MIT students fleece Vegas casinos

Bard

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/vegas.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=

Ever wondered what happens when some MIT kids use mathematics for 'evil'? It makes for an interesting read...

For six years in the 1990s, Lewis was a principal member of the MIT Blackjack Team, an infamous cabal of hyper-geniuses and anarchistic whiz kids who devised a method of card counting that took the gaming world completely by surprise. Funded, in part, by shadowy investors and trained in mock casinos set up in classrooms, dingy apartments, and underground warehouses across Boston, Lewis and his gang used their smarts to give themselves an incredible advantage at the only truly beatable game in the pit. A baby-faced card-counting team possessed with impressive mathematical skills — here was a novelty that turned blackjack into an arbitrage opportunity. Their system was so successful, it took nearly two years before the casinos began to catch on — engaging in a cat-and-mouse war with the well-trained MIT conspirators.

Loads more ... here.

po0k

wan deh uber nurds

l3rian

that is good story, and would make a great movie

lordsippa

didn't horizon or something cover that YEARS ago... ?

The_Bullman

Adapted from Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, to be published in October. Ben Mezrich wrote six novels before turning to nonfiction.

what is this about??


when i read it first i thought that this was one of his fiction ones..