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Bringing Down the House
Real-life all too rarely offers stories that are quite as satisfying as fiction. Bringing Down the House is one of the exceptions. Cheating in casinos is illegal; card-counting - making a record of what cards have so far been dealt to enable the player to make some prediction of what cards remain in the deck - is not. But casinos understandably dislike the practice and make every effort to keep card-counters out of their premises, banning them and using private detectives to share information on suspected and known counters. Bringing Down the House tells the true story of the most successful scam ever,. In which teams of brilliant young mathematicians and physicists won millions of dollars from the casinos of Las Vegas, being drawn in the process into the high-life of drugs, high-spending and sex. Bringing Down the House is as readable and as fascinating as Liar's Poker or Barbarians At the Gate, an insight into a closed, excessive and utterly corrupt world.
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First published September 17, 2002
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About the author
Ben Mezrich
55 books1,470 followersBen Mezrich has created his own highly addictive genre of nonfiction, chronicling the amazing stories of young geniuses making tons of money on the edge of impossibility, ethics, and morality.
With his newest non-fiction book, Once Upon a Time in Russia, Mezrich tells his most incredible story yet: A true drama of obscene wealth, crime, rivalry, and betrayal from deep inside the world of billionaire Russian Oligarchs.
Mezrich has authored sixteen books, with a combined printing of over four million copies, including the wildly successful Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and sold over 2 million copies in fifteen languages. His book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal – debuted at #4 on the New York Times list and spent 18 weeks in hardcover and paperback, as well as hit bestseller lists in over a dozen countries. The book was adapted into the movie The Social Network –written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher – and was #1 at the box office for two weeks, won Golden Globes for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score, and was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3 including best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin shared a prestigious Scripter Award for best adapted screenplay as well.
With his newest non-fiction book, Once Upon a Time in Russia, Mezrich tells his most incredible story yet: A true drama of obscene wealth, crime, rivalry, and betrayal from deep inside the world of billionaire Russian Oligarchs.
Mezrich has authored sixteen books, with a combined printing of over four million copies, including the wildly successful Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and sold over 2 million copies in fifteen languages. His book, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal – debuted at #4 on the New York Times list and spent 18 weeks in hardcover and paperback, as well as hit bestseller lists in over a dozen countries. The book was adapted into the movie The Social Network –written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher – and was #1 at the box office for two weeks, won Golden Globes for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score, and was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3 including best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin shared a prestigious Scripter Award for best adapted screenplay as well.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,159 reviews
June 23, 2018
I love books about casinos! There really aren't enough of them. Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions follows six M.I.T. students who form a blackjack card-counting team. There were so many interesting nuggets of information throughout this gem. If I hadn't know that this was non-fiction prior to having read it, I would have thought that this was a literary thriller.
Did you know card-counting is not cheating? Apparently, it isn't. If you don't alter the outcome of the game in anyway, which you don't when counting cards, then you are not cheating. However, casinos don't look upon card-counters too kindly. Casinos have their own set of rules for handling card-counters.. involving ending up in back-rooms. It's all very mafia-like.
I read this book for my popsugar challenge, for the prompt "a book involving a heist" but I would have read this anyway. This was a page-turner of the highest-order. This was Ben Mezrich's first foray into non-fiction. He has written several other pieces of non-fiction, including Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions, Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai, and Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History. In addition, there is also a "semi-sequel" to this book, entitled Busting Vegas: A True Story of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, and Beating the Odds.
I'd recommend this to anyone who likes the Ocean's movies and the movie that this book was based on, 21.
Did you know card-counting is not cheating? Apparently, it isn't. If you don't alter the outcome of the game in anyway, which you don't when counting cards, then you are not cheating. However, casinos don't look upon card-counters too kindly. Casinos have their own set of rules for handling card-counters.. involving ending up in back-rooms. It's all very mafia-like.
I read this book for my popsugar challenge, for the prompt "a book involving a heist" but I would have read this anyway. This was a page-turner of the highest-order. This was Ben Mezrich's first foray into non-fiction. He has written several other pieces of non-fiction, including Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions, Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai, and Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History. In addition, there is also a "semi-sequel" to this book, entitled Busting Vegas: A True Story of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, and Beating the Odds.
I'd recommend this to anyone who likes the Ocean's movies and the movie that this book was based on, 21.
May 6, 2015
Casinos deserve whatever anyone can get from them. Card-counting is using your noodle, it is by no means a criminal activity, yet the casinos which say that gambling is a good sport we should all enjoy, don't act like good sports when others are enjoying winning (regularly). Nope, they then act like very bad sports indeed by getting these winners banned from each and every casino in the world.
Gambling in general and casinos in particular were very much in the grip of the Mafia until times not so long gone by. They might as well still be with their ways of ensuring that only they can win the big pot. They employ teams of people to spot the winners. No matter how many different casinos in any country in the world these winners are playing in, they will be identified, their descriptions circulated and eventually they will be stopped. Maybe they will merely be banned, first by one casino and then the next (sometimes before they can cash in their last-won chips), or maybe they will be taken into the 'back room' and various intimidating tactics used. This is legal. This is not the Mafia, this is not organised crime, it's organised gambling defending its right to make sure that only people who lose or at least don't win big bucks too often are allowed to play.
The M.I.T. students were all members of a professional gambling ring set up as a business. It was financed by investors, used computer programs to identify the most propitious card sequences and professors who coached the students who did the actually 'grunt work' (flying to exotic locations, staying in luxurious suites and gambling with the investors money) and who were paid a salary and commission. All they did was count the cards that had been dealt in Blackjack and then when it seemed the sequences were on their side, place a big bet. This is completely legal, there is not even a whiff of card-sharping or cheating, and what's more it isn't an infallible science, they might have won in the millions, but they lost more than a million too.
What the hell is wrong with that?
It seems to me that the casinos are bad sports. They only want losers and people who come on the occasional big weekend to see a Star Performer and win big so they can tell all their friends that they must come to Vegas and have a Good Time and Win Big. If you are a real winner, they will hunt you down and ban you. It's only for fun you see, you must only play for fun, just the luck of the draw and not win too much too often, it can't be a business, nor a career, nor a way to make money, nope, only the casinos are allowed to take gambling that seriously.
What is the difference between this slick and sleazy modus operandi and the Mafia? No concrete overcoats (I hope) is one? I can't really think of another.
Recommended for those who think that playing fair ought to be multi-lateral, not enforced uni-laterally by those who think it is only a slogan.
Gambling in general and casinos in particular were very much in the grip of the Mafia until times not so long gone by. They might as well still be with their ways of ensuring that only they can win the big pot. They employ teams of people to spot the winners. No matter how many different casinos in any country in the world these winners are playing in, they will be identified, their descriptions circulated and eventually they will be stopped. Maybe they will merely be banned, first by one casino and then the next (sometimes before they can cash in their last-won chips), or maybe they will be taken into the 'back room' and various intimidating tactics used. This is legal. This is not the Mafia, this is not organised crime, it's organised gambling defending its right to make sure that only people who lose or at least don't win big bucks too often are allowed to play.
The M.I.T. students were all members of a professional gambling ring set up as a business. It was financed by investors, used computer programs to identify the most propitious card sequences and professors who coached the students who did the actually 'grunt work' (flying to exotic locations, staying in luxurious suites and gambling with the investors money) and who were paid a salary and commission. All they did was count the cards that had been dealt in Blackjack and then when it seemed the sequences were on their side, place a big bet. This is completely legal, there is not even a whiff of card-sharping or cheating, and what's more it isn't an infallible science, they might have won in the millions, but they lost more than a million too.
