Breaking Vegas Documentary: The True Story of The MIT Blackjack Team
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2012
- Based on the books by Ben Mezrich that cover the legendary MIT Blackjack Teams.
- Bringing Down the House
"Describes a collection of math whizzes from M.I.T. and their unique rise and fall of their blackjack team. For two years in the early '90s, the team reaped millions from casinos around the world by using their mathematics and card counting skills to change the odds of blackjack in their favor."
- Busting Vegas
"For nearly five years, he was known as the 'Darling Of Las Vegas'; the biggest high roller to hit Sin City in decades, a hotshot, twenty one year-old kid with a seemingly unlimited bankroll and an even more unlimited lust for big money action. His name was Semyon Dukatch, and stories swirled in his wake. Some said he was a Russian arms dealer, others a pop star from Eastern Europe. But the truth was even more unlikely: he was a twenty-one year old graduate student who had a plan that would one day make him richer than anyone could possibly imagine. The Darling of Las Vegas quickly became a legend in the casino world. He is the only person banned from the island of Aruba. He was held, at gunpoint, in a cave in Monte Carlo and told that if he ever returned, he'd be murdered. And he made millions of dollars playing blackjack."
I hate how do they present the "investigators" as the heroes of the story, when they are just bullies. The real heroes are those who managed to understand the game to gain advantage...
We should be rewarded for our intelligence.
I didnt think they made the investigators look like the heroes. The investigators tried to look like the hero's, but failed. The only ones that did anything wrong were the casinos, by threating to hurt them if they came back. So I agree with you, they were simple bullies.
@Sheldon Cooper I don't know why casinos don't just introduce rules that would make card counting useless, or just have CSM's on every table if they are so paranoid about it. I think the dirty secret is there are many wannabe card counters who make the casinos money so they keep the games theoretically beatable but reserve the right to back off anybody who looks like they really know what they are doing.
David Gil de Gómez Pérez
i agree...but i think how much
can you really make or need?
i mean beating the casino once or twice is awesome but you have to
be careful....having super math powers can cause math vengeance
by the casino number henchmen
too.
They’re not heroes. Professional counters brought the game down for everyone else. No more single deck blackjack.
Counting cards is not cheating at all. The casino just doesn't like losing money, so they call it cheating.
i had a small counting team a few years ago. when the casinos found out we were counters, they would just ban us from playing blackjack. no beatings in back rooms, no arrests. after all, counting is NOT cheating
It’s a private business, so they can do that
Not the beating, the banning
@@xuploads you could make more money if you have black players on the team taking betting instructions by invisible earbuds. then when they throw them out, you got a million dollar discrimination lawsuit against them, like Dennys Restaurants they will settle out of court.
@@fritzvold9968 That would be cheating. Counting is not illegal because it is a skill, something you do in your head. When you introduce external devices, such as a counter/clicker in your shoes, or an "invisible earbud," you are now breaking the law and cheating.
Isn’t the whole point of any card game, counting the cards? Poker, BJ, Bridge, Canasta, ect ect ect. Ridiculous to throw people out for playing the game.
Years ago a TV show interviewed a man who exposed that casinos were setting some slots for 0% payouts and that the odds were in fact programable(Early days of electronic slots). Two months later he was murdered with no suspects. If you can beat the casinos, more power to you.
Wow 😳
ok we need names....
@@jasonchu4400 clinton
@@jasonchu4400 The closest we ever came to this being publicized, is the American Coin Enterprises scandal. In this scandal, some video poker games were illegally programmed to block royal flushes at max coin. A man named Larry Volk was ordered by the company to rig those machines. Larry came clean and was going to testify against his bosses, only for his vacation trailer to be bombed, and for himself to be viciously murdered in his own driveway. The owners of American Coin ultimately managed to avoid criminal charges.
If you are a gambler gamble on games that need skill. Slot machines, dice games, tombolas, computer picks and wheels of fortune are stupid games to play. You deserve to be defrauded if you play those games.
"I could teach a piece of firewood to count cards if the piece of firewood can focus."
Words of Gold
That’s so crazy I’m reading This comment as he said lmao
This documentary available for free on youtube is amazing, in stark contrast to the movie 21, based on the same story. That movie was complete and utter fucking dogshit.
You can lose your life's savings. Casino won't bat an eye
Start winning and the casino gets upset.
True
Your ready for Vegas!
Why go there to lose the life savings
@@mizan6230 Some people cannot control their addiction.
The Casino exists to fuck you over...if you walk in there you know the risk. dont bitch when they bend you over.
I went to MIT graduated in 1 year. Well It was Mississipe institute of trucking and it was a 6 month course.
Ha ha 🤣
Hahahahaha that was a nice one. LoL
Nice! Hahahahahaha
Also have menus memorized at all truck stops.
Austin p Noice... 😂
Using your brain and making rapid mathematical calculations in what is a mathematical game of chance is triumph of brain over brawn. Nothing criminal about that whatsoever. They are simply brilliant!
“Undesirables” to a casino is someone who legitimately beats them at THEIR GAME, IN THEIR CASINO, PLAYING BY THEIR RULES and WINNING. LOSING is fine - winning is not.
In this documentary, they used a more loose definition of undesirables to include both cheaters and law abiding advantage players.
