What is basic strategy based on? Didn’t the casinos write “the book”? How can we trust basic strategy? Basic strategy was derived from a computer simulation. Somebody taught a computer how to play blackjack and then told it to play several hundred MILLION hands of blackjack and record what happened. Through the computer’s trial and error it figured out which decisions are best for the player, given every. Blackjack is the first book in the Reapers MC Series by Elizabeth Knox.
Recently, I was at the UNLV campus visiting the Gaming Research Center that is on the third floor of the Lied Library. I do this from time to time as a point of review, and to stay sharp on advantage play techniques and insights. There is a special collections section at the center where almost every gaming book and academic paper ever published on the topic resides. It is easily the most complete gaming book collection in the world. Some of the books are classic text on a variety of advantage plays and some are essential reading for the aspiring professional player, while others are sheer rubbish and not worth the paper they’re written on.
The visit led me to reflect on all the books and articles I have read on advantage play over the years, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of hundreds and thousands respectively. Four books stand out among all other texts that have been written on the subject. This is not to say that these are the only ones worth reading, and there are dozens of authors that have made significant contributions to advancement of the field. And I will give those books an honorable mention toward the end of the piece. But these four in my humbled, but informed opinion are keystone text that one is able to derive all of the most essential advantage play techniques from.
The first of the four books should be no surprise to anyone who has studied gambling, even at the most superficial levels. In 1962 Ed Thorp published Beat the Dealer. It was the first scientifically based text on the subject that was widely distributed among the public. The idea a casino game was beatable was a completely foreign concept to the general public and this book brought the ideology front and center for all to see.
The ideas in Beat the Dealer were developed in the time when single deck blackjack was the dominating table game in Las Vegas. The introduction of Thorps book caused Las Vegas to alter the rules of the traditional 21 game, but the original rules were quickly reinstated shortly after the change in the rules caused the guest of the Las Vegas hotels and casino to practically vanish.
As additional decks and rule changes were added to the traditional single deck game, Thorps original analysis had to be modified. There have been a variety of authors and players who have attempted to put their spin on the Thorps ground-breaking work, some do it justice while others fall well short of that goal. Long time professional player and author, Henry Tamburin PhD, in his online document, The Ultimate Guide to Blackjack published on the 888casino.com blog, does a solid job of putting Thorps original analysis in a framework that is consistent with the modern era. Professor Thorp will be publishing a new book in late January, 2017. A Man For All Markets is a reflection on his life, his influence on Las Vegas and the Stock and options markets as well as offer advice on the general business of life.
The second of the four books I find essential in the advancement of advantage blackjack play is Peter Griffins: The Theory of Blackjack. This book broke down every aspect of blackjack in a strict mathematical approach. The entire book reads like a high level math text. Essentially, it is one proof after another, using multi-variable calculus in both integral and derivative aspects. A lay person flipping through it on a casual basis would likely be put off by the page after page of equations and quickly discard it as not being worth the effort. But like most things in casino gaming, the opposite is true.
The approaches by Griffin outlined the fundamental proofs that the aspiring game theorist should apply to their analysis of any game they are trying to solve. Simply stated The Theory of Blackjack was a blueprint for future advantage players to follow when determining what questions to ask when they are developing new strategies. It also provides general directions for the hopeful problem solver.
Ken Uston’s book Million Dollar Blackjack is the third book in the quartet of required reading. Ken Uston even after his death remains one of the most controversial players in the history of the game. MDB is an amazing book and Uston’s breakdown of complex ideas to simple and understandable form remains his greatest achievement. The book introduces a variety of new concepts like the introduction of a multi level counting system and ace side counts. Gaussian distribution curves on hit frequencies of the most frequent win percentage, as well as comparative analysis between multi level counting systems and single level system are among the new Ideas introduced by Uston in MDB. I have found something new in the book every time I have read it.
Beyond Counting Exhibit CAA is arguably the most advanced text ever written on the subject of Blackjack and the other aspects of casino gaming. It is also one of the rarest. Only 1000 copies were printed and you had to be screened by the author and approved to purchase the book. The original price was $250 but the when a copy of the book does come up for sale on Ebay, the price approaches $4000. The 700 page book reads like math text book in some places and a sarcastic commentary in others. It evaluates games like 3 card poker, Caribbean Stud and even discusses approaches on the big six wheel and roulette. I humbly admit I did not grasp every concept on the first go through. Most players, including me, only apply one or two chapters to at a time. This leads to more than adequate profits for the dedicated practitioner.
James Grosjean who authored Beyond Counting Exhibit CAA is considered by every AP to be the best in the business when skill is measured by dedication, desire and analytical ability. The Grosjean Cup that represents the title of the world’s greatest blackjack is awarded every year at the annual Blackjack Ball. It was named after James after he was barred for competition 7 years ago because he took first or second every year in the decade prior to his being banned from competing.
