{"id":374,"date":"2017-01-22T13:40:08","date_gmt":"2017-01-22T13:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planet7\/blog\/?p=374"},"modified":"2024-02-22T10:14:38","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T10:14:38","slug":"bringing-down-the-house-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planet7casino.com\/fun-time\/bringing-down-the-house-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Down the House: Book review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The inside story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Bringing<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

When it comes to stories, we all love a good underdog. There\u2019s no denying that as a society, we can\u2019t help rooting for the little guy. We love the guy who gets pushed around by the bullies but isn\u2019t scared to push back. We cheer for the guy who refuses to let the bad guys claim victory, no matter how much bigger, scarier, or more powerful they are. But there\u2019s something we love even more than cheering for the underdog. After all the hardships he\u2019s endured, we love watching him finally kick ass. And that\u2019s what makes Ben Mezrich\u2019s nonfiction novel, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions<\/em>, so damn good. The underdog in this story: six socially awkward college geniuses who rake in millions of dollars doing what the little guy does best \u2013 outsmarting the giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Remember the Titans<\/em> to The Karate Kid<\/em>, The Lord of the Rings<\/em> to Harry Potter<\/em> \u2013 the best part of the underdog story is when the little guy finally has his day, defeating the odds and the enemy to claim sweet, sweet victory. When David beats the giant Goliath with a slingshot, it\u2019s pure magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beating the house at Blackjack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Back in the late 1980\u2019s and early 1990\u2019s, blackjack was in the middle of its heyday. Casinos around the US were raking in money on the game, and it was easily the most played casino game of any on offer. Folks heard it could be beaten from people like Edward O. Thorp, another MIT guy who wrote the famous book Beat the Dealer<\/em> in the 60\u2019s, which detailed the hi-lo method of card counting for blackjack<\/a>. And the casinos made money off this thinking. They profited off those who thought it could be beaten but weren\u2019t honestly capable of pulling it off, and not to an extent that was noticeable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Micky Rosa, a professor at MIT, knew that beating the casinos wasn\u2019t only possible, it was an extremely lucrative venture that hadn\u2019t been exploited to its fullest potential. So, Rosa formed a blackjack team of six MIT students and trained them to count cards and operate like a well-oiled machine. All with the goal of infiltrating the Las Vegas strip and earning millions playing the system. Like in all good underdog stories, the little guy would take down the big, bad, giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My personal thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mezrich\u2019s bringing down the house book is excellent, from the first page right until the back cover. The story itself is a fantastic one. But Mezrich delivers everything in sharp focus, and brings a real human element to card counting, which was often associated with unsavory types before his novel was written. He shows readers that these weren\u2019t criminals robbing businesses blind. These were young, privileged and well-educated adults taking advantage of a completely legal opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before reading BDTH <\/em>I knew next to nothing about card counting. But Mezrich aptly explains what it is and how and why it works. He made me believe that card counting isn\u2019t only possible, it\u2019s extremely profitable if you can pull it off. I fell into the trap \u2013 while reading I often thought, \u201cThe basic strategy involved seems relatively easy. Why aren\u2019t I doing this right now?\u201d. Granted, blackjack has changed a lot since the MIT blackjack team was making bank. With the adoption of automatic shufflers and rules like \u201cno surrender\u201d and a six-to-five payout, card counting is much harder to pull off. Still, it was an interesting thought. I wouldn\u2019t mind throwing a few chips around and walking away with extra money in my pocket, though it certainly wouldn\u2019t be millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The card counting conundrum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And Mezrich\u2019s book effectively combats negative connotations associated with card counting. This is all completely legal! Sure, it\u2019s frowned upon, and those guys on the blackjack team had some scary experiences with people tasked with protecting the casinos\u2019 interests. But in Las Vegas it isn\u2019t a crime to count cards. So, young students and professionals like Rosa\u2019s blackjack hit Vegas on the weekends, raked in hundreds of thousands counting cards, and then flew home to a normal life in Boston on Monday morning. Which is exactly what they did for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Robin Hood Shtick<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now, while the whole story is incredible and impressive, I didn\u2019t buy the \u201cRobin Hood\u201d shtick some of the characters tried to sell. I grew up in Nevada. So I\u2019m well aware that when you enter a casino looking to gamble, you\u2019re paying a business to provide a service. Casinos are a business that provides entertainment. They wouldn\u2019t exist if they didn\u2019t make money off people, so obviously they\u2019re going to have the advantage. The story of casinos isn\u2019t one of the rich stealing from the poor. It\u2019s a business making money off of people willing to spend it.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"blackjack<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

And the blackjack team members didn\u2019t qualify as Robin Hood types, anyway. Sure, they were college students \u201cfighting\u201d against the wealthy corporate casinos. But they were also MIT geniuses destined for careers on Wall Street or boutique financial firms in Boston or Chicago or New York, complete with cushy corner offices. And they certainly weren\u2019t counting cards in the name of public charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a romantic notion, but let\u2019s not classify it as something it\u2019s not. It was a well-executed, totally legal, and ridiculously badass get-rich-quick scheme that seriously worked. As Mike Aponte, aka Jason Fisher, said in the interview at the end of the novel, \u201cWe were a determined, organized group that used mathematics and ingenuity to turn blackjack into a lucrative entrepreneurial venture.\u201d Doesn\u2019t really sound like Robin Hood and his merry men to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I highly recommend Bringing Down the House to pretty much anyone. Especially for those who want a nonfiction, highly entertaining \u201cbeat the dealer\u201d story. Pick this one up and I guarantee, you\u2019ll feel like a high rolling MIT nerd in no time. And after you read it, try your hand at Blackjack at Planet 7 Casino<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Play<\/a><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The inside story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"yoast_head":"\nBringing Down the House: Book Review | Planet 7 Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bringing Down The House is the story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions by Ben Mezrich. 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