Exactly. It's a bunch of bullshit.
ask a hotel maid in Las Vegas how many suicides they find. The number is guaranteed to shock you. They don't report most of them. People at the end of their rope go there all or nothing. Most of the time nothing wins.
@@DiZastur They don't report them ? What the H do they do with the body then ? Take it home and a make a " Weekend at Bernies " movie !
MIT Blackjack Team, I give you all huge respect.
It's quite telling that using your brain inside a casino is considered cheating.
Well said! 👌🏼
I do Security at a large level 4 casino and most players are brain dead. Just blowing money and getting upset. Be prepared to loose. What do you think your doing in a casino? Giving up your money. Some people forgot how to function or walk.
@@worldfuneral666 I believe you haven't watched the actual documentary to have the context in which the above comment was posted..
Agreed. Its amazing how many times they say using your brain is cheating. Sad.
They never call it cheating. Not once. It’s undesirable. It’s competition.
Just another example of the type of exceptional education people get at MIT. I didn't go there but worked at two startups spun out the Media Lab and I have the utmost respect for that institution. These young people are heroes in my eyes. They used math to attempt to game a system that was designed to separate people from their cash. The tactics of the casinos threatening and intimidating people should be the thing that stands out. I get that they are for-profit businesses. They use math to "stack the deck" to their advantage but disallow anyone fighting back with their own math. That's the definition of sore losers.
@@Beyond_Salvation they are not lol these are dramatized
If these guys were math geniuses why didn’t they just play poker
Casino offers game as facade, but they are not playing it themselves. From their PoV, they are entertainment preying on people's addiction and they should always make some set amount every quarter with some big swing from baccarat table against whales added as footnote in their ledger.
@@Beyond_Salvation, there are several legal cases where people who have not broken any laws have been detained by casinos for longer than is legally allowable.
You don't need a degree from MIT to count cards lol. You barely need your grade 8.
What's impressive was their charisma and the quality of their cover for its time.
A story that goes like this - Some youngster losses all his money one weekend. The next weekend he comes back and says "I'm going to win this time. I have a system." Casino worker says "Look around son, we have the system."
The one time I went to a casino I spent $5 on slots and drank $30 worth of free booze. I totally took them.
😂😂😂😂
lol
You got 🐅 blood.
In fact that is the only way to guarantee having a winning outing every time
Next time hit the seafood buffet with endless champagne. You can definitely get ahead on those deals too
"I could teach a piece of firewood to count cards"
Best part of the documentary lmfao
fuck this made me laugh so hard lol
The janitor was the most honest, the best person.
he did not have the evil spirit of greed
I started working at a casino as a dealer, since this was a fun way to practice counting all night long. The average dealer deals 4-5 decks of cards every minutes. Since most casinos do not allow mid-shoe entry, and with single or dual deck it is hard to stand around for hours to wait until the count is favorable. If you lack the team concept, there are several ways to scrutinize many tables which one you need to sit down and play. The big secret is practice practice and practice. I would stand at a table for 8 hours and the count would hit +10 maybe 2 times. This is why the team concept works the best.
Yes but you dealers learn to cheat so you get higher all the time. Whats your secret? :D :D
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I'm not even a card counter and honestly I don't approve of Griffin investigations. Searching for cheaters is of course necessary, but the moment Anderson said "they're not cheating, we've proven it" then that should have meant you did your job and you leave them the hell alone. Private business or not, if no crime is being committed, you have no right to stalk them, harass them, and certainly not detain them without due process when you are not even a recognized branch of law enforcement. Tens of Millions of people come to Vegas every year and drop billions of dollars in losses, you really expect me to believe that someone winning a few hundred thousand dollars by being lucky enough for the cards to land in a certain order is such a threat to that perpetual cash flow. And the documentary even spelled it out that this is not a guaranteed win when they suffered a major losing streak, so really it still comes down to luck and being lucky is not a crime.
yeah that one silver haired guy that calls himself a "detective" was putting himself in real danger by acting like he was some unaccountable badass. He's damn lucky he never ran across someone that takes their personal security very seriously
Preach brother preach. Damn straight. Joke em if they can't take a fuck
card counting isn't illegal, but that doesnt stop casinos from trying to eliminate it
If a Griffin employee, especially a high level employee, is shot, and you are on the jury - not guilty. No matter what. They could do it in front of you point blank - not guilty.
@@MewtwoStruckBack It's code of law
I have a friend who counts cards in Vegas. he does low amounts and walks away with an average of 800 a day. with so many casinos in Vegas he only hits up the same one once a month.
The casinos hate people winning.
Its all about betting patterns
Now that's the way to do it. Flying under the radar.
He must be good.
I love how complex they make card counting seem. All you need is dedication to practice. Takes about 2 weeks to understand.
The hard part isn't learning the system, whichever one you use. The hard part is applying it in the casino. Unless you're Rain Man, you're gonna mess up every shoe at first because of all the distractions. I found it fascinating to experience all the distractions while I was trying to concentrate.
takes less than that to understand the counting. memorizing basic strategy takes longer
"Vegas is too big to be broken."
COVID-19 says, hold my beer.
Original.well done.
