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The MIT Blackjack Team |
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Blackjack Team was a group of near-genius blackjack-loving students from the famous Boston college who decided to beat the casinos at the game of blackjack. The rise and fall of the MIT Blackjack Team has become a legendary chapter in the history of blackjack.
The Origin of the MIT Blackjack TeamIt all started in 1979 when a group of MIT students opted for some extra-curricular activities and attended a course called "How to Gamble If You Must." In this course, the students learned about card-counting and blackjack. They then took their newfound knowledge to Atlantic City, determined to win a small fortune. They failed. Big time.That was it for most of the original members of the group — most of them graduated and the group split up. But a few ex-students did not give up and, in 1980 they gave their own course on blackjack card counting to fellow students at MIT. At some point, they were contacted by a backer who offered to re-send them down to Atlantic City — New Jersey law had recently made card counting legal and the casinos were not allowed to ban the counter. This time the Team was successful and, with $5,000 as seed money, they kept winning until they doubled and tripled their stake over a few weeks' time. This was when and how the MIT Blackjack Team started to make blackjack history. Card counting, the heart and soul of the Team's system, is a proven technique for winning at blackjack — for those who have the discipline and smarts to master it. Blackjack is the one game that allows players with skill, determination, and discipline to consistently beat the house. Although blackjack card counting was not technically illegal, the casinos knew that a top flight card counter could seriously cut into their profits and so they sought them out and harassed and threatened them. When they finally did successfully identify card counters, the casinos would pursue them and, if the card counters persisted and ultimately won big at the blackjack tables, they would ultimately be banned. The Team boldly recruited other MIT students by posting flyers around the campus. They tested applicants to find out if they had the right stuff to be potential team members, and, if they were deemed suitable, they underwent rigorous training. Before advancing to live play in the casino, each player had to pass a series of tests, which simulated all the roles and conditions of a real blackjack casino, including the hassling and badgering described above. Card Counting and Other Blackjack StrategiesThe group did not rely solely on card counting but also made use of shuffle tracking and other advanced blackjack strategies, which gave the MIT Blackjack Team an edge of between 2% and 4% (significantly better than the edge an average blackjack player would have). The way the Team worked was as follows: they traveled together, but behaved toward each other as total strangers. Each member assumed a false identity (one of many) and each member played a predetermined role. When the Team won — which they did often — they also came up with crafty ways of transporting their cash winnings, i.e., strapped to their bodies or in hidden in other ingenious ways.Under the disguises there were basically three types of players/positions: Spotters, Gorillas, and Big Players. The Spotters would sit at the blackjack table, playing the minimum bet while doing what they came to do — counting the cards in the shoe. (Sometimes, if the casino was crowded and room at the tables was sparse, the Team would use what they called "back spotters." These were second-tier Spotters who didn't play but would count while standing behind the seated players and then signal to team members who were playing.) If there were a lot of high cards still to be played, a Spotter signaled the team members referred to as "Gorillas" or "Big Players." Gorillas didn't count cards at all — their role was to bet big sums until they were signaled by a Spotter that the count had gone back down. Big Players were Gorillas who did count cards along with the Spotters
The MIT Blackjack Team played as a group through the 1980s and into the early 90s. Their membership was not consistent, though at their biggest they were 25 strong with $300,000 in funding. Their $400,000 winning weekend in Las Vegas is a permanent part of blackjack legend. By 1990, though, the Team began burning out and the group slowly disbanded. However, a few years later — in 1993 — the MIT Team re-formed with more backing than ever (rumored to be more than a million dollars), more vigorous recruitment and a beefed-up training effort. The MIT Blackjack Team was back. Decline and Fall of the MIT Blackjack TeamBut casinos had wised up by this time. They had figured out the MIT connection and they had names and pictures of team members at their fingertips. The most important weapon in the war against counters and cheaters is information. Griffin Investigations — the detective agency that made it their business to track down groups like the MIT Blackjack Team — spent more than three decades developing new methods of information gathering and verification, making it their goal to catch card counters for the casinos that employed them.In the beginning, it was standard detective work — agents followed suspects around the casino floor — and endless hours of background and legwork. But the work paid off and Griffin was able to compile an impressive "face book" complete with photos, names, aliases, and even home addresses and phone numbers of the gamblers who won too much too often. Anyone who ended up in the Griffin Book was in danger of being barred from any casino that employed the agency — that is, if someone on the casino floor was lucky enough to notice the suspect and make a face-book match. Catching an MIT member in a casino was tantamount to catching the crook with his mug shot on the post-office wall; like gambling, it took a good amount of luck and timing. In the beginning, it was just this sort of luck — or old-fashioned detective work — that broke the biggest card counters. In the end, the MIT team was brought down by its own hubris. They were too good at what they did, too smart and successful to remain unnoticed forever. By the end of the 1990s, the Griffin Agency was onto them. Finally, sheer unprofessionalism brought them to their knees. Eventually, they lost their discipline and their cool; the well-oiled machine began to creak, then groan, then fall apart. The team members began to publicly hang out with each other — a basic no-no of the Team laws. Finally, a chance spotting of the Team relaxing around a Vegas swimming pool blew their cover. The odds had finally turned against them — the gig was up. Again they disbanded — this time for good — in 1999. The MIT Blackjack Team had counted its last cards.
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