The MIT Blackjack Team Story

Written by TJ Newman


The MIT Blackjack Team Story

What'srepparttar first thing that enters your mind when you think of MIT,repparttar 109990 world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology: engineering genius, mathematical wizard, visionary, geek, hacker? If you chose any one of those, you would be correct. Mix them all together, add some smoke and mirrors, big-time anonymous investors, a dash of anarchy for good measure, and you get one ofrepparttar 109991 best scams of all times—the MIT Blackjack Team—the ultimate in high stakes, genius-backed hacking! Infamy is nothing new to MIT. Some ofrepparttar 109992 world's wiliest hackers hailed fromrepparttar 109993 hallowed halls of MIT; but when one gifted math professor and six gifted students banded together, they propelled organized hacking to dizzying heights and snookered organized gambling torepparttar 109994 tune of millions! That was sweet music torepparttar 109995 ears of millions who have left behind small fortunes in their quest to beatrepparttar 109996 casinos.

After school club

The MIT Blackjack team began as an after-school club held in campus classrooms where students assembled to apply their genius to card games, unwind (at least, by MIT standards), and have fun. The club eventually evolved into serious business. The team set up a complete underground system of casino mock-ups spanning apartments, warehouses, and classrooms scattered across Boston where they worked diligently to perfect their scheme. Before advancing to live play inrepparttar 109997 casino, each player had to pass a rigorous battery of tests encompassing all ofrepparttar 109998 roles under simulated casino conditions, including distraction and harassment. Still, they were not ready forrepparttar 109999 big league until further honing their skills in Boston's Chinatown before heading to Las Vegas.

Card Counting

Card counting,repparttar 110000 heart of their system, is a proven winning technique. Blackjack odds offerrepparttar 110001 one opportunity for those with skill, dogged determination, and discipline to consistently beatrepparttar 110002 house. The casinos know that Blackjack is vulnerable (that smart, disciplined players actually have a fighting chance of winning), and that is why they banrepparttar 110003 big winners and harass and threaten potential big winners.

Casino management further understands that it takes only one or two mistakes to turn a player's winning system into a house win, and that isrepparttar 110004 only reason that they tolerate card counting—until it turns against them. They rely on human frailties, such as lack of discipline and distraction, to returnrepparttar 110005 advantage torepparttar 110006 house.

The MIT team used card counting asrepparttar 110007 foundation of their system; it was only one among a number of tools in their magical tool box, and even then, it wasn't traditional card counting. It added a high-low system, based onrepparttar 110008 statistical probability of receiving high or low cards, and they added an additional technique for cuttingrepparttar 110009 cards that further skewedrepparttar 110010 odds in their favor.

Team members traveled together, seemingly as total strangers. Each assumed one of a number of well-crafted fake identities,repparttar 110011 teams included several types of players, each member playing a well-defined role. Anonymous investors providedrepparttar 110012 stake and expected a return on their investment. One such outing netted a 154% ROI after expenses. Transporting huge amounts of cash back and forth was another obstacle they overcame with ingenuity. Cash traveled in every conceivable manner: strapped to bodies, on "mules," in hollow crutches, just to name a few.

High Tech vs Low Tech



'The Last of the American Hoboes' Movie Reviews-Commentary

Written by Gary Revel


I worked closely with Titus Moody inrepparttar making ofrepparttar 109989 movie 'The Last ofrepparttar 109990 American Hoboes'. Recently I have found a few reviews ofrepparttar 109991 movie onrepparttar 109992 internet. I was excited to see favorable mention of some my early work inrepparttar 109993 music business in some, others were not as flattering. There was a couple of misspellings and an error in fact in thatrepparttar 109994 movie wasn't released inrepparttar 109995 late '1970's' rather around 1971 or 1972. Below is a composite-example of a couple of them. I correctedrepparttar 109996 misspellings in this post. I have tried to contactrepparttar 109997 posters but so far have not had a response. There was no copyright protection notice and sincerepparttar 109998 reviews deal with my work I believe I haverepparttar 109999 right to comment on them in this way.

If you've ever wanted a close up experience with real life hoboes and their stories this is one of those rare films that provides just that. Filmed in a documentary, story-telling form that providesrepparttar 110000 history ofrepparttar 110001 hobo; going back to how they began ridingrepparttar 110002 rails, looking for work duringrepparttar 110003 great depression, and how

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use