Good hope the casino 🎰 bosses are crying 😭
@@user-gh5he6sm5t What do you mean by original? I don't even know what that means. But you sound nice. Thanks for the thumbs-up.
ahahahahahahhahaah the best thing to happen to the greed of the earth and cift them for judgement
Casinos reopened at full capacity on June 1. There was so much pent up demand they will recoup all their losses. Most casinos had so much cash in reserve that COVID was just a blip. Any small casino that stays closed will just get bought out or knocked down for a new venue. Raiders stadium opening just off the strip in August - the whole season is already sold out
Make more money suing them for illegally detaining you in a back room. That would be called kidnapping.
have your lawyer join the team
Technically he agreed to go
@@allabored4443 GTA
They are legally allowed to detain you until the police arrive. They only do that when they have sufficient evidence. If you are asked to leave and refuse you are trespassing - just walk out when you are asked. If you are cheating that’s a federal crime and they can hold you for “a reasonable time while awaiting law enforcement”
@@drdrew3 They confiscated the money (chips) he had on the table. How legal is that?
Can we just talk about how a JANITOR found 125k in a bag, and turned it in to his supervisor?
Fucking idiot. How much does the Janitor on MIT makes a year 600 000$? Fucking impossible...
Yeah I would of took that shit and got another job lol
Lol @@thehanchoshow
everyone talks about it....................................................
@@thehanchoshow Set a little aside for grammar lessons. ;)
Rob a casino, you’re breaking the law.
Beat a casino, you’re breaking the law. 😂😂😂
I'm trying to imagine those large casinos being unduly bothered by losing a few million dollars over a number of years, even in the 1990s.
they are so stingy its not even funny.
did u bother to watch this vid
The 500 dislikes are from casino operators 😂
😂😂😂😂
word up mate, fuckin haters.
lol
kip I kip ipp ugup y7i guy u y7 hu ogu bgg buy y7 hy hu ho U hu juli hi
😂😂😂😂
Freedom of Play just as long as u lose
sockets
i don't get why what they were doing was illegal tho
Marc Jacobs It’s not illegal
Marc Jacobs it’s not illegal. It’s frowned upon like masturbating on a plane.
Alan Alban lmao!! I love that movie
Rain Man: No one can count into a 6-deck shoe.
MIT Blackjack Team: Hold our pocket protectors.
That was the dumbest line in the movie. If you can count the size of the shoe is irrelevant. The hard part is managing your bet size, camouflaging your play and accumulating a sufficient bankroll to survive a losing streak - the movie ignored all that too. Otherwise it was a great movie - I watch it wherever it’s on
@@drdrew3 I agree it's a typical hollywood dumb quote but it's quite funny knowing all the context of how dumb it is + famous card counters who beat the house.
Can we just take the time to appreciate the janitor. He turned in so much money to his supervisor instead of stealing it. That man deserves a raise!
He deserves a kick in the nuts for getting the FBI, DEA and CIA involved in a legitimate operation.
@@FFM0594 Someone has an attitude... What's wrong? I've seen some of your comments, why all the toxicity?
@@IWasGivenRest your comment is irrelevant.
I would of kept it.
@@murdermuseum8280 Not a good idea with that amount of money. Somebody will come looking for it. And if it's not legitimate (drug money or something like that) you might be in trouble. Plus he was probably on video, so it would have been pretty easy to find him.
Mr. M is like the Lester from GTA 5 ....the mastermind indeed lol
He even looks like he is a brother
GTA V heist in real life
Make more money suing them for illegally detaining you in a back room. That would be called kidnapping.
Lol the weirdest mouthpiece heard in my life
Mister L.
Why am I up at 3am watching this?
I just looked at the time after reading your post...and it's 3.14 am. ; )
3:18 A.M
Oh, maybe you should go to sleep, so you can get an early start at "WORK" ing for someone else. Your up watching this cause, you'd rather really be doing something else, like not doing for others. I'm going to the casino today all day, with a grand then in the morning I'll be lying back in "Puerto Plata Dominican Republ [I wonder if there is a casino there. LoL I'll kill it, and that country doesn't even know this shit. LoL!!]
Top Notch, they might know the specifics of this shit in Dominican Rep, but if they catch you, something tells me you won't be walking away with all your fingers in takt.. or immagine getting caught by casino owned by cartel or mob.. I'm sure they have a hole dug up somewhere in a desert just for you..
Alex Howell 5 am for me
I was always curious how accurate the movie "21" is. Pretty close. Seems like this whole story would have worked too without even adding drama.
read the book way better than the movie. i read it in two nights couldn't put it down.
did Mr. M really take Simians money? is what I want to know.
@@indamixup2189 name of the book?
it worked until...................................................................................................
it didnt
Haha I love how the pit bosses and detectives are acting like the hot shit while the card counters are living in luxury with millions. The envy of these people is half the thrill.
Am I the only one who realizes how obvious it is that the casinos got their money back by rigging their games after finding out who they were ?
You must be the only one. How did they rig the game?
@@kirbylee57 It wouldn't be hard. Dealing more shallow with less depth penetration into the shoe is one way. The # of high cards remaining radically alters the percentages the deeper you go into the shoe. If they start to reshuffle after 1.5 decks in a 6 deck shoe, that would kill the counters.
That’s the job description of the casino’s head of security. They figure out how players are getting an advantage and mitigate the risk. The game has changed radically since the MIT and their imitators brought attention to card counting. It was pretty inevitable that it played out this way
did u figure that all by urself.............................?