What the hell is wrong with that?
It seems to me that the casinos are bad sports. They only want losers and people who come on the occasional big weekend to see a Star Performer and win big so they can tell all their friends that they must come to Vegas and have a Good Time and Win Big. If you are a real winner, they will hunt you down and ban you. It's only for fun you see, you must only play for fun, just the luck of the draw and not win too much too often, it can't be a business, nor a career, nor a way to make money, nope, only the casinos are allowed to take gambling that seriously.
What is the difference between this slick and sleazy modus operandi and the Mafia? No concrete overcoats (I hope) is one? I can't really think of another.
Recommended for those who think that playing fair ought to be multi-lateral, not enforced uni-laterally by those who think it is only a slogan.
May 1, 2024
I recently read Ben Mezrich's, Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also loved Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption. Mezrich does a terrific job researching and weaving a narrative nonfiction story about people and business.
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions was interesting because it's about MIT students who become experts at card counting and make many, many trips to Vegas. They branch out to other casino locations and it turns out that their luck changes in Shreveport, LA of all places.
I thought the book was okay but not as great as the other two books I've read by Mezrich.
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions was interesting because it's about MIT students who become experts at card counting and make many, many trips to Vegas. They branch out to other casino locations and it turns out that their luck changes in Shreveport, LA of all places.
I thought the book was okay but not as great as the other two books I've read by Mezrich.
June 28, 2020
Book of the month Nonfiction Book Club 2020
As the summer heats up, I find myself wanting to read about tropical locales, westerns, and escapist fiction. For the July book of the month at the nonfiction book club, one of our choices fits this description. Las Vegas- glitz, glamour, and the house always wins, that is until it does not. In his book that later became a major motion picture, Ben Mezrich reveals how a group of math whizzes from MIT learned how to beat the Vegas system and came away with millions. So far fetched yet true, Mezrich’s story fit the bill for my ideal type of summer reading.
Kevin Lewis was a dream student. The only son of immigrants from Hong Kong, Kevin learned from his father at an early age that math and science make the world go round. Conquering complex math problems could lead to jobs on Wall Street or in engineering or medicine, jobs that would allow Kevin to live a cushioned live in the suburbs of an east coast metropolis. This was the epitome of the American dream for the Lewis family, and Kevin’s two older sisters had already graduated from Harvard and Yale respectively and landed in jobs that would make their father proud. Kevin excelled in math and enrolled at MIT, where he was also a member of the swim team. He worked hard only to realize that some of the students were actual geniuses, joined a sports fraternity, and developed a social circle among the many Asian American students on campus. Whereas Kevin divided his time between studying and the swim team, he noticed how some acquaintances disappeared from campus almost every weekend, not the ideal for a student at one of the country’s top universities. It was during his third year at MIT that Kevin found out where these acquaintances spent their weekends, earning thousands in the process.
Since the 1960s when an MIT professor wrote a book on card counting, the idea of using complex mathematical equations to win at blackjack became an established idea. Micky Rosa, a legend at MIT as a card counter took the idea one step further and began the MIT blackjack team, initially recruiting Kevin’s acquaintances. Kevin was at MIT during the 1990s at the height of inside trading and small start up companies and the idea that an Ivy League could make it rich almost as soon as they left college. The idea of using the mathematical skills that landed Kevin at MIT in the first place to strike it rich while still in college was too good to be true. After being initiated into the ins and outs of blackjack card counting, Kevin joined Micky’s team and began his double life of weekends in Vegas and Atlantic City, hobnobbing with the rich and famous. His team won so often that they got big man status at almost every casino they entered, earning comp luxury suites and front row tickets to big time fights and Vegas shows. The team hid their double lives from their families while racking up millions at blackjack; however, like most of the 1990s greed culture, the house of cards eventually came crashing down.
The house hates to lose. Casinos will allow big rollers to win initially because it gives publicity to their hotels and casinos versus the competition, enticing these big rollers to return. Yet, over time, when the house realizes that big rollers are winning most of the time, they take measures to ban them from casinos, ensuring that the house continues to win. Card counters got lumped with criminals even though the majority of card counters used math to beat the odds, noting that card counting was anything but luck. Mezrich had been at Harvard while Kevin was at MIT, and their paths had crossed a few times over the years. By the time Kevin had convinced Mezrich to write his story, his first foray into nonfiction, he had been out of gambling for five years, opting instead for the type of job that his father had groomed him for growing up : a start up company that utilized the mathematical skills that MIT students are known for in a more wholesome environment than Vegas casino floors.
Bringing Down the House was a quick read which brought to light the underbelly of Vegas culture. In his first attempt at nonfiction writing, one can tell that Mezrich is inexperienced in the genre but can still tell a fast paced story. As one who was dubbed a goody two shoes “apple polisher” in school, I had no idea that MIT students, known as the math nerds of the world, would engage in the type of activity that is viewed as counter to their image. I doubt I will ever view MIT in the same light again, although I would hope that the majority of its students are simply math and science geniuses who do not lead double lives as gamblers. After reading Mezrich’s expose, I will think twice before viewing MIT math whizzes as a community of model students.
3.25 stars
As the summer heats up, I find myself wanting to read about tropical locales, westerns, and escapist fiction. For the July book of the month at the nonfiction book club, one of our choices fits this description. Las Vegas- glitz, glamour, and the house always wins, that is until it does not. In his book that later became a major motion picture, Ben Mezrich reveals how a group of math whizzes from MIT learned how to beat the Vegas system and came away with millions. So far fetched yet true, Mezrich’s story fit the bill for my ideal type of summer reading.
Kevin Lewis was a dream student. The only son of immigrants from Hong Kong, Kevin learned from his father at an early age that math and science make the world go round. Conquering complex math problems could lead to jobs on Wall Street or in engineering or medicine, jobs that would allow Kevin to live a cushioned live in the suburbs of an east coast metropolis. This was the epitome of the American dream for the Lewis family, and Kevin’s two older sisters had already graduated from Harvard and Yale respectively and landed in jobs that would make their father proud. Kevin excelled in math and enrolled at MIT, where he was also a member of the swim team. He worked hard only to realize that some of the students were actual geniuses, joined a sports fraternity, and developed a social circle among the many Asian American students on campus. Whereas Kevin divided his time between studying and the swim team, he noticed how some acquaintances disappeared from campus almost every weekend, not the ideal for a student at one of the country’s top universities. It was during his third year at MIT that Kevin found out where these acquaintances spent their weekends, earning thousands in the process.
Since the 1960s when an MIT professor wrote a book on card counting, the idea of using complex mathematical equations to win at blackjack became an established idea. Micky Rosa, a legend at MIT as a card counter took the idea one step further and began the MIT blackjack team, initially recruiting Kevin’s acquaintances. Kevin was at MIT during the 1990s at the height of inside trading and small start up companies and the idea that an Ivy League could make it rich almost as soon as they left college. The idea of using the mathematical skills that landed Kevin at MIT in the first place to strike it rich while still in college was too good to be true. After being initiated into the ins and outs of blackjack card counting, Kevin joined Micky’s team and began his double life of weekends in Vegas and Atlantic City, hobnobbing with the rich and famous. His team won so often that they got big man status at almost every casino they entered, earning comp luxury suites and front row tickets to big time fights and Vegas shows. The team hid their double lives from their families while racking up millions at blackjack; however, like most of the 1990s greed culture, the house of cards eventually came crashing down.
