, and even then it was not traditional card counting. He said a high-low system, based on statistical probability of receiving high cards or low, and was an additional technique for cutting the cards that the other benefits distorted in their favor.

Team members traveled together, seemingly as foreign. Everyone brings a well-designed series of false identities, the teams included several types of players, where each person has a clear role. Anonymous investors provided the stake and expected a return on your investment. An output of a part of a ROI 154% after expenses. The transport of large amounts of money back and forth was another obstacle to overcome with ingenuity. Cash traveled in every conceivable way: linked to organizations, “mules” in hollow crutches, just to name a few.

High Tech vs. low-tech

His reign lasted well into the 1990s when he toured the casino circuit with total abandon. To make your $ 400,000 in Las Vegas over the weekend is legendary. Casino technology was not yet at a stage which could be lifted with MIT genius. At least he had not made its way into practical application in Las Vegas, ironically, would be low-tech oversight that led the team to be in the final.

Casinos have learned to deal with card counters long before the MIT pikers hit the scene. When identifying a card counter, they make sure that his game was on the table a nightmare, and when the card to accept the home of a large sum, which immediately prohibited. Technology in the 1990s had matured rapidly to a point where bad news traveled. When the card counter was detected at a casino, it was almost impossible to escape detection in any other casino.

MIT Blackjack Team Profile

The casino bosses in Las Vegas, citing a long profile of the Blackjack card counter, but since the MIT team ran counter to the profile you have played for them, helping them to escape detection. The profile assumed one lone card counter. Careless team that seemingly random nature of the game also goes with the profile. But they were crazy like foxes - until no.

Finally, neglect brought them to their knees. And finally they lost their discipline and composure, the well-oiled machine began with the precision of a Swiss watch built to crumble. They began to fraternize in, and not just the usual temptations of Las Vegas, but each other - in public. An opportunity to relax and play the whole team points in a pool in Las Vegas blew his cover. The story of his settlement he made his way back to the streets of Boston before they finally disbanded. The scores eventually became against them, and the risks were too high for even the geniuses from MIT.

The last remaining team player was escorted to the table with the parting words: “You can play here, you’re too good for us ..”

Blackjack Team in the News

The story of the MIT blackjack team does not end with his death. ABC, CNN, History Channel and CBS 60 Minutes all picked up the story. Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of MIT students who took Vegas for millions Six people (Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 2002), by Ben Mezrich, reminiscent of the antics of the team since its inception to the bottom line through the eye team member, Kevin Lewis (not his real name). An enterprising former member currently offers seminars based on the system.

The final irony to play yet. Kevin Spacey is producing the film version of the book to be released by MGM sometime in 2006. One might wonder if the movie will help MGM back their losses in the MIT blackjack team.

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