So for about the past week I have been anticipating the release of the new movie "21". The story behind this one is what really got me. It is based on the true events that happened in the early to mid nineties about a handful of gifted MIT students who used card counting and a few other skills to make serious money at the game of blackjack in none other than Las Vegas.I was so interested in the story of how this came to be I went out Friday after work and bought the book in which the movie is based off of called "Bringing Down The House". I wanted to read the book before I went and saw the movie today so I proceeded to read all 340+ pages in a matter of hours. I don't read books very often and I sure as heck don't read entire books in one night. This one was different though. I finished reading and still wished there was more to read.
Having been to Vegas a few times it only heightened my interest since I've seen and walked through almost all the places they talked about in the book. (My friend Nick and I had quite a walk down the strip one day a few years back. Since we were under 21 at the time we generally had to "keep moving" so we covered a lot of ground that day.)
This team of gifted students not only could count cards but they also developed their own signals, language, and could act the part of whichever fake identity they were playing under that particular trip. They had to stay under the radar somehow. Although card counting is perfectly legal it is highly frowned upon and you can be asked to leave the casino if caught.
I will try and attempt to explain how the students did this but I apologize if it comes out a big jumbled mess.
The students used a hi-lo system of card counting among other things. When playing they keep a "running count" with every single card that is dealt. Cards 2-6 are given a value of +1, cards 7-9 have a value of 0 and cards 10-Ace have a value of -1. Each time one of these cards is dealt you apply it to the running count. A postive value is given to lower cards because when they come out of the deck it means there are more face cards left in the deck and that means there is a better chance to get blackjack. A negative value is given to 10-Ace because when they come out of the deck it means there are less of them left.
Usually one of the team members known as a "spotter" would sit at a table and keep track of the running count while betting the table minimum (every single time without varying the bet at all). When the running count got high, lets say up to +16 the spotter would signal to another team member known as a BP (Big Player) to come and sit at the table (usually signaled by crossing their arms behind their back). When the big player sat down the spotter would then say a sentence with their code words to convey the running count to the big player. Since this particular running count we said was at +16 the spotter would say something like "Wow, my drink is way too sweet." How does that convey the running count you ask? Well they matched up words with numbers to do this....the code word for 16 was "sweet" as in sweet 16. Other words like car meant 4...4 wheels on a car.....glove =5, you put 5 fingers in a glove, gun = 6, 6 bullets in a gun.....you get the idea. They had words for a lot of numbers.
When the big player was notified of the running count he would then have to convert that into a "true count" while still keeping track of every single card that was being dealt. To get the true count you take the running count and divide it by approximately how many decks are left in the shoe. So if we were playing with a 6 deck shoe and roughly 4 decks were left you'd divide the running count of 16 and divide it by 4 to get a true count of +4. If the true count showed positive results, then they'd change their bet size so they could earn more profit. When the deck would start go to get cold the BP could get up and go look for another spotter at another table.
The simplicity and complexity of this plan is what makes it fun. Anyone can learn to count cards, you just have to train your brain to do that. Yet not everyone can act a part and blend into a crowd while taking millions of dollars from the casino without getting caught. Of course, this team of expert blackjack players received their fair share of intimidation from pit bosses on the casino floors but overall their plan worked.....worked very well.
Eventually, technology caught up with the kids and the millions of "eyes in the sky" that Vegas has....all those cameras watching every single move on the casino floor....caught them. I say "caught them" but in reality they did nothing illegal, yet the fact that casinos are "private property" allow casino managers to pick and choose who they want in or out of there. They wanted these kids out. One of the MIT students, Jeff Ma is his real name, who was part of this team is not allowed within 25 feet of a blackjack table in some casinos in Vegas and they know exactly where he is the second he walks into a casino. Seems like pretty intense security for someone who didn't do anything wrong except beat the system.
So if you've ever lost money in a casino and would like to see a very real way in which the system can and was beat. I'd recommend this movie and/or book to you. That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
