Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

The amazing inside story about a gambling ring of M.I.T.students who beat the system in Vegas -- and lived to tell how.

Robin Hood meets the Rat Pack when the best and the brightest of M.I.T.'s math students and engineers take up blackjack under the guidance of an eccentric mastermind. Their small blackjack club develops from an experiment in counting cards on M.I.T.'s campus into a ring of card savants with a system for playing large and winning big. In less than two years they take some of the world's most sophisticated casinos for more than three million dollars. But their success also brings with it the formidable ire of casino owners and launches them into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas with its private investigators and other violent heavies.

Filled with tense action, high stakes, and incredibly close calls, Bringing Down the House is a nail-biting read that chronicles a real-life Ocean's Eleven. It's one story that Vegas does not want you to read.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Blackjack Story, 2008-08-28
I liked the story behind what these kids did. It was exciting and scandolous. I didn't like the actual people in the story. Most of them seem like overpriveleged brats who were looking for a free lunch. I was also a tad disappointed with how simple their methods really were. It had less to do with brainy algorithims and more to do with teamwork and deception. All in all though, an interesting book.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great Behind-the-Scenes Look at Card Counting, 2008-08-20
This book came to my attention after hearing a radio interview with one of the MIT Card Counters. I immediately searched out this book, and it didn't disappoint. Ben Mezrich does a great job of boiling down a sophisticated card-counting system, following the rise and fall of one of the team's key members. And for those interested in the details, an essay on card counting mechanics by the main subject, "Kevin Lewis," is presented at the end of the book.

This was Mezrich's first forray into non-fiction and it shows at times with some cheesy and tedious metaphors and heavy-handed attemps at injecting prose into the action. Nonetheless, the book is short enough and the action quick enough that I wouldn't describe this as a major distraction.

If you liked "Rounders" or the casino scene in "Rain Man," then this book is probably for you.




0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great price for a great book!, 2008-08-17
Book was like new and delivered as promised. Great book for a great price. Very easy transaction. Thank you!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Dazzling, 2008-08-03
Mr. Mezrich, in "Bringing Down the House", gives us a fascinating account of a group of MIT students who took "card counting" at the blackjack table to a whole new level. This fast paced page-turner takes a thrill ride that reads like a novel. Great read!!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Entertaining, 2008-07-31
It's certainly worth the read and is an interesting look at a group taking on Vegas. As most know, the book chronicles the rise and fall of one of the MIT blackjack teams and gives a behind the scenes look at the roller coaster ride they went on. There were tense moments that kepy the reader turning pages when the team was avoiding being caught, but there really weren't as many stories of the "Vegas" lifestyle as I was expecting. The finish was predictable and somewhat anti-climatic.

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