MIT Blackjack Team Story

Card games is very popular among students that is why it is not surprising that the team of ambitious students managed to master blackjack game so well that became the most famous blackjack team that used card-counting system and won millions at Las Vegas casinos. Of course, we are talking about the MIT blackjack team.

In the 1980s the group of MIT students who liked to spend nights playing blackjack for fun decided to turn their hobby into business and beat the casinos in Las Vegas. In fact, the team was gathered by the former university professor who trained the students to use a set of verbal and non-verbal signals while counting cards. All the students were really talented, ambitious and hard-working. The team spent many nights practicing at blackjack table and inventing their exclusive system of effective card-counting.

Playing to Win

The MIT blackjack team involved the sketchy investors that bankrolled their business. All invested funds were spent on training, flights and wagering at the casinos. The team received money in exchange of the promise that they will return all funds with good profits.

In the early 1990s the MIT team really succeeded playing blackjack at the best Las Vegas casinos. Sometimes they won hundreds of thousands of dollars but sometimes came back home empty-handed. But when the luck was on their side they used to bet tens of thousands of dollars on every hand. They managed to win so much that got a VIP status at most the casinos they visited. Some weekends the members of the team won so much that they had to hide money under the cloths in order to take the plane.

In order not to be busted and arrested for counting cards the MIT team had to make up fake identities and use disguise. Usually all the members of the team played different roles on the gambling floor.

There were main players in the team while others acted as support. The main players took the seats at blackjack table and counted cards. Then one of the rest players joined the table and read the verbal and non-verbal signs of the card-counter. All the signs were quite easy and prosaic. It might be playing with hair or stretching the hands. In addition, the team used special words to indicate the total card count:

Tree: +1 (a tree looks like a one)
Switch: +2 (binary, on or off)
Stool: +3 (a stool with three legs)
Car: +4 (four tires of a car)
Glove: +5 (a glove has five fingers)
Gun: +6 (six bullets in a gun)
Craps: +7 (lucky seven)
Pool: +8 (eight ball)
Cat: +9 (cats have nine lives)
Bowling: +10 (strike is ten pins)
Football: +11 (the number of players in football team)
Eggs: +12 (twelve eggs in a carton)
Witch: +13 (bad luck number)
Ring: +14 (fourteen carat gold)
Paycheck: +15 (day of the month to pay bills)
Sweet: +16 (sweet sixteen)

The MIT Blackjack Team Busted

As the card-counting was forbidden at all casinos in Las Vegas the security staff carefully watched all the players who were suspected of counting cards. The members of the MIT team were also recognized by the casino security. Friends were even tracked back home and indicated as the students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All the members of the team were immediately banned and that was the end of their successful career. Of course, several times they tried to get back but they were caught very quickly regardless their careful disguise.

The story of the MIT blackjack team was featured on ABC and very soon everybody knew about the group of talented gamblers who managed to outsmart the casino. In 2002 the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions was published by Ben Mezrich and later the film 21 based on the true story of the team was shot.