History Channel Show Last Night

[chiefvrwc]

By coincidence I happened to have read the book describing this occurance a few days ago (Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich). It allegedly happened over a three year period from 1994 through 1997. A further coincidence is that the name used for the lead player in the book is Kevin Lewis. It's not our VP Kevin because the real player (and most of the others) was Asian.
There's no way to know how much of this is true but there was a lot that sounded like bullkaka. These kids supposedly were spreading 50 K per deal (sometimes more) with little to no heat, killing the house while doing so and getting near whale comps while doing so. Their supposed hook was team play which enabled a few team members to play at low stakes until the deck went highly positive at which point they secretly signaled for the "big player" to sit down and play high stakes until the deck ran down. It didn't ring true for me.

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The History Channel is running some gambling related stories these
days. Last night they dramatized the MIT Blackjack team that took LV
casinos (and others) for big bucks. Very interesting. This was a
very organized, and highly financed ($1,000,000+) group effort, and a
complicated story to tell. If you can find it, take the time to
watch ... it is about 2 hours long! My hope is they dramatize Bob
Dancers account in his Million Dollar VP book. For the first time,
TV is showing some interest in gambling from a technical point of
view ... not just the mafia crap.

[vpFREE4]

I haven't seen the show or read the book, but I know
a couple of the MIT team honchos, and they say the
book and show are pretty accurate as to method and
scope of operation.

The heat may be another matter. One of my friends
(maybe both) is in the Griffin book and has been
banned from several casinos as well as enduring
a little jail time.

vpFREE Administrator

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On 20 Sep 2004 at 5:18, chiefvrwc@comcast.net wrote:

There's no way to know how much of this is true but there was a lot that
sounded like bullkaka. These kids supposedly were spreading 50 K per deal
(sometimes more) with little to no heat, killing the house while doing so
and getting near whale comps while doing so. Their supposed hook was team
play which enabled a few team members to play at low stakes until the deck
went highly positive at which point they secretly signaled for the "big
player" to sit down and play high stakes until the deck ran down. It didn't
ring true for me.

[Crystal_Derek]

I moved to Las Vegas in '95 initially sharing an apartment with a fellow professional gambler (VP,sports,promotions,etc).
He left LV in '97 and I needed a new roomate. I ended up sharing a small house with one of the MIT team members and his
Asian girlfriend. Shortly after we became roomates the MIT team was shut down. I don't recall his ever having spoken
specifically about how much the team made, but do recall that it was more than my entire net worth then or now!

He ended up playing poker for a living for a couple of years before gaining more 'respectable' employment.

This fellow was very smart, well educated and to my knowledge, not prone to exaggeration. I have no reason not to believe his tale!

G'luck
Gamb00lin F00l

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From: <chiefvrwc@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] History Channel Show Last Night

The History Channel is running some gambling related stories these
days. Last night they dramatized the MIT Blackjack team that took LV
casinos (and others) for big bucks. Very interesting. This was a
very organized, and highly financed ($1,000,000+) group effort, and a
complicated story to tell. If you can find it, take the time to
watch ... it is about 2 hours long! My hope is they dramatize Bob
Dancers account in his Million Dollar VP book. For the first time,
TV is showing some interest in gambling from a technical point of
view ... not just the mafia crap.

By coincidence I happened to have read the book describing this occurance a few days ago (Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich). It allegedly happened over a three year period from 1994 through 1997. A further coincidence is that the name used for the lead player in the book is Kevin Lewis. It's not our VP Kevin because the real player (and most of the others) was Asian.
There's no way to know how much of this is true but there was a lot that sounded like bullkaka. These kids supposedly were spreading 50 K per deal (sometimes more) with little to no heat, killing the house while doing so and getting near whale comps while doing so. Their supposed hook was team play which enabled a few team members to play at low stakes until the deck went highly positive at which point they secretly signaled for the "big player" to sit down and play high stakes until the deck ran down. It didn't ring true for me.