Bring down the house... A book review

I've got a rare moment of me time, the hot wife took the boy the visit a friend, so I thought I would post on a book that I started reading recently. It's called Bringing Down the House, and it's the story of the MIT blackjack card counters who taught themselves elaborate card counting techniques and used them to legally take the casinos for millions of dollars.

While I find the book interesting, because I love playing cards, it hasn't made me want to go up to the casinos and try out the techniques :) Which, I wouldn't put past myself... ya know, I'm impulsive like that...

It's a true story that is told from one of the players perspectives and really goes into the details of how these MIT students, and former students, would sneak thousands of dollars across country to avoid being noticed and would use group techniques to take advantage of the odds in blackjack. There are many variations of card counting out there, but this group had a real slick operation. What it boils down to is they would sit counters at the tables, who would just bet the minimum amounts and then wait until the deck was in their favor, with more high cards than low cards left. Then they would signal other players in who would not always count, but bet according to the percentage of higher cards left in the deck. The more high cards left, the more they bet, because the odds were more in their favor. Not a bad way to make a living... And while it wasn't exactly appreciated by the casinos all the time, it was perfectly legal.

I'm not a good blackjack player, I mostly play poker. But it has helped me in that it has made me realize that I need to be more aware of the odds of hitting a card I need. Coincidentally, some of the MIT card counters have gone on to become professional poker players. Andy Bloch comes to mind.

Other than that, I don't get much from the book, but it is an interesting read so far. I would recommend it if you like gambling or card playing technique at all.

Nick