The house hates to lose. Casinos will allow big rollers to win initially because it gives publicity to their hotels and casinos versus the competition, enticing these big rollers to return. Yet, over time, when the house realizes that big rollers are winning most of the time, they take measures to ban them from casinos, ensuring that the house continues to win. Card counters got lumped with criminals even though the majority of card counters used math to beat the odds, noting that card counting was anything but luck. Mezrich had been at Harvard while Kevin was at MIT, and their paths had crossed a few times over the years. By the time Kevin had convinced Mezrich to write his story, his first foray into nonfiction, he had been out of gambling for five years, opting instead for the type of job that his father had groomed him for growing up : a start up company that utilized the mathematical skills that MIT students are known for in a more wholesome environment than Vegas casino floors.
Bringing Down the House was a quick read which brought to light the underbelly of Vegas culture. In his first attempt at nonfiction writing, one can tell that Mezrich is inexperienced in the genre but can still tell a fast paced story. As one who was dubbed a goody two shoes “apple polisher” in school, I had no idea that MIT students, known as the math nerds of the world, would engage in the type of activity that is viewed as counter to their image. I doubt I will ever view MIT in the same light again, although I would hope that the majority of its students are simply math and science geniuses who do not lead double lives as gamblers. After reading Mezrich’s expose, I will think twice before viewing MIT math whizzes as a community of model students.
3.25 stars
July 28, 2020
I've played blackjack, made petty cash money this way. Not, howeve,r in a casino and never knew how to count cards. Can see the allure for students, vast sums of money, cash to throw around, but never would I have had the cool these young people did. I would have been a quivering mass of jelly, would have been seen through in a minute. Going through airports with large sums it money, through security, no way! Of course this couldn't happen now, security has gotten much tighter. Also, didn't expect the mention of the Victorian casino in Elgin, which is fairly close to my house.
Entertaining, a quick listen. The narrator was Johnny Heller and though I enjoyed the tone of his voice, he was at times a mouth slurper. I give him two stars.
Entertaining, a quick listen. The narrator was Johnny Heller and though I enjoyed the tone of his voice, he was at times a mouth slurper. I give him two stars.
October 17, 2020
Bringing Down the House is the basis for the movie 21 starring Kevin Spacey. It is the true story of a group of young M.I.T students who are brought together for their special gifts - mathematical intelligence. These students are instructed by an ex-teacher of the school in the art of card counting. Not the simple art of card counting where one knows which cards should be left in a single deck but the ART of card counting where one can make accurate assumptions of which cards are left in a blackjack shoe at a casino, 6 decks.
Card counting is far more than it seems, it involves various levels of acting, sly signaling, and individuals who can take note of all cards as they fall, sometimes when eight players are playing against the house on a single table. Once this can be achieved a team needs to work seamlessly together to take the maximum result without being detected. Contrary to a lot of popular opinions, card counting is not illegal, it is indeed a skill, but those caught will inevitably be banned from casinos because as we know, the house MUST win.
The book is written almost like a novel but it follows the five years of Kevin Lewis's life amongst his group of card counters and the successes they have in the casinos. In some ways, it is the literary equivalent of Oceans 11 where we on the outside are cheering on as the casinos get beaten but this book also shows the downside of the glitz and glamour that is had amidst the wealth. Just as in a Hollywood movie human nature comes to the fore and greed creates trust issues and power plays.
Definitely not a life for the faint-hearted or easily spooked but a very enjoyable read.
Card counting is far more than it seems, it involves various levels of acting, sly signaling, and individuals who can take note of all cards as they fall, sometimes when eight players are playing against the house on a single table. Once this can be achieved a team needs to work seamlessly together to take the maximum result without being detected. Contrary to a lot of popular opinions, card counting is not illegal, it is indeed a skill, but those caught will inevitably be banned from casinos because as we know, the house MUST win.
The book is written almost like a novel but it follows the five years of Kevin Lewis's life amongst his group of card counters and the successes they have in the casinos. In some ways, it is the literary equivalent of Oceans 11 where we on the outside are cheering on as the casinos get beaten but this book also shows the downside of the glitz and glamour that is had amidst the wealth. Just as in a Hollywood movie human nature comes to the fore and greed creates trust issues and power plays.
Definitely not a life for the faint-hearted or easily spooked but a very enjoyable read.
August 13, 2023
I found Bringing Down the House at a used bookstore weeks ahead of my very first trip to Las Vegas and I took it as kismet. I brought it along for the flight and for any pool time we could muster in the 110+ degree heat.
This was Mezrich's first nonfiction book and in it he tells the story of a MIT graduate who, along with a team of others, learned how to game casinos and win big at blackjack. Their system was fascinating and it worked for a long time...until it didn't.
Mezrich writes really exciting nonfiction and this was the perfect companion to bring to Sin City!
Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
This was Mezrich's first nonfiction book and in it he tells the story of a MIT graduate who, along with a team of others, learned how to game casinos and win big at blackjack. Their system was fascinating and it worked for a long time...until it didn't.
Mezrich writes really exciting nonfiction and this was the perfect companion to bring to Sin City!
Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
December 23, 2015
The pace of this book was off at certain times and the characters were not believable most of the time, even though it was supposedly a true story. If you delve past the surface, you will find out that it is not actually a true story all of the time. The story about testing students at a mob-style poker game is entirely made up and unfortunately this is the best part of the first section in the book, while also being unimaginable. The relationships seemed the same and I imagine that the main character actually hooked up with the rams cheerleader a couple of times, but the book makes it seem as though they dated for years. This was, in the end, worth the read for the cheap thrills and it was a quick one.
April 13, 2011
Apparently this book is bullshit. Oh well. I was the sucker who shut off my critical tools when reading it and swallowed this hook-line-and-sinker. I should have known something was wrong when the geography of the Strip was fucked up in his mini-history of the rise of the mega-casinos. He placed Excalibur halfway down the Strip from Luxor (or was it MGM Grand), which is all wrong, they are right across the street from one another (which works out for either Luxor or MGM in relation to Excalibur), half way down the Strip from Luxor would be like the Bellagio or one of those casinos. I just thought he was taking some liberties, which he was, I mean it's not like it's difficult to tell the casinos apart just by looking at them.
So, when I was looking to see what other goodreaders thought of the book I found out that big parts of the book were fabricated. And like a good skeptic I googled and found out that apparently yes, Ben Mezrich liked to embellish. The only problem is that his embellishments are usually the exciting and more dramatic moments in the book. Opps.
Some goodreaders pointed out the awful dialogue. I guess that was there too, but honestly it gave the whole thing a very Vegas feel to me, there is something tin-eared, gaudy, and unreal about all of Vegas and I just kind of fit in the bad chatter to being expected from a story that mainly takes place where LA douche-bags mingle around with Cowboys and men wearing very unacceptable amounts of jewelry.
Oh, and to return to the first paragraph, I should have also been a little more skeptical when the author would forget to mention which casino they were in when say security guards kicked in the door and told them to leave. Why would you not give some info like that, especially when most of the book reads like a travel guide dropping names of places.
Oh well. It was a distracting and entertaining read and much much better than the pretty unremarkable movie the book inspired. I think I ended up enjoying this book more than I should have because it got me thinking about Vegas and thinking that I would like to go back there again soon, even if it is for my non-debauch enjoyment of slot machines with animal themes and delicious buffets.
So, when I was looking to see what other goodreaders thought of the book I found out that big parts of the book were fabricated. And like a good skeptic I googled and found out that apparently yes, Ben Mezrich liked to embellish. The only problem is that his embellishments are usually the exciting and more dramatic moments in the book. Opps.