This Documentary/story is way better then the movie '21' and the book 'Bringing down the house'
Nope the movie is way more entertaining, unless you are just interested in Black Jack.
@Sheldon Cooper I mean, chill...
Sheldon Cooper can you count cards by yourself ?
@Sheldon Cooper don't be so Anal about it buddy
Definitely some of the most exciting documentary content I've seen. I got so caught up in it, I almost felt like a part of the team myself. The ending was just a bit anticlimactic, except for Simeon's new team doing well with being 4 mil. up. Thank you for the dynamic content. I'll have to check out what else Send A Raven has to offer. 🎯👍
Did it make you wet your panties in excitement?
I love how they make the Casino Security seem like they're detectives trying to catch murderers or something. hahaha
Not their fault that they did their homework.
Well, they did use creepy music during the Andy Anderson scene, to make it look like Andy was out to sniper them.
I watched this whole documentary because I've heard about these guys. But I still don't understand. What did they do wrong? Basically, they used an understanding of probability to win. So. . . why is that wrong?
Casinos are a business and they have a right to refuse service to anyone. They didn't do anything wrong.
Card counting is not wrong but the casinos don't like it so they have a right to refuse your business.
@@briannguyen2293 I swear I wrote my comment before I read yours. lmao
@@KNByam Thanks for your answer. But that raises another question for me. Isn't that a kind of discrimination? Casinos aren't allowed to say "No Blacks Allowed", but they're allowed to say "No Card Counters Allowed"? It's a skill. lt's not illegal. That would be like if JC Penny barred me because I'm really good at figuring out their sales and coupons. I guess if you're rich enough, you make your own laws, right?
@@thequietknitter9107 casinos are private entities and they can create their own rule of not letting card counters play. It's not a matter of legal or illegal talks. Just like some malls are saying that no pets are allowed in their premises.
"Just knowing you have the edge. That the odds are in your favor." Sounds like owning the casino to me.
1:03:15 "When the casino is losing money they start looking why and where." Even if this team was managing to score tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and accepting a bunch of comps from the casinos, that's still a drop in the pool compared to how much the casinos are scoring off the gamblers. Wouldn't really consider that "losing money."
@Hgyvtfygyhuh Ygihvutctvnininnin haha those Vegas casinos probably make an average of $1million + PER DAY. That blackjack team wasn't even siphoning a fraction of a % of those casinos yearly revenue. I'm speaking in terms of relativity. If you make $200 daily and I take $1 out every day, are you losing $1 or making $199? Not that difficult of a concept. Use your brain.
Danke für das Hochladen : -)
Riesig würde ich mich über weiter Folgen Horror Trips wenn reisen zum Albtraum werden freuen, weil sie so schwer zu finden sind, vor allem würde ich mich über folgende Folgen freuen: Bad Bromance; Double Crossed In The Desert; Bad Business. Gerne auch die deutsche Version.
Vielen herzlichen Dank für alles.
Casinos make money.
They make money, in almost all cases I imagine, on a mathematical basis.
Calculated gain and losses based on a model.
When a player counts cards, he/she is doing nothing more than playing cards and remembering what has been dealt.
That the casinos not only have the cheek to call this underhanded, but do so in the full knowledge that they do exactly the same thing, is ridiculous.
Why do people even bother with the casinos, if not to take money out of them?
Ultimately, anybody that plays those games are suckers because the odds are against you to win. When you do win consistently, the assumption is made by the casinos that you are cheating so they throw you out. Basically, the casinos are happy you are there because, if you do it right, they win.
Here is something you can all feel good about: Griffin Investigations is now out of business. While cheering for any business to go belly up is something that should be discouraged, they took too much pride in libeling skillful players as cheaters for me to feel sorry for them.
They went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Their company is still in operation, but they are not nearly as big as they used to be. Other companies have taken over.
@@ianandersen265 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_Investigations
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_Investigations
They Screwed up. They have to pay 2 people for Defamation.
@@mohammadbazzi3072 2 ppl? whatever will they do.............................
Great documentary! These MIT folks are brilliant! I wish I were half as smart as they are. They didn’t do anything wrong but used their brains and mathematical science. These casinos are the crooks here. They should have been sued big time.
I’m also think so, that those MIT folks are brilliant, they’re not cheating, only used brain and maths
They r legends in my book. I dont consider beating the rigged casino a bad thing at all because the casino cheats people out of money every single day. Just like i wouldnt be mad if a car thief had his car stolen.
Exactly 😂
Of course those _"on the house"_ casino hotel suites are bugged and watched.
They want to identify the whole team before they send anyone to the back room.
I love tales like this, thank you so much for posting probably the best 90 minutes I've spent today, even though I'm late for everything now lol. I'm no gambler but BJ is the only casino game I ever won at, £600 on a cross channel ferry Ramsgate to Dunkirk :)
Lies again? MRT MIT
I dealt Blackjack and Paigow Tiles at Foxwoods for 4 years and Mohegan Sun for 4. I've seen hundreds try to count and it is very hard. The act itself is very easy (+1, -1, dead cards), but not missing one single card for most of an 8 deck shoe is very difficult. You don't have to be a genius to notice that barely any tens have hit the table in like 5 hands at a full table. Good time to up the bet. I'd often look after I dealt the hand, but before anyone acted, and just scan the table. Look for face cards. There should be about 4 out of 13 cards showing. If you see none or one or two, and the hole card and draw cards are mostly low, its time to raise the bet.