These four books in my experience make up the most important books in advantage gaming to date. There are a few additional authors that also have made very impressive contributions to the advancement of advantage play. Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong and Playing Blackjack as a Business are two classic texts. Anything by Arnold Snyder is a good starting point for most novice players. Lastly, Turning the Tables on Las Vegas by Ian Anderson is a great read with equally great insights.
Go forth and conquer.
Nicholas is the Managing Director of Alea Consulting Group, a casino gaming consulting firm with a player centric philosophy. It is staffed with world class players, gaming authors, mathematicians, top legal minds and a variety of industry professionals.
Follow Nicholas and Alea on twitter @byth3numb3rs.
| Author | Ben Mezrich |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Blackjack |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Free Press |
| 9 September 2003 | |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
| Pages | 257 pp |
| ISBN | 1-4176-6563-7 |
| Followed by | Busting Vegas |
Best Blackjack Books
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions is a 2003 book by Ben Mezrich about a group of MITcard counters commonly known as the MIT Blackjack Team. Though the book is classified as non-fiction, the Boston Globe alleges that the book contains significant fictional elements, that many of the key events propelling the drama did not occur in real life, and that others were exaggerated greatly.[1]The book was adapted into the movies 21 and The Last Casino.
Synopsis[edit]
The book's main character is Kevin Lewis, an MIT graduate who was invited to join the MIT Blackjack Team in 1993. Lewis was recruited by two of the team's top players, Jason Fisher and Andre Martinez. The team was financed by a colorful character named Micky Rosa, who had organized at least one other team to play the Vegas strip. This new team was the most profitable yet. Personality conflicts and card counting deterrent efforts at the casinos eventually ended this incarnation of the MIT Blackjack Team.
Characters[edit]
Kevin Lewis[edit]
Although not revealed in the book, Kevin Lewis's real name is Jeff Ma, an MIT student who graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1994. Ma has since gone on to found a fantasy sports company called Citizen Sports (a stock market simulation game).[2]
Mezrich acknowledges that Lewis is the sole major character based on a single, real-life individual; other characters are composites. Nonetheless, Lewis does things in the book that Ma himself says did not occur.[1]
Jason Fisher[edit]
One of the leaders of the team, Jason Fisher, is modeled in part after Mike Aponte. After his professional card counting career, Aponte went on to win the 2004 World Series of Blackjack, and started a company called the Blackjack Institute. Mike also has his own blog.
Micky Rosa[edit]
The team's principal leader, Micky Rosa is a composite character based primarily on Bill Kaplan, JP Massar, and John Chang.[1] Bill Kaplan founded and led the MIT Blackjack Team in the 1980s and co-managed the team with Massar and Chang from 1992 to 1993, during which time Jeff Ma joined the then nearly 80 person team.[3][4] Chang has questioned the book's veracity, telling The Boston Globe, 'I don't even know if you want to call the things in there exaggerations, because they're so exaggerated they're basically untrue.'[1] Whether the MIT Blackjack Team was 'founded ... in the 1980s' is in dispute. An article in The Tech, January 16, 1980, suggests that Roger Demaree and JP Massar were already running the team and teaching a hundred MIT students to play blackjack by the third week of the 1980s, implying that the team had been founded in the late 1970s, before Kaplan joined, although Demaree and Massar have mostly avoided publicity.[5]
Blackjack Card Counting Books
Controversy[edit]
Boston Magazine and Boston Globe articles[edit]
In its March 2008 edition, Boston magazine ran an article investigating long-lingering claims that the book was substantially fictional.[6]The Boston Globe followed up with a more detailed story on April 6, 2008.[1]
Though published as a factual account and originally categorized under 'Current Events' in the hardcover Free Press edition, Bringing Down the House 'is not a work of 'nonfiction' in any meaningful sense of the word,' according to Globe reporter Drake Bennett. Mezrich not only exaggerated freely, according to sources for both articles, but invented whole parts of the story, including some pivotal events in the book that never happened to anyone.
Disclaimer and leeway[edit]
The book contains the following disclaimer:
The names of many of the characters and locations in this book have been changed, as have certain physical characteristics and other descriptive details. Some of the events and characters are also composites of several individual events or persons.[7]
This disclaimer allows broad leeway to take real events and real people and alter them in any way the author sees fit. But Mezrich went further, both articles say.
Historical inaccuracies[edit]
The following events described in Bringing Down the House did not occur:
- Underground Chinatown Casino. The underground casino used for Kevin's final test (pp. 55–59) is entirely imaginary, according to Mike Aponte and Dave Irvine.[6]
- Use of Strippers to Cash Out Chips. Also according to Aponte and Irvine,[6]strippers were never recruited to cash out the team's chips, as described on pp. 149–153.
- Shadowy Investors. The 'shadowy investors' first referenced on p. 3 are a major source of intrigue for Mezrich's story, but did not exist, according to Aponte and Irvine.[6] The investors in the team included the players, one of Kaplan's college roommates, a few of Kaplan's Harvard Business School section mates, and Kaplan's friends and family members.