Some goodreaders pointed out the awful dialogue. I guess that was there too, but honestly it gave the whole thing a very Vegas feel to me, there is something tin-eared, gaudy, and unreal about all of Vegas and I just kind of fit in the bad chatter to being expected from a story that mainly takes place where LA douche-bags mingle around with Cowboys and men wearing very unacceptable amounts of jewelry.
Oh, and to return to the first paragraph, I should have also been a little more skeptical when the author would forget to mention which casino they were in when say security guards kicked in the door and told them to leave. Why would you not give some info like that, especially when most of the book reads like a travel guide dropping names of places.
Oh well. It was a distracting and entertaining read and much much better than the pretty unremarkable movie the book inspired. I think I ended up enjoying this book more than I should have because it got me thinking about Vegas and thinking that I would like to go back there again soon, even if it is for my non-debauch enjoyment of slot machines with animal themes and delicious buffets.
April 11, 2008
I disliked Bringing Down the House, and can't understand why everyone I know who's read it has raved about it.
I'll grant that it's an interesting story. But you know what? It's a sufficiently interesting story that it doesn't need to be sexed up with outright bullshit. Even accounting for the fact that the characters in the book are composites of several actual people, probably 25% of what's left is just pure fiction. He's got one scene where one of the team is beaten up in a bathroom in a Bahamanian casino. It never happened. He's got the principal character taking his final blackjack exam in an underground casino in Chinatown. Never happened. He details one of the team having his apartment broken into, and a safe with $75,000 in it pried out of the wall and stolen. Never. Happened.
This *weakens my interest*. One of the potentially interesting things about this story is how the modern, corporate Vegas would respond to an organized ring of counters. This book doesn't tell you that, because it's so full of bullshit you can't trust anything it has to say on the topic.
And, oh lord, is the dialogue horrible. Hollywood does this a lot: Character A explains something to Character B, but he's really not explaining it to Character B, he's explaining it to the audience. Done properly, this is okay; you don't notice it, it flows, and it tells the audience what's going on without condescending to them. Done improperly, it's annoying as fuck; the worst parts of Casino Royale were the bits with the twit in the casino explaining how poker works to the presumably incredibly competent agent sent by the British government to keep an eye on the money.
Virtually every piece of dialogue in this book is like that. And there's no excuse for it in a book; characters don't have to pretend to explain something to someone who already understands it just to inform the reader, because the fucking narrator can just explain that thing to the reader directly. It's not just annoying, it's lazy, bad writing.
Mezrich explains why he's a lazy, bad writer:
I'm not looking to use big words," Mezrich admits. "I write for people who if they weren't reading my book, they wouldn't be reading another book. They would be watching TV. I'm not competing with other books. I'm competing with the Red Sox." Mezrich works hard to build the excitement early in his plots, before attention spans wane. He gets right to it in Rigged, explaining in the first few pages the main character's involvement with the shady world of the New York Mercantile Exchange: "If Wall Street was the financial equivalent of Vegas, the Merc was Atlantic City—on crack.
This book is crap - on crack. And it's a shame, because there's an interesting true story under all the dross.
You want a good book to read, on a similar subject? Go buy The Eudaemonic Pie. It's about a bunch of grad students from UC Santa Cruz who, in the 70s, designed and built wearable computers intended to let them beat the house at roulette. And it's good. It's also not tarted up.
I'll grant that it's an interesting story. But you know what? It's a sufficiently interesting story that it doesn't need to be sexed up with outright bullshit. Even accounting for the fact that the characters in the book are composites of several actual people, probably 25% of what's left is just pure fiction. He's got one scene where one of the team is beaten up in a bathroom in a Bahamanian casino. It never happened. He's got the principal character taking his final blackjack exam in an underground casino in Chinatown. Never happened. He details one of the team having his apartment broken into, and a safe with $75,000 in it pried out of the wall and stolen. Never. Happened.
This *weakens my interest*. One of the potentially interesting things about this story is how the modern, corporate Vegas would respond to an organized ring of counters. This book doesn't tell you that, because it's so full of bullshit you can't trust anything it has to say on the topic.
And, oh lord, is the dialogue horrible. Hollywood does this a lot: Character A explains something to Character B, but he's really not explaining it to Character B, he's explaining it to the audience. Done properly, this is okay; you don't notice it, it flows, and it tells the audience what's going on without condescending to them. Done improperly, it's annoying as fuck; the worst parts of Casino Royale were the bits with the twit in the casino explaining how poker works to the presumably incredibly competent agent sent by the British government to keep an eye on the money.
Virtually every piece of dialogue in this book is like that. And there's no excuse for it in a book; characters don't have to pretend to explain something to someone who already understands it just to inform the reader, because the fucking narrator can just explain that thing to the reader directly. It's not just annoying, it's lazy, bad writing.
Mezrich explains why he's a lazy, bad writer:
I'm not looking to use big words," Mezrich admits. "I write for people who if they weren't reading my book, they wouldn't be reading another book. They would be watching TV. I'm not competing with other books. I'm competing with the Red Sox." Mezrich works hard to build the excitement early in his plots, before attention spans wane. He gets right to it in Rigged, explaining in the first few pages the main character's involvement with the shady world of the New York Mercantile Exchange: "If Wall Street was the financial equivalent of Vegas, the Merc was Atlantic City—on crack.
This book is crap - on crack. And it's a shame, because there's an interesting true story under all the dross.
You want a good book to read, on a similar subject? Go buy The Eudaemonic Pie. It's about a bunch of grad students from UC Santa Cruz who, in the 70s, designed and built wearable computers intended to let them beat the house at roulette. And it's good. It's also not tarted up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2021
This book focuses on Kevin Lewis, one of six students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who form a team to count cards in casinos, playing the mathematical odds to win at blackjack. Though it is not illegal, the casinos are not keen on any activity that gives an advantage to the player, and they can ban them from their establishments.
I live in Nevada and have been to Las Vegas many times, so I was easily able to picture the scenes. As with many people who live here, I am not a gambler. But this book is more about calculating occasions when the odds will favor the player, so it is not exactly the same as true gambling, which always favors the house. The events of this book took place in the 1990s and many casinos have since taken measures to prevent card counting.
The story is filled with the ostentation and spectacle of the Las Vegas strip. It occasionally ventures into sexist territory, especially in descriptions of women. The writing is passable, but one does not read this type of book for its literary merit. It is marketed as non-fiction, but the copyright page states that “the names of many of the characters and locations in this book have been changed, as have certain physical characteristics and other descriptive details. Some of the events and characters are also composites of several individual events or persons.” Overall, I found it a fast-paced entertaining read.
I live in Nevada and have been to Las Vegas many times, so I was easily able to picture the scenes. As with many people who live here, I am not a gambler. But this book is more about calculating occasions when the odds will favor the player, so it is not exactly the same as true gambling, which always favors the house. The events of this book took place in the 1990s and many casinos have since taken measures to prevent card counting.
The story is filled with the ostentation and spectacle of the Las Vegas strip. It occasionally ventures into sexist territory, especially in descriptions of women. The writing is passable, but one does not read this type of book for its literary merit. It is marketed as non-fiction, but the copyright page states that “the names of many of the characters and locations in this book have been changed, as have certain physical characteristics and other descriptive details. Some of the events and characters are also composites of several individual events or persons.” Overall, I found it a fast-paced entertaining read.
June 29, 2008
"Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions" by Ben Mezrich is a nonfiction work that takes a look at a group of MIT graduates and dropouts who develop and perfect a card counting system, which they use to great effect. Specifically, the book concerns Kevin Miller, who is apparently Asian despite the inventive pseudonym, and his involvement with the team of MIT card counters.