You still deal at Mohegan? Have any info on their surveillance departments?
@@christophercarlone9945 I do not, not since 2011.
100% Agree with you. it is very hard to Count cards with 8 deck shoe. Here in Canada the casino do 8 deck shoe and also a Machine Shovel. And plus everytime you play specially if you gonna start with big money the Dealer Ask for your reward Card. So they know you name and they know who you are. Every blackjack player have a Casino Reward card. If you don't have one you give them your ID. I honestly When I play blackjack I just follow the Basic Strategy and sometimes I get lucky and sometime I dont. I swear I just don't believe people Are actually count cards. Dealer Always Cut the shoe and also there is 8 Deck shoe it is impossible to Count.
it isnt hard to count at all, drunkard
Do casinos cheat
When I was a kid, I quickly discovered since 2nd grade my above average math skills due to my autism, where I was a few grades ahead of the other students. I also enjoyed watching game shows a lot and handling money at an early age. Then we moved to West Virginia and money became tight.
Yes, my father had more time for family, and we were fortunate despite being lower middle class, but I was always longing for something more in life. I was upset about all the things we couldn't enjoy due to lack of money, and I didn't have enough friends to goof off with, because I was so intellectual and serious all the time.
As such, I naturally appealed to older people more than kids. It quickly became clear to my father, that I had a gambling addiction (the idea of it), and nothing was stopping me.
I was playing free online games that were gambling themed, and studying casino games, to where my parents found me a safe website to redirect myself, and a handheld poker game.
At age 12, a good friend of mine dealt us blackjack just for fun, and I did terrible. However, blackjack lured me back time and time again, because I knew there was an element of skill to it.
Side note, I also dabbled in poker, only to quit pursuing it a few years, after realizing I was a fish.
From age 12-14 I learned basic strategy, memorized it perfectly, and played for free online.
Then at age 14, I found an article about card counting, and was initially skeptical, because I misunderstood what card counting consisted of.
Watching Breaking Vegas here on TH-cam immediately changed my perspective, and I started practicing at home. Upon realizing it was real, I got excited, and my father told me to shut my mouth about it, because he was the minister with a reputation to uphold, and was afraid I'd burn myself out before I was old enough to even enter a casino.
My parents were already paranoid about my gambling fascination, and it got worse to them when I discovered card counting, although my parents did eventually warm up to the idea after we left that West Virginia church.
Counting cards was a rough journey for me, but I eventually succeeded, got myself a decent amount of savings thanks to career, and a couple of crazy AP events that took place, and now I have good savings, albeit not good enough to retire.
In other words, I proved to everyone that they were dead wrong about their concerns about me, and succeeded.
Tell us how much you made, or STFU!
I've done something similar w online slots. There are patterns to good sessions/bad sessions and potential payouts - I've gotten so good at it that I paid my family's bills for over a year ($100K+) when my husband lost his income due to the pandemic. I consistently win $4-5K a month now, from my home.
Original poster,
I have a close friend similar to you, though he never felt the need to write a novel about his life story on youtube.
@@marygoff3332 Sorry, but I'm extremely skeptical of any advantage play with online slots. Are you coming up with new user names each time you play? because they keep track of exactly how much you win and lose. They'd never allow someone to win "$4-5K a month" consistently....
I gree. Card counting online can make x5 your money. Is is the biggest I can do it. 20$ to 100$
Griffin is the guy who raises his hand when the teacher asks if anyone has anymore questions two minutes after you were supposed to go to recess.
u forgot 1 detail......................................................................................................
griffin is a woman. and in this vid a number of times.........................
drunkard
You hit it right on the head. These popular books/movies have made the worldwide gambling establishment billions. With all due respect to the incredibly juvenile author, Ben Mesrich, no team has ever "Brought Down The House" (lol), or "Busted Vegas". They were no more than a gnat on the neck of the giant. Casinos have to be thrilled when another book comes out, sending millions of ignorant bright eyed/bushy tailed wannabees their way to deposit their few thousand dollar bankrolls.
Exactly, hell now days in hoise traffic doesnt even bring in the bulk of the proffits. Online sports betting is getting out of control.
Everybody knows that casinos (particularly the Native American tribes) make their money on old people and slots... ;-P
@@jaxsenthomas859🎉can u give us an example of sports bets.
Mr. M should be awarded a noble prize for this.
I was taught by one of the card counters in high school. He mentioned they reunited for a similar run in Atlantic City. One of them legally changed his name to Don Johnson and then proceeded to bankrupt said casino
Wow, they actually bankrupted an entire casino!!!???
Yeah right
@@JohnDough-yr2zt Actually they moreso mentored the new group. But surprisingly, Don Johnson is real.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/the-man-who-broke-atlantic-city/308900/
and im the king of pluto
That was me. I bankrupt said casino.
so who's down to start a team?
me
+12JOSSUE IM in
+12JOSSUE Im looking to start one online
+AG47 Fantasy if ur serious im in
magic always
inspired to watch this after watching 21. really enjoyable doc!
I do Security at a medium casino chain and i found card counting to be very interesting. I love watching the games while I'm on the floor. Shadow
Does the back room really exist?