- Physical Assault. The scene in which Fisher is beaten up (pp. 221–225) is imaginary. 'No one was ever beaten up,'[6] according to Aponte and Irvine. Moreover, Jeff Ma claims they have never been roughed up by the casinos they played in. Still there were times when casino employees had tried to intimidate the members of the team.
- Player Forced to Swallow Chip. In a scene on pp. 215–218, Micky Rosa recounts a story in which Vincent Cole—a private investigator for Plymouth Investigations—forces a member of a count team to swallow a purple casino chip while detaining the player in a back room. Sources in the Globe described the story as 'implausible,' and none recalled having heard it.[1]
- Theft of $75,000. One MIT player, Kyle Schaffer, did lose $20,000 when it was stolen from a desk drawer.[1] Mezrich inflates the amount of the theft by 275% and turns the desk drawer into a safe pried dramatically from a wall. Moreover, the robbery scene (pp. 240–244) creates the impression that a team member or Vincent Cole was the likely culprit. Schaffer says the theft was likely unrelated to blackjack, noting that $100,000 or more in casino chips also inside the drawer was left untouched ('strongly suggesting that the thieves had no idea of their worth'[1]).
- Forcible Entry to Kevin Lewis's Apartment. Kevin hurries from the scene of the robbery to his own apartment (pp. 244–245) to make sure all is well. Nothing has been stolen, but Kevin finds 'a single purple casino chip sitting on his kitchen table.' The implication is that the chip is a calling card left by Vincent Cole as a warning to Kevin. This scene again asks readers to accept that the chip-swallowing story is factual (or at least was actually in circulation among MIT counters as a myth).[citation needed]
Sequel[edit]
Though not originally intended to have a sequel, Mezrich followed this book with Busting Vegas (ISBN0060575123). Busting Vegas is about another splinter group from the MIT Blackjack Team. The events depicted in Busting Vegas actually took place before Bringing Down the House. Despite heavy marketing, Busting Vegas did not do as well as Bringing Down the House. It did, however, briefly appear on The New York TimesBest Seller list. Despite again being listed as non-fictionBusting Vegas showed similar inaccuracies in recounting the facts with the main character Semyon Dukach contesting several of the events depicted in the book.[8]
Film adaptation[edit]
A film adaptation of the book, titled 21 (so as not to cause confusion with the unrelated 2003 Queen Latifah vehicle Bringing Down the House), was released in theaters on March 28, 2008.[9] The film is from Columbia Pictures and was directed by Robert Luketic.
Kevin Spacey produced the film, and also portrays the character of Micky Rosa. Other cast members include Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, Jacob Pitts, Liza Lapira, Aaron Yoo, and Sam Golzari.[10][11]Jeff Ma, Bill Kaplan, and Henry Houh, another team player from the 1990s, have brief cameo roles in the movie. 21 was filmed outside the buildings of MIT, in Boston University classrooms and dorms, throughout Cambridge and Boston, and in Las Vegas.
Says Mezrich, '...Kevin Spacey came to me about making a movie. He read the Wired adaptation[12] of the book and became interested... The funny thing is filming may take place in casinos such as The Mirage and Caesar's Palace, where the real thing happened.'[13]
See also[edit]
Card Counting Books
Notes[edit]
- ^ abcdefghBennett, Drake (2008-04-06). 'House of cards'. Boston Globe. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ^'About Us / The Protrade Team'(English). Citizen Sports Network. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) The Allston-Brighton Tab: Kaplan Inspires Hollywood Film '21.' Retrieved April 12, 2008.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2012-02-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) MickeyRosa.com 'House of Cards' Retrieved July 31, 2008.
- ^http://tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_099/TECH_V099_S0589_P002.pdf
- ^ abcdeGonzalez, John (March 2008). 'Ben Mezrich: Based on a True Story'. Boston magazine. Metrocorp, Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ^Mezrich, Ben, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions (New York: Free Press, 2002), p. iv.
- ^'ThePOGG Interviews - Semyon Dukach - MIT Card Counting Team Captain'. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^Production Weekly: Luketic Hacking Las Vegas. Retrieved March 6, 2007.Archived January 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^benmezrich.com. Retrieved March 6, 2007Archived May 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Kevin Der (2005-09-30). 'MIT Alumnus and 'Busting Vegas' Author Describe Experience of Beating the House'. The Tech. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
- ^Mezrich, Ben (September 2002). 'Wired 10.09: Hacking Las Vegas'. Wired. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^Zhang, Jenny (2002-10-25). 'Card Counting Gig Nets Students Millions'. The Tech, MIT Newspaper (Issue 50 ed.). Retrieved 2008-05-14.
Blackjack Book Suggestions
External links[edit]
- Adaptation of the book in Wired issue 10.09
- Luck is for Losers INC Magazine August 2008
Blackjack Book Table