As I read this book, I kept flipping back to the frontispiece and wondering, sometimes aloud, why Mezrich has six other titles to his credit. Two of them are pseudonymous, to be fair, so maybe it actually got to the point where editors were asking themselves the same question. Or maybe this guy just won the literary lottery and no one else wanted to write this book.
This literary abortion breaks every rule I’ve established for how to write. He uses adverbs, puts exposition in dialogue, uses cliched similes, and every attempt he makes to “pretty up" his bland writing just makes you want to fly to wherever this jackass lives and punch him in the kidneys.
Some examples of this guy’s exemplary writing style:
"[his sisters were] helping his mother with the dessert — something to do with apples, cinnamon, and sugary pie crust."
Could it be an apple pie, asshole? Just say it! It’s okay to use the words “apple pie.” We’re not going to laugh at you (for that).
"[She] found the thrill of [blackjack] almost as addictive as the field of consulting."
I don’t get it. Does that mean she thought card counting was really boring, or is she just so ridiculous that she actually thinks “consulting” is an “addictive” proposition? I shudder to think. Is that what business school actually does to people?
"The team was operating like a well-oiled machine."
Did you really just say that? You’ve got to be kidding me. Who edited this trash?
"He said, “We’ve got costumes — some of the best money can buy — from some place in LA.”"
Okay, that’s technically proper use of a dash, ignoring the fact that it occurs in a completely unremarkable sentence (what's more important, that the costumes are expensive or that you can't remember where you bought them?). This stilted dialogue is just exposition with pointless quote marks wrapped around it. Maybe Mezrich reads a lot of Clive Cussler. There's a lot of this in the book, and to say that Mezrich has a tin ear for dialogue would be to play the game on his level. It's entirely possible that Mezrich has never, in fact, heard people speak.
Not only is this book poorly written, it’s boring. Avoid it and everything else Ben Mezrich has his hack name on. Remember, though, just because it doesn’t say “Ben Mezrich,” that doesn’t mean he hasn't been blacklisted and is now using another pseudonym.
One last snippet of this dude's literary brilliance:
"The two were best friends, cut from a similar mold."
Really. What a waste of time.
Oh, I guess I should tell you how it ends: the team gets banned from all the casinos and they have to fall back on their incredibly lucrative MIT engineering degrees. Poor little babies.
As I read this book, I kept flipping back to the frontispiece and wondering, sometimes aloud, why Mezrich has six other titles to his credit. Two of them are pseudonymous, to be fair, so maybe it actually got to the point where editors were asking themselves the same question. Or maybe this guy just won the literary lottery and no one else wanted to write this book.
This literary abortion breaks every rule I’ve established for how to write. He uses adverbs, puts exposition in dialogue, uses cliched similes, and every attempt he makes to “pretty up" his bland writing just makes you want to fly to wherever this jackass lives and punch him in the kidneys.
Some examples of this guy’s exemplary writing style:
"[his sisters were] helping his mother with the dessert — something to do with apples, cinnamon, and sugary pie crust."
Could it be an apple pie, asshole? Just say it! It’s okay to use the words “apple pie.” We’re not going to laugh at you (for that).
"[She] found the thrill of [blackjack] almost as addictive as the field of consulting."
I don’t get it. Does that mean she thought card counting was really boring, or is she just so ridiculous that she actually thinks “consulting” is an “addictive” proposition? I shudder to think. Is that what business school actually does to people?
"The team was operating like a well-oiled machine."
Did you really just say that? You’ve got to be kidding me. Who edited this trash?
"He said, “We’ve got costumes — some of the best money can buy — from some place in LA.”"
Okay, that’s technically proper use of a dash, ignoring the fact that it occurs in a completely unremarkable sentence (what's more important, that the costumes are expensive or that you can't remember where you bought them?). This stilted dialogue is just exposition with pointless quote marks wrapped around it. Maybe Mezrich reads a lot of Clive Cussler. There's a lot of this in the book, and to say that Mezrich has a tin ear for dialogue would be to play the game on his level. It's entirely possible that Mezrich has never, in fact, heard people speak.
Not only is this book poorly written, it’s boring. Avoid it and everything else Ben Mezrich has his hack name on. Remember, though, just because it doesn’t say “Ben Mezrich,” that doesn’t mean he hasn't been blacklisted and is now using another pseudonym.
One last snippet of this dude's literary brilliance:
"The two were best friends, cut from a similar mold."
Really. What a waste of time.
Oh, I guess I should tell you how it ends: the team gets banned from all the casinos and they have to fall back on their incredibly lucrative MIT engineering degrees. Poor little babies.
January 25, 2017
Bringing Down the house is a good read. I enjoyed the book. It really made me want to keep reading. Every chapter ended with a “cliffhanger”. I just had to keep reading. The characters and well described places really brought me into the book, and into the world of Kevin Lewis.
I see people saying how they do not enjoy the fact that Ben Mezrich added some extra events that didn’t happen to the real team. I do agree with this, since more than half of the book is completely fiction. I understand that these were added to the book to give it more of a story, but I felt as though Ben really stretched it. Even some of the characters are just mixtures of the real people.
Other people are saying that they don’t style of writing used in the book. This one I disagree with, to a certain extent. Some of the writing felt a little ‘over-the-top’. A few sections I didn’t think were needed in the book and were just there to add more pages to the book. Such as the relationship with Felicia. I felt as though that relationship didn’t add to the book at all.
A reader that would enjoy this book the most would be someone that enjoys fiction with a little bit of non-fiction. Readers would enjoy this book if they like a lot of suspense. Each chapter end with you wanting more. Wanting to find out what happens to Kevin Lewis and his team of MIT students. The characters in Bringing Down the House were very well developed! Each character, except Felicia, added something new to the adventures our team goes on, and really helped moved the story along. A strength in the book was its gripping plot. It very made you feel as though you were inside the book. It helped you follow along as it switched from Ben learning about Kevin Lewis’ adventures in the present, to following the team through their own adventures.
This book really made me question how I feel about the whole idea of gambling. It made me wonder if what they were doing was the right thing to do. Which I do agree after finishing the book. At first I thought they can’t be doing this, they are rigging the game in their favour. But after finishing I learned that they are just increasing their chances, evening their odds, and using math to do it.
I see people saying how they do not enjoy the fact that Ben Mezrich added some extra events that didn’t happen to the real team. I do agree with this, since more than half of the book is completely fiction. I understand that these were added to the book to give it more of a story, but I felt as though Ben really stretched it. Even some of the characters are just mixtures of the real people.
Other people are saying that they don’t style of writing used in the book. This one I disagree with, to a certain extent. Some of the writing felt a little ‘over-the-top’. A few sections I didn’t think were needed in the book and were just there to add more pages to the book. Such as the relationship with Felicia. I felt as though that relationship didn’t add to the book at all.
A reader that would enjoy this book the most would be someone that enjoys fiction with a little bit of non-fiction. Readers would enjoy this book if they like a lot of suspense. Each chapter end with you wanting more. Wanting to find out what happens to Kevin Lewis and his team of MIT students. The characters in Bringing Down the House were very well developed! Each character, except Felicia, added something new to the adventures our team goes on, and really helped moved the story along. A strength in the book was its gripping plot. It very made you feel as though you were inside the book. It helped you follow along as it switched from Ben learning about Kevin Lewis’ adventures in the present, to following the team through their own adventures.
