Thursday, October 14, 2004

Blackjack Card Counting for the Masses

Making Millions the Easy Way

If poker be the new football, the media are still looking for ways to open up the secrets of gambling to the mass public and card counting in blackjack seems to be the current trendsetter.

This all stems from the popularity of the story of the MIT Blackjack Club - made famous by Ben Mezrich's highly readable book "Bringing Down the House"

Tonight the BBC's Horizon programme looked at the history of card counting - and the steps the casino's took to combat the new mathematical ideas that were taking them for millions - as well as how the MIT Club and the offshoot, the Amphibians, took shape and then started to fall apart with the involvement of detectives, The Griffin Agency and writers of the notorious "The Griffin Book"

The History Channel also took on this subject in a 2 hour documentary about the MIT Club. In it, blackjack card counter Semyan Dukach and club founder, the elusive, Mr M, discusses the evolution of the club and their successes and ultimate downfall as a group of MIT students and investors took the casino world by storm, consequently getting banned from these same casinos

Even Hollywood is getting involved, with Kevin Spacey planning to commit the story to film

Despite the fact that casinos are finding new ways to stop this practice - including barring those they suspect to card count (which, as private companies, they are allowed to do) and hiring detectives to spot these players, it seems the media is trying their hardest to teach the masses the mysteries (and potential fun!) of card counting.

More Links:
- Semyon Dukach's Blackjack Science
- Card Counting Software
- Blackjack Stats
- Blackjack Guide and Strategy
- Wired's Account of the MIT Club

posted by jo @ 9:47 PM   0 comments

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