MIT BlackJack Team

[Stokes]

Anyone know whats the best book that documented their story? I'm looking for a good indepth read on it.

 

[KLin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team

 

[Stokes]

I know about that stuff mostly, im looking for info on someone who has read the books or know about them. I know bringing down the house is a big one, just seeing if anyone has any suggestions.

 

[Away]

Bringing Down the House - by Ben Mezrich

 

[jsoles]

i second bringing down the house

 

[sygyzy]

Third.

 

[DaWhim]

Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees

never read bringing down the house, but the one above is very good. it was written after he published bringing down the house.

 

[austin316]

bringing down the house is an awesome read. finished on one round trip plane ride to Vegas.

 

[royaldank]

I liked Busting Vegas more than Bringing Down the House. The are about 2 different teams using drastically different methods.

Both were good books, but if I had to pick one, I'd say BV. Absolutely 5th Street is a cool vegas book about murder and the world series of poker and the Binion family.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: royaldank
I liked Busting Vegas more than Bringing Down the House. The are about 2 different teams using drastically different methods.

Both were good books, but if I had to pick one, I'd say BV.

I concur... Ben Mezrich is the shiznit. But it wasn't that the Busting Vegas team was using different methods. Busting Vegas was about the A-Team of all the MIT teams that were in action at the time. Their methods weren't different, just more advanced. Mezrich came across them while working on Bringing Down the House.

Both books rocked though...

 

[Syringer]

Ben Mezrich is too much of a fictional writer than a "reporter" than would be suggested by the topics he writes. His books are entirely too much about sex whenever he's "interviewing" people, which is most noted in Ugly Americans where half the book somehow comes back to crazy Japanese sex fetishes, and when he's in Vegas he's always at a stripclub or brothel.

Not that the docu-drama stuff that he writes isn't interesting, but all the sex stuff gets way too tiring. He should write for Penthouse.

 

[royaldank]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy

Originally posted by: royaldank
I liked Busting Vegas more than Bringing Down the House. The are about 2 different teams using drastically different methods.

Both were good books, but if I had to pick one, I'd say BV.

I concur... Ben Mezrich is the shiznit. But it wasn't that the Busting Vegas team was using different methods. Busting Vegas was about the A-Team of all the MIT teams that were in action at the time. Their methods weren't different, just more advanced. Mezrich came across them while working on Bringing Down the House.

Both books rocked though...

I don't agree here. Their methods were different and didn't rely on counting cards. Other than the fact it was blackjack, it's not like this was an elite team doing the same as the first book, only better. In Busting Vegas, they were manipulating the game phsyically in many cases and using pattern methods of memorizing card sequences. The first book is about a team that simply counted cards, signaled when hot, and wagered accordingly.

I don't think Mezrich babbles as much in Busting Vegas. It seemed to move a bit quicker to me and was a bit more exciting. I don't think Ben is the best writer going, but he has unique access here to some people and it's fortunate he can write fairly well.