This book really made me question how I feel about the whole idea of gambling. It made me wonder if what they were doing was the right thing to do. Which I do agree after finishing the book. At first I thought they can’t be doing this, they are rigging the game in their favour. But after finishing I learned that they are just increasing their chances, evening their odds, and using math to do it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2016
Bringing Down the House is an action packed book with many scenes that keep the reader wanting more. Although it wasn't as good as I thought it would be, it was still a good read. Some readers thought that immoderate use of cursing kind of brought the book to a lower level. I disagree with this. I believe that this kind of language helped show some of the characters' emotions during rough and troubling times. Although, at some moments it was not needed, the use of this language did not make a book terrible. Another reader said that she would not want to gamble, but she sees how easy it is to get caught in the lifestyle of gambling. This statement is very agreeable. As I was reading the book, I imagined myself as Kevin Lewis or one of the other MIT members gambling and outsmarting the system.
This book is not meant for everyone. If someone likes a fast paced, eventful story, then this book is for them. Card counters live a suspenseful life. They are often at risk of getting caught or not earning profit from their betting. Nothing is slow in their life, and the book demonstrates that idea. If a reader are like me, then the reader would not enjoy this fast paced story. Often, I found myself confused of what was going on and I had to reread multiple areas multiple times. Also, some of the detail in this book was not as good as I thought it would be. For example, in the latter part of the book, Kevin's teammates get robbed. The book does not go in deep detail about the robbing though, which frustrated me. So, if as a reader detail does not have to be exact, then this book is for you.
In this book, the writer's strategy took me a while to figure out. I often thought it was something other than what I believe it is now. The writer's strategy in this book is to be aware of your surroundings at all times and to also think before you do. Now, other people may disagree with this, but this is was I thought it was. The book basically shows how Kevin Lewis goes from a regular MIT student to a professional card counter. However, along the way, there are many things that Kevin and his team were not aware of. Mickey, and ex-member of the group, was one of the major leaders of the group. When he got voted out the team, Mickey gave Martinez, Fisher, and Kevin warning about the growing technology that the casinos were starting to obtain. Only Kevin actually thought about this. When he tried warning Martinez and Fisher, they both did not pay any attention to it. This eventually caused a big problem with the group, and eventually made the group split. If the team payed attention to Mickey's warnings, maybe they would not have been unsuccessful towards the latter stages.
In Bring Down the House, it was easy to get attached, if you will, to the characters. It almost felt as if you were observing them on a mini television in your brain. The plot was written well, and it was a strength of the book. There was not really a good poetic use of language in is book. In my earlier paragraph, I talked about the unnecessary use of curse words and how sometimes it was good and sometimes it was not. I would not say there was a poetic was of this writing, so it was a weakness in my opinion. Finally, I would also say that there was not really that much good detail. Yes, it expressed detail about what a casino looked like, how a character felt, or even how Kevin swims, but it was not enough. The lack of detail kind of ruined the book for me, but other than that the book was fascinating.
This book is not meant for everyone. If someone likes a fast paced, eventful story, then this book is for them. Card counters live a suspenseful life. They are often at risk of getting caught or not earning profit from their betting. Nothing is slow in their life, and the book demonstrates that idea. If a reader are like me, then the reader would not enjoy this fast paced story. Often, I found myself confused of what was going on and I had to reread multiple areas multiple times. Also, some of the detail in this book was not as good as I thought it would be. For example, in the latter part of the book, Kevin's teammates get robbed. The book does not go in deep detail about the robbing though, which frustrated me. So, if as a reader detail does not have to be exact, then this book is for you.
In this book, the writer's strategy took me a while to figure out. I often thought it was something other than what I believe it is now. The writer's strategy in this book is to be aware of your surroundings at all times and to also think before you do. Now, other people may disagree with this, but this is was I thought it was. The book basically shows how Kevin Lewis goes from a regular MIT student to a professional card counter. However, along the way, there are many things that Kevin and his team were not aware of. Mickey, and ex-member of the group, was one of the major leaders of the group. When he got voted out the team, Mickey gave Martinez, Fisher, and Kevin warning about the growing technology that the casinos were starting to obtain. Only Kevin actually thought about this. When he tried warning Martinez and Fisher, they both did not pay any attention to it. This eventually caused a big problem with the group, and eventually made the group split. If the team payed attention to Mickey's warnings, maybe they would not have been unsuccessful towards the latter stages.
In Bring Down the House, it was easy to get attached, if you will, to the characters. It almost felt as if you were observing them on a mini television in your brain. The plot was written well, and it was a strength of the book. There was not really a good poetic use of language in is book. In my earlier paragraph, I talked about the unnecessary use of curse words and how sometimes it was good and sometimes it was not. I would not say there was a poetic was of this writing, so it was a weakness in my opinion. Finally, I would also say that there was not really that much good detail. Yes, it expressed detail about what a casino looked like, how a character felt, or even how Kevin swims, but it was not enough. The lack of detail kind of ruined the book for me, but other than that the book was fascinating.
August 6, 2024
Too fast and the writing is not for me. But I like the movie.
2 stars
2 stars
May 8, 2008
Let me say this first: read the book. SCREW THE MOVIE!
I picked up this book because the trailers for the movie "21" (based on the book) intrigued me. I'm no speed reader but i finished this thing in two reading sessions less than 24 hours after getting it from the library. It's the TRUE story (as the title indicates) of a bunch of MIT students, brilliant with numbers, who work out a sophisticated card-counting scheme that they use to win millions of dollars from various casinos over the course of a couple of years. This book was such a fast, easy and satisfying read (how often do all three of those adjectives apply to one book), and if you're a fan of Clooney's OCEAN'S 11, you'll love it.
In addition to giving a really gripping account of how these ballsy little geeks managed to get past the Vegas system (Think the Rain Main blackjack sequence times about 10), the author also gives some really cool backstory into the history of "old" Vegas and "new" Vegas (the security, the mob, the corporations, the back rooms, the strippers, the private investigation firms) in order to show you what these guys were truly up against. As you read, you can't help but be swept up in the tense, nail-biting "what-a-rideness" of the story. You also can't help but keep thinking, "hey, maybe I should try this." Fortunately for you, me and everyone who reads, the author also does a good job of showing you that trying what these guys tried really just isn't worth it. These guys were math GENIUSES and they still couldn't slip past the system forever.
The book isn't perfect. The author frequently inserts HIMSELF into the story via these "side chapters" where he interviews people from the main character's life and they seem rather out of place (the chapters that is). Still, all in all, a fun and fascinating book that reads in no time at all.
The movie version really missed the boat here. The story as told in the book is so damn cool and multi-dimensional yet unfolds in "movie time". The filmmakers threw all that out the window and turned every character, scene and even Vegas itself into a one-dimensional snore.
I picked up this book because the trailers for the movie "21" (based on the book) intrigued me. I'm no speed reader but i finished this thing in two reading sessions less than 24 hours after getting it from the library. It's the TRUE story (as the title indicates) of a bunch of MIT students, brilliant with numbers, who work out a sophisticated card-counting scheme that they use to win millions of dollars from various casinos over the course of a couple of years. This book was such a fast, easy and satisfying read (how often do all three of those adjectives apply to one book), and if you're a fan of Clooney's OCEAN'S 11, you'll love it.
In addition to giving a really gripping account of how these ballsy little geeks managed to get past the Vegas system (Think the Rain Main blackjack sequence times about 10), the author also gives some really cool backstory into the history of "old" Vegas and "new" Vegas (the security, the mob, the corporations, the back rooms, the strippers, the private investigation firms) in order to show you what these guys were truly up against. As you read, you can't help but be swept up in the tense, nail-biting "what-a-rideness" of the story. You also can't help but keep thinking, "hey, maybe I should try this." Fortunately for you, me and everyone who reads, the author also does a good job of showing you that trying what these guys tried really just isn't worth it. These guys were math GENIUSES and they still couldn't slip past the system forever.
