What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of MIT, the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology: engineering genius, mathematical wizard, visionary, geek, hacker? If you chose one of these, you'd be right. Mix all together, add a little 'smoke and mirrors, big-time anonymous investors, a dash of anarchy for good measure and you get one of the best scams of all time, MIT Blackjack Team-the stakes are highest, the genius - guaranteedhacking! Infamy is nothing new to MIT. Hackers Wilier the world came from the sacred halls of MIT, but when one gifted math professor and six gifted students together have pushed organized hacking to dizzying heights and snookered organized gambling to the tune of millions! The sweet music to the ears of millions of people who have left little 'luck in their quest, was to beat the casinos.
After School Club
The MIT Blackjack team began as an after schoolClub held in campus classrooms where students assembled to apply their genius to card games, relaxation (or at least the standard MIT), and have fun. The club then became serious. The team of a complete underground system of casino mock-ups spanning September scattered houses, corridors and classrooms of Boston, where he worked diligently to perfect their scheme. Before the live casino game, had each player include a series of rigorous tests within allroles in simulated casino conditions, including distraction and harassment. However, they were not ready for the Champions League until further their skills in Boston's Chinatown, polishing, before moving to Las Vegas.
Card Counting
Card counting is the heart of their system to acquire a proven technology. Blackjack offer a unique opportunity opportunity for those who with skill, tenacity and discipline constantly plays the house. The casinos know that Blackjack is vulnerable (ieSmart, disciplined players actually win a real possibility), and that is why the prohibition of big winners and harass and threaten potential big winners.
Casino Management is assumed, moreover, that requires only one or two mistakes, until one player wins the system in a home win again, and that the only reason that tolerate card counting, until it turns against them. They appeal to human weaknesses such as lack of discipline and distraction, the advantage for the returnHome.
The MIT team used card counting as the basis for their system, was one of a number of tools in their magical tool box, and even then it was not traditional card counting. He added, a high-low, the probability of receiving high or low cards, and is an additional technique for cutting the cards, the more biased the odds in their favor.
Team members traveled together, seemingly as unknown. Each of themNumber of false identities were well done, the teams of different types of players, with each member plays an established role. Anonymous investors provided that the participation and the expected return on their investment. A trip to this offset a 154% return after costs. The transport of large amounts of money back and forth, another obstacle has been overcome with their ingenuity. Cash traveled in every way possible: bound to bodies, on "mules", in empty crutches, just to name a few.
High-Tech vs. LowTech
The rule included a good part of 1990, giving up, because the circuit path with total mess. $ 400,000 win their weekend in Las Vegas is legendary. Casino technology was not yet at a stage where it could match wits with MIT genius waters. At least I was out of the way of practical application in Las Vegas, ironically sloppiness would be low-tech that the team has changed in the end.
The casino has learned to deal with card counters long before the MIT pikersPress the scene. When they identified a card counter, they should ensure that his play at the tables was a nightmare, and if the paper would be counterproductive to the house for a large sum, immediately banned. Technology in 1990 had reached a point where bad news traveled fast. If the card count was found in a casino, it was almost impossible to escape detection in any casino.
Profiled MIT Blackjack Team
Las Vegas Casino Boss by relying on aalong the profile set of card counting blackjack, but since the MIT team ran counter to the profile that was in their favor, helping them to escape detection. The profile has been adopted to meet a card game of patience. The team is random, seemingly random style of play also ran counter to the profile. But they were crazy like foxes, until no more.
Finally, sloppiness brought them to their knees. Finally, they lost their discipline and their cool, well-oiled machinebuilt with the precision of a Swiss watch began to disintegrate. They began to fraternize, and not just with the usual temptations of Las Vegas, but with each other in public. Overall, the detection ability of the team to relax and play in a Las Vegas pool blew their cover. Unraveling the story of their wound back on the streets of Boston, before returning finally dissolved. Shares finally turned against them, and the stakes were too high even for the genes of MIT.
Theplayer last team was accompanied by the table with the last words, "You can not play. 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 Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions (Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 2002), by Ben Mezrich, who recalls the antics of the teamits beginning and end of the line through the eyes of team member, Kevin Lewis (not her real name). One enterprising former member currently offers seminars on the system.
The final irony has yet to play out. Kevin Spacey is producing the film version of the book will be distributed by MGM in 2006. One must ask if it will help the film, MGM back its losses to the MIT blackjack team.
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