@@SANTI-zg3wp Yes, at some casinos. When I was first starting out I got fooled into going into their backroom. Got my first trespass that way.
They made a movie about this… it’s called 21. I’m sure a lot of people have seen it and just didn’t put two and two together. Really good movie too!
Good soundtrack too . Cool to know that great film was a true story
I loved that movie!
"I can teach a piece of firewood to play cards, if that piece of firewood can concentrate "
These students were / are awsome - how cool it would be to be this intelligent.
This feeling when you beat all of them out of the box…awesome
You can do it too. Lots of practice and concentration
One guy: Harder than my PHD
Second guy: Kinda like that time when you go for your driving license.
Oh...just typical nerdy, genius kind of comments, no?
r u drunk
Recently found this after watching the film 21. Such an interesting documentary!
This entire video could be a case study in organizational psychology. You have a group of mathematical geniuses that have meticulously prepared down to every last detail in terms of numbers, but the idea of the psychic costs of their structure completely escapes them.
What is such psychic costs that you mention?
@@arribaficationwineho32 basically someome getting busted
@@samuelfischli392 got it!
MIT blackjack team, you guys are awesome!
I mean the amount of money they won from the casino, is literally "chump change".
Maybe I just didn’t care too much but speaking as a former dealer, I knew I didn’t give a shit if someone was card counting or not. A dealers job consists of 90% of the time people being pissed off about losing their money so they wanna blame you. The dealer is rooting for the player to win just as much as the player in most cases because you will typically only get tipped if they are winning.
and im the king of pluto
"These guys are smart and make us look dumb. We must stop them."
Yep
Mr M left a bag of money worth 125 grands in the classroom for the janitor to find it that was not very clever
Mr. M was smart
But was never showed to to be that kind of smart
Tumblr and Twitter, in a nutshell.
🤷♂️🤭😅🤣
Considering the amount of planning and consideration that went into this whole thing I think they should have been a lot smarter about how they operated. There should have been a cap on the amount of money each player could be allowed to win in a given period of time, as well as on the number of visits per casino for each player within a given period of time. Once they started to be noticed they were doomed to exposure. If they had rotated the players regularly they could have kept it going for a lot longer. Still, it is pretty cool how they did this.
good i wasn't the only one thinking that lol if they had 2 dozen why not send 4-6 people per week to play and have them rotate while lettig them train other new players. i also agree that management should not get 45% they should get 20% but that is after everything is set up. in the first year or two they should get 30-45% at least while the investors get 20% tops and the player get the rest split between all the players. that way once 1 person gets caught they simply get kicked from the group or have them train other players.
mr 'm' mickey was using lots of teams,it got to the point teams were bumping into each other at casinos,like wtf? mickey was greedy.
because then there's no money going to the players. If it takes 6 months of daily practice to turn a gifted student into a human odds-computer, and then you only use that person 2 weekends a month, with the way they had their salary structured, recruits would have essentially passed it over. Train daily for 6 months before i can even start making money, then continually train, while giving up one or 2 weekends a month, to make 10% of an amount that isn't even guaranteed.
Team Play has two major problems, too few members means the team is made too fast, too many members, means there's not enough money to make it worth people's while.
You can't just have the made people 'train' recruits, because this can easily be done by the memebers who aren't. There's no reason to make them 'managers' because you'd eventually end up with 1000 of them. especially these days with facial recognition.
they left tooooo many trails,,, home address all to close to MIT,,, giving out tooooo much info to the casinos,, win and leave / go to another casino,, keep moving,, no phone calls,,, wow! and they are from MIT ???,, not too smart,, ole USN vet
Trying to run it as a corporation is always going to generate problems.
The player are going to resent getting such a small cut when they are the ones doing all the work and taking the risks. It's inevitable that after a year or so they'd want to play for their own advantage, but by that time they would already be known to the casinos. The players are actually disposable patsies, used to make money for the investors and then discarded.
This is better than any action or character movie in Hollywood, dam beautiful information and rather excting.
I read the book called "Bringing Down the House", fascinating!
As a side note: one of the results of these teams was that the casino's revamped most of their blackjack games. Many use double cut cards, a combination of shuffling machines and hand shuffling, six decks per shoe, don't cut as deep into the deck, don't expose the bottom card, alternate decks, and change out the shoe far earlier. They probably have done a couple of other things I don't know about since I don't play blackjack. Read the two books. There are more stories included than shown in this video.
So the Casino fixed the game.
Exactly. I've never been to vegas but i've played at most casinos on east coast and it all depends from place to place. I've experienced dealers rotate in/out as frequently as every 6 hands which is bizarre. I'd normally expect it used to be 20 hand intervals back in the day (i.e. about 5 decks ==> average of 3 players + dealer; typical turns where each player hits once on average, dealer hits twice on average; so average of 13 cards per hand x 20 hands = 260 cards /52 cards = 5 decks). They usually reshuffle or bring in a whole new dealer every 6-10 hands now. Im sure the back is on the cameras and as soon as someone is on a hot streak they reset the table.
There’s methods to counter all of this. True count ace tracking green red zone method. Card counting is baby math.
Also 6 to 5 tables. Biggest scam even for non cars counters
Don't bother reading the books. The author has a reputation as an exaggerator and fabricator among his fellow teammates...
They even got in the Griffin book... Wow... I love the mit
I heard about this crew years ago... after watching all of the details and time and energy and LACK of profits I would call this whole thing a failure.