The book isn't perfect. The author frequently inserts HIMSELF into the story via these "side chapters" where he interviews people from the main character's life and they seem rather out of place (the chapters that is). Still, all in all, a fun and fascinating book that reads in no time at all.
The movie version really missed the boat here. The story as told in the book is so damn cool and multi-dimensional yet unfolds in "movie time". The filmmakers threw all that out the window and turned every character, scene and even Vegas itself into a one-dimensional snore.
July 8, 2018
Real page turner. Thought they were gonna get nailed but they beat the system although had a few dust ups. Wonderful description of Vegas and other casino sites. Worth your time.
January 13, 2009
I really resent it when an author states that their work is one of nonfiction, when it isn't. Apparently Mezrich wrote this story based on his meetings with some members of the MIT Blackjack teams. "Bringing Down the House" is a fictional work inspired by real life events. The character's names have been changed and many of the individual characters Medrich writes about, are actually composites of several people. There are places described that don't exist (underground casino in Chinatown) and events written about which never took place. (back room beatings, $75,000 robbery) How do I know this? When the movie "21" (based on this book) was released last year, the Boston Sunday Globe's magazine section ran an article on the book, its author and some of the famed MIT players. It was intriguing and piqued my curiosity. I recently saw the film on DVD, and decided to read the book.
As a fictional work it is a fast read and does hold one's interest. I know nothing about cards, nor gambling, but was intrigued by the premise that a bunch of brilliant students from MIT could use mathematical theories of probability to beat the "house" at Blackjack. Mezrich does succeed in conveying how seductive the gambling world can be, particularly if you are a geeky MIT engineer. The lights, the danger, the money and the thrill induce a drug-like high into these young students and becomes an itch needing continual scratching. The experience corrupts their youthful innocence and one feels a sadness and sense of loss.
Card counting is not illegal so these young people did not violate the law. Most of them paid taxes on their winnings and used the money won to pay off student loans and begin start-up businesses. But it just didn't seem like fun. And I guess that is the sad fact for some who gamble as a career. It certainly isn't the image Las Vegas and our local casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, spend millions of advertising dollars in promoting.
As a fictional work it is a fast read and does hold one's interest. I know nothing about cards, nor gambling, but was intrigued by the premise that a bunch of brilliant students from MIT could use mathematical theories of probability to beat the "house" at Blackjack. Mezrich does succeed in conveying how seductive the gambling world can be, particularly if you are a geeky MIT engineer. The lights, the danger, the money and the thrill induce a drug-like high into these young students and becomes an itch needing continual scratching. The experience corrupts their youthful innocence and one feels a sadness and sense of loss.
Card counting is not illegal so these young people did not violate the law. Most of them paid taxes on their winnings and used the money won to pay off student loans and begin start-up businesses. But it just didn't seem like fun. And I guess that is the sad fact for some who gamble as a career. It certainly isn't the image Las Vegas and our local casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, spend millions of advertising dollars in promoting.
July 15, 2012
poorly written but an interesting story
April 27, 2020
As the book that the film "21" was based on, it was pretty insightful to read a lot of the explanations that were omitted in the film (due to obvious time constraints). It's a great real-life story (or as real as the book claims to be), but the writing style, pacing, and narration turned me off a little. The writing style made it hard to follow the story, especially with the switching back and forth (which would have worked well had it been executed deftly), and the narrator's voice gave off an air of arrogance.
abandoned
August 22, 2008When he saw that I'd earmarked this book as one I'd like to read, my friend John offered to lend me his copy. It turned out, however, that he only owns a different book by the same author. That book, Busting Vegas, is the inside story of five MIT students who took Vegas for millions (although the long-winded official subtitle for that one bills it as "A True Story of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, and Beating the Odds.").
My interest in the subject (blackjack) and author was initially piqued by viewing the movie 21 a couple weeks ago. 21 is a supposedly true story based on Bringing Down the House, and I enjoyed the film. It had its weaknesses, such as Jill's underdeveloped character (who for unexplained reasons seemed motivated to join the blackjack team in pursuit of something other than wealth and looked down on those who claimed they planned to stick around just long enough to reach a specific financial goal), but was vicariously thrilling and entertaining overall.
I will stick with Busting Vegas to the end, because I am a stubborn reader who can appreciate a good story even when it's rendered poorly, but I've lost interest in reading anything else by Ben Mezrich. I'm unimpressed by his style, which relies on short, blunt sentences and fragments, overblown generalizations, and too much time spent inside the main character's head for me to believe this is a true story rather than a fictional account loosely based on actual events. I consider Mezrich an arrogant, lucky, semi-literate hack who likes rubbing shoulders with brilliant (i.e., bright enough to bolster his own self-labeled "geek chic" image by association) societal misfits and has stretched one book's worth of research into two forgettable, indistinguishable books.
My interest in the subject (blackjack) and author was initially piqued by viewing the movie 21 a couple weeks ago. 21 is a supposedly true story based on Bringing Down the House, and I enjoyed the film. It had its weaknesses, such as Jill's underdeveloped character (who for unexplained reasons seemed motivated to join the blackjack team in pursuit of something other than wealth and looked down on those who claimed they planned to stick around just long enough to reach a specific financial goal), but was vicariously thrilling and entertaining overall.
I will stick with Busting Vegas to the end, because I am a stubborn reader who can appreciate a good story even when it's rendered poorly, but I've lost interest in reading anything else by Ben Mezrich. I'm unimpressed by his style, which relies on short, blunt sentences and fragments, overblown generalizations, and too much time spent inside the main character's head for me to believe this is a true story rather than a fictional account loosely based on actual events. I consider Mezrich an arrogant, lucky, semi-literate hack who likes rubbing shoulders with brilliant (i.e., bright enough to bolster his own self-labeled "geek chic" image by association) societal misfits and has stretched one book's worth of research into two forgettable, indistinguishable books.
February 6, 2012
The story of Kevin Lewis and some other MIT kids of Asian descent, who were hand-picked by a former MIT prof to count cards in Vegas. Backed by “shady investors” that they supposedly never met, the team used a decades-old method of card counting (a modified version of “hi-lo,” based on the number of high cards left in the deck) and some interesting hand signals to collectively rake in the millions.
This is Mezrich’s first non-fiction book, and it shows; oh does it ever show. There is a small “details have been changed” notice under the copyright info, but this does not justify Mezrich’s copious use of detail and conversation that could not possibly be known to him, let alone accurately reported. It’s no great sin to use created conversation to capture the feel of a true event, but it’s disingenuous of the author not to at least acknowledge what he’s done. And while I don’t want to call him or Lewis a liar, the tacked-on drama (beatings in the bathroom of an off-shore casino; a break-in; a solitary poker chip left ominously on Lewis’ table) seem a bit too much ripped from just the style of thriller that Mezrich is apparently accustomed to writing. In sum, there might be an interesting story here, but this book, while admittedly fun to read, with its flat drama and unsympathetic characters (aw, poor Kevin, making a great living at a trading firm, trying to “get out” of the humdrum existence of the MIT grad with the house and two cars... boo hoo, guy) isn’t great.