Casinos say the same
There were profits. However, they went too long and then they lost those profits.
Mr M is JP Masser he is featured in the 2003 World Series Of Poker on day one as the poker coach of the 2002 World Series Of Poker champion
So they make a million at the high point. The players are on a shared 10%- $100k. 6 players (and I think it said there were more), means less than $20k each. Hardly life changing sums. In fact they would probably be better off just getting a job.
I think it was the challenge, to see if they could do it - but also transferable skills for the future - You know that there are casinos in Cambodia now - you could move around the world using this system, betting the lowest possible amount when the cards are low, but then betting a reasonable amount when the cards are high and make a healthy living without ever going to a big casino... It's possible, if you like to travel a lot.
Card counting isn't cheating, the casinos just don't like it so it's called "cheating".
it isn't cheating, so you can't be arrested for it. what they usually do is just ban you from playing blackjack
YEAH! Cheating a casino out of its money, playing the odds of the decks used.
@Terry Melvin yeah, and many of them have switched over to automated sorting machines which makes counting impossible.
That female casino employee walking in on the strip search was hilarious 😂
THIS VIDEO IS USEFUL IN SO MANY OTHER MOTIVATIONAL. INSPIRED IDEALS .
stop screaming
Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait… HOLD THE F -UP!.... So you’re telling me a casino can threaten your life and inflict physical harm onto you for merely SUSPECTING that you MIGHT BE counting in your own head, and this is somehow legal??????.. And if it’s not legal who’s dropping the ball on this one?..
the threats are not legal, counting cards is legal. but casino owners have the right to kick you out , in the end they own the damn thing. and threats are more to scare you not to actualy arm you.
in the old days they would backroom you..Now its about the Database ..they're more polite now
They won't do that though they could get away with it sometimes.
Not anymore. They left it ambiguous to make it seem interesting and deter people thinking about it. If they do that now, you can call 911 and they will get arrested for assault. However, back in the 60's and earlier when the mob ran the police, they might, MIGHT, be able to backroom you.
They can. The Natives do what they want.
The whole premise behind counting is that when there are more high cards in the deck, the player stands a better chance of winning. However, the player's advantage is tiny - I think it runs around 51/49 depending on how many high cards are left. That's why they need to play as many hands as possible, so they can enlarge that small margin. Therefore, even if one counts perfectly, the chances of winning significantly are still tiny, and completely non-existant for those who don't count.
Ed thorp was the guy that figured this out on his own. He was a childhood friend of my pop until he passed on. Ed Thorp went on to stock market investments and became a multi billionaire.
$800m
I remember this movie. I think it's called 21. It was good as hell.
1:05:11 This happened to me at Treasure Island in 1994, when I was counting cards at Blackjack (not part of a team). "Sir, I'm here to inform you that you are no longer welcome to play any table games at this casino, or any Circus Circus owned casinos. Please pick up your chips, and we will walk you to the cashier." I tried protesting just like this guy did, but it didn't work. I didn't go into any back office, though!
Sometimes very rare I hear numbers in my head, call it intuitive. Only happened about three
Times. Once I got five numbers in a row (never happened again) playing roulette. I only gamble small so I’m not threat. Anyway this guy came up to me out of no where and asked if I was psychic ... he was making all of these questions and I was thinking this guy is part of the security team. This week there was a video uploaded with a guy playing poker and he is on tv actually tell everyone what card is going to come out and it does Try and look for it
And it is interesting ...
Here is the video th-cam.com/video/aH1fq5Eb834/w-d-xo.html
@@intuitivediane sdfu nutjob
Cool story😭
Went into a 'Fun Casino' and won thousands. It was £5.00 for 2500 in chips and they had real licensed dealers. One dealer asked if I was a card counter, so I said 'No' - but found myself automatically keeping track of the high cards as if I was protecting myself. So seems card counting is instinctive and not really part of something wrongful, its the Casinos at fault for projecting an environment of easy pickings when fortune favours the brave, yet can't take it when they lose.
Its simply sour grapes....
lmao would anyone ever say "yes" if asked if they were counting?
Honestly bro I think you were having 95% luck to maybe 5% accidentally keeping count. Keeping the count is fairly hard irl. Not saying you didn’t subconsciously count but you also likely could’ve had the opposite count of what it actually was
This is my third time watching this. Awesome 👌
The best way to beat the Casino is by never going in the first place. -me
I’m in total agreement
100% I played $20 in my lifetime
☑️
Exactly. Why do betting shops have three paying-in windows but only one for paying-out?
You can’t beat them by not going - that’s a push.
Why do casinos insist on calling counting "cheating?" Counting is just legally beating them at their own game - putting the odds on your side. But somehow they are allowed to ban good players, i.e, counters. So it's "either the casino wins, or the player loses." There are no other choices except for very short term...
They do call it organized crime for a reason.
Laws are bought and sold everyday.
How do you think OJ Simpson avoid a murder charge? MONEY
How do you think Clinton avoided rape charges? MONEY
How do you think Justin Trudeau avoided criminal conspiracy/obstruction of justice/statutory rape charges/treason charges? MONEY
@@misterysmithers8566 how do u think Maddison Cawthorn And Matt Gaetz and the republican congress can have orgies and cocaine parties
my dad told me him and a bunch of friends used to go rake in 100s of thousands using card counting he was also part of a team started at mit... he was murdered 10 years ago and i hardly believed him till i saw this
Oh wow. Sorry to hear that… Was his murder connected to his card counting? Did it get solved?