This is Mezrich’s first non-fiction book, and it shows; oh does it ever show. There is a small “details have been changed” notice under the copyright info, but this does not justify Mezrich’s copious use of detail and conversation that could not possibly be known to him, let alone accurately reported. It’s no great sin to use created conversation to capture the feel of a true event, but it’s disingenuous of the author not to at least acknowledge what he’s done. And while I don’t want to call him or Lewis a liar, the tacked-on drama (beatings in the bathroom of an off-shore casino; a break-in; a solitary poker chip left ominously on Lewis’ table) seem a bit too much ripped from just the style of thriller that Mezrich is apparently accustomed to writing. In sum, there might be an interesting story here, but this book, while admittedly fun to read, with its flat drama and unsympathetic characters (aw, poor Kevin, making a great living at a trading firm, trying to “get out” of the humdrum existence of the MIT grad with the house and two cars... boo hoo, guy) isn’t great.
July 6, 2008
This bood reads like a suspense novel- an easy read, that I finished in one sitting. I have to admit, I was riveted, although the writing itself leaves something to be desired.
My husband's aunt used to be a dealer in Atlantic City so I've heard a lot of stories from her, but this book really opened my eyes to the gambling industry. The book made me NOT want to gamble and pretty much squelched what miniscule desire I had to visit Vegas anyway.
I could see how easily one could get caught up in that lifestyle. Even though what they were doing wasn't illegal, there were a lot of moral questions involved here, and if I was their parent I certainly would not have been "proud". And then to make more money from the writing (and I use this word loosely) of a book. They could have used their intelligence in more productive ways? Though I have to admit I did find myself rooting for them and I have absolutely no sympathy for the gaming industry.
My husband's aunt used to be a dealer in Atlantic City so I've heard a lot of stories from her, but this book really opened my eyes to the gambling industry. The book made me NOT want to gamble and pretty much squelched what miniscule desire I had to visit Vegas anyway.
I could see how easily one could get caught up in that lifestyle. Even though what they were doing wasn't illegal, there were a lot of moral questions involved here, and if I was their parent I certainly would not have been "proud". And then to make more money from the writing (and I use this word loosely) of a book. They could have used their intelligence in more productive ways? Though I have to admit I did find myself rooting for them and I have absolutely no sympathy for the gaming industry.
August 17, 2020
I have long wewondered how the MIT students set up their game and how they got caught. This book answers my questions to my satisfaction. And shock enough to be entertained better and better with each chapter.
September 4, 2020
I listened to an audio version and was so engrossed in the story that I finished all but the last CD in one day. It was so interested to read and I am still trying to figure out how they did it. Guess that is why I am not an MIT graduate. This book certainly claims the truth the money can change you. I guess there is also a movie. I plan to watch it soon.
August 23, 2012
Read this book after seeing the film adaptation, 21. It would have been a great story if not for the author's reputation of stretching the facts. And the writing style? I guess his blackjack skills are better than his writing.
December 16, 2021
I had watched the movie quite a few years ago (at least 8?) and had liked it at the time, albeit before I was legally allowed to enter a casino and before I played my first hand of poker. As someone who's more versed with gambling than their teenage self, I decided to revisit this work - this time in original book form. It had re-entered my mind under the recommendation of a few coworkers, and it seemed like the right time to give it a read. Enough of the movie had left my mind that quite frankly, this felt like a new book to me.
What I really appreciated was that Mezrich explains enough of the blackjack theory in beginner terms that any reader attains a solid grasp of the rationale and methodology behind the madness. In addition, the characters are portrayed with enough detail that you feel as if you knew them. The story is just the right length that I felt engaged at all times, never growing tired of the plot (which sometimes happens).
Honestly, I don't have much fault with the book at all. The only thing mildly confusing is when it swaps between Mezrich's and Kevin's point of views, just because I was using the audiobook and couldn't delineate until a bit into when the chapter actually starts (the timestamps give the best clue, I guess). Otherwise, I understand there are some factual errors (i.e. Terry's job and the actual NFL schedule does not line up, etc.) that might be actually intentional to disguise the identities of the players, or ease the storytelling. For instance, Micky Rosa is actually 3 people in real life. I understand there are quite a few considerations probably out of sight from the reader.
Final Review: 4.5/5. Honestly I haven't felt this engaged in a novel in quite a while, and it was a bonus that I was able to learn a bit about blackjack theory to go with it.
What I really appreciated was that Mezrich explains enough of the blackjack theory in beginner terms that any reader attains a solid grasp of the rationale and methodology behind the madness. In addition, the characters are portrayed with enough detail that you feel as if you knew them. The story is just the right length that I felt engaged at all times, never growing tired of the plot (which sometimes happens).
Honestly, I don't have much fault with the book at all. The only thing mildly confusing is when it swaps between Mezrich's and Kevin's point of views, just because I was using the audiobook and couldn't delineate until a bit into when the chapter actually starts (the timestamps give the best clue, I guess). Otherwise, I understand there are some factual errors (i.e. Terry's job and the actual NFL schedule does not line up, etc.) that might be actually intentional to disguise the identities of the players, or ease the storytelling. For instance, Micky Rosa is actually 3 people in real life. I understand there are quite a few considerations probably out of sight from the reader.
Final Review: 4.5/5. Honestly I haven't felt this engaged in a novel in quite a while, and it was a bonus that I was able to learn a bit about blackjack theory to go with it.
April 14, 2022
3.25* - inspired by my previous read which had a kind of Robin Hood theme i chose this as my next book - another "free little library" find. It's more David and Goliath than Robin Hood, and even then, we're talking about young people who had the financial and/or intellectual capital to attend MIT, so they weren't necessarily the little guy either.
Why read this? If you want to...
- Get a taste for what life was like in the 90s before the internet blew up (before the dot com bust),
- See what airplane travel was like just a few years before September 11th (the team members carried cash strapped to their bodies 😅), etc.
- Understand that every decade is just the previous one on steroids. Funny how the 80s was considered the age of greed and yet the excess of the 90s is on every page of this book.
- Watch the origin story for invasive technology unfold with facial recognition- seeing how quickly casinos shifted from innocent ignorance to coordinated information sharing. (Also explains one of the sources of cash for its development)
Why you might not want to read this?
- Fisher and Martinez seemed only to be described through Kevin's eyes or in a very distant way..i had the feeling they refused to talk to the author.
- even Kevin seemed a bit flat as a person. As if there was something being left out. He seemed too perfect and odor free.
All in all this story is worth a read, but take it with a grain of salt as apparently it's a bit of a fanciful collage of stories sick together with glitter glue.
"The idea that the story is true is more important than being able to prove that it's true." B Mezrich
https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...
Why read this? If you want to...
- Get a taste for what life was like in the 90s before the internet blew up (before the dot com bust),
- See what airplane travel was like just a few years before September 11th (the team members carried cash strapped to their bodies 😅), etc.
- Understand that every decade is just the previous one on steroids. Funny how the 80s was considered the age of greed and yet the excess of the 90s is on every page of this book.
- Watch the origin story for invasive technology unfold with facial recognition- seeing how quickly casinos shifted from innocent ignorance to coordinated information sharing. (Also explains one of the sources of cash for its development)
Why you might not want to read this?
- Fisher and Martinez seemed only to be described through Kevin's eyes or in a very distant way..i had the feeling they refused to talk to the author.
- even Kevin seemed a bit flat as a person. As if there was something being left out. He seemed too perfect and odor free.
All in all this story is worth a read, but take it with a grain of salt as apparently it's a bit of a fanciful collage of stories sick together with glitter glue.
"The idea that the story is true is more important than being able to prove that it's true." B Mezrich
https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...
June 24, 2025
My dad told me I would like this book but now I’m thinking he tricked me into reading it so we can start our own card counting team
July 4, 2020
As the subtitle to this book indicates, this is the story of a group of math wizzes, most associated with MIT, who use the science of probability to win millions at Black Jack. It was an easy read that kept my attention. 3.5 stars
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