@@anti-ethniccleansing465 no he quit gambling when i was born and the murder was solved it was non related
@@NessieTheCatt
That’s “good“ to hear at least. Sometimes we hear stories of casinos getting really pissed off at card counters, and who knows how long ago he was card counting/gambling with your original post (perhaps it was when the mafia still ran that industry), so I’m thankful that this wasn’t the case in your father‘s situation.
Still sad to hear that he was murdered nonetheless! 😢
Your father sounds like he was a good dad, since he gave up gambling when you were born.
I have a lot of issues with my own father, but I respect him for the fact that he gave up car racing when my older brother was born, as my mother put her foot down and said that she didn’t want him to be risking his life like that when he has a child that depends on him.
It’s interesting that you didn’t believe your dad when he said that he used to do this, as I bet he was tempted to teach you how to do it at some point. ;)
Holy heck, what a docudrama! The idea of card counting in blackjack had never dawned upon me despite learning about probability on deterministic stuffs, what an interesting technique! Awesome docudrama too, must've felt both amazing and stressful to be on that blackjack team, and it's rough that they had their downfall after some slipups all over. Thank you for the upload!
Also, would anyone happen to know what game they're playing in 43:54, domino poker or something?
Pretty sure it's pai gow they're playing
Thank youuu! c:
Card counting is very popular now. :))) do you try ?
Geez…I should start watching the entire show before I start commenting but I’m sure I am not the only person guilty of this. I was just thinking, when they are in Vegas finally and got compensated a room and dinner it made me think about the days when money wasn’t what every single person needed, for the most part, to be enriched in glory and happiness and the ability to survive without the stress of purchasing food and paying rent and bills. I was thinking about before a monetary system and if anything could make a person feel such joy and relief from the stressors that come with all I previously mentioned. I can think maybe accidentally running across a freshly killed deer or moose. Or an enormous field of blueberries that you didn’t know existed before. Money is weird, but I don’t think anyone ever thinks of it anymore. I can tell you one thing, the laws of the strongest survive much like the animal kingdom would probably slash the Earth’s population close to half of its current size. Most people would look around and say…. Well I am not sure if there is a deli or supermarket near by but if not…..kids….we’re all going to perish. I’m no master of the art of living off the land but I am sure as hell positive I could at least catch fish and farm and build a shelter. But…lol, it wouldn’t be the most luxurious place.
If you win in Vegas, you get harassed? And, you're not supposed to play blackjack with any kind of skill, or diligent observation?
The mob goes, the mob tactics stay.
Vegas was built by the mob
Yes, they get nasty when u start winning. And they will kick u out
Gambling is nothing more than another form of entertainment not unlike going to a movie,you don't get your money back if you don't like the movie,so if you are going to gamble then pick bets that allow you to lose as slowly as possible. Ideally you should take all the money you plan to gamble in your entire lifetime and make a single bet with the lowest casino advantage and quit then and there win or lose.
No. I usually win. I’ve never been kicked out. Aggressive card counters are very easy to spot. When you get greedy you get identified. It’s a game of cat and mouse - that’s part of the excitement and entertainment
This is a brilliant, and most enjoyable, documentary. And, 'Ocean's Eleven' is running through my mind.😁
Yeah I keep thinking George will pop up any minute
I don’t think Iv ever heard this explained anymore complicated then it needs to be ever.
try that sentence again
As soon as I hear that dramatic Kitchen Nightmares music in the beginning that just screams American television, its an automatic reflex for me to switch to something else.
Ahaha. Television is always depressing no matter what you watch
Fascinating tale of strategy!!
The law of large numbers works!!! I love it!!
Interesting/informative/entertaining. Special thanks to the guest Casino 🎰 detectives 🕵♀. Sharing personal knowledge & experiences. Pertaining to Vegas casino security. Making this documentary more authentic and possible. Haven’t decided if the (MIT) students were engaging in unscrupulous activities??? I don’t consider a Vegas card player. With a photographic memory guilty of counting cards.
This was very interesting. I would have been something to be a part of that team ;-)
What a story! Of course it had to fall apart, exactly like it did.Quit while your ahead. That's the lesson.
Brilliant documentary top 10
This young adults are smart! Nothing wrong with that!
Hate how the griffin investigators call counters cheaters, it's not cheating nor illegal
Anyone who publicly says on television card counters are cheaters should be charged with slander and/or libel. Card counting's legality is not a matter of opinion. The courts have ruled it is not illegal and therefore not cheating, so there!
MONOPOLY35 Wrong! It's cheating if they are winning! I should be able to rob under the guise of gambling. Come on, I am the lord of underworld here.
Muah hahaha, muahahaha, not.
And I also paid for this documentary, thanks bye.
They don't specifically call them "cheaters" but the strongly allude to it. When the Griffin people are talking about their jobs, they always start by saying casinos hire them to catch and bar cheaters then casually add card counting on the end. They can't come out and specifically say card counters are cheaters because that's not correct but by saying "we catch cheaters for casinos...oh and watch card counters too" it gives the impression the two are lumped in together.