CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="client-nojs vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>MIT Blackjack Team - Wikipedia</title> <script>(function(){var className="client-js vector-feature-language-in-header-enabled vector-feature-language-in-main-page-header-disabled vector-feature-sticky-header-disabled vector-feature-page-tools-pinned-disabled vector-feature-toc-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-main-menu-pinned-disabled vector-feature-limited-width-clientpref-1 vector-feature-limited-width-content-enabled vector-feature-custom-font-size-clientpref-1 vector-feature-appearance-pinned-clientpref-1 vector-feature-night-mode-enabled skin-theme-clientpref-day vector-toc-available";var cookie=document.cookie.match(/(?:^|; )enwikimwclientpreferences=([^;]+)/);if(cookie){cookie[1].split('%2C').forEach(function(pref){className=className.replace(new RegExp('(^| )'+pref.replace(/-clientpref-\w+$|[^\w-]+/g,'')+'-clientpref-\\w+( |$)'),'$1'+pref+'$2');});}document.documentElement.className=className;}());RLCONF={"wgBreakFrames":false,"wgSeparatorTransformTable":["",""],"wgDigitTransformTable":["",""],"wgDefaultDateFormat":"dmy", "wgMonthNames":["","January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December"],"wgRequestId":"c20e5653-3a47-45af-ba52-fdcfc5037b90","wgCanonicalNamespace":"","wgCanonicalSpecialPageName":false,"wgNamespaceNumber":0,"wgPageName":"MIT_Blackjack_Team","wgTitle":"MIT Blackjack Team","wgCurRevisionId":1255881440,"wgRevisionId":1255881440,"wgArticleId":770521,"wgIsArticle":true,"wgIsRedirect":false,"wgAction":"view","wgUserName":null,"wgUserGroups":["*"],"wgCategories":["Webarchive template wayback links","Pages using IMDb title with no id set","Articles with short description","Short description is different from Wikidata","Articles needing additional references from April 2012","All articles needing additional references","All articles with unsourced statements","Articles with unsourced statements from March 2008","Massachusetts Institute of Technology student life","American blackjack players","Harvard University"],"wgPageViewLanguage": "en","wgPageContentLanguage":"en","wgPageContentModel":"wikitext","wgRelevantPageName":"MIT_Blackjack_Team","wgRelevantArticleId":770521,"wgIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRelevantPageIsProbablyEditable":true,"wgRestrictionEdit":[],"wgRestrictionMove":[],"wgNoticeProject":"wikipedia","wgCiteReferencePreviewsActive":false,"wgFlaggedRevsParams":{"tags":{"status":{"levels":1}}},"wgMediaViewerOnClick":true,"wgMediaViewerEnabledByDefault":true,"wgPopupsFlags":0,"wgVisualEditor":{"pageLanguageCode":"en","pageLanguageDir":"ltr","pageVariantFallbacks":"en"},"wgMFDisplayWikibaseDescriptions":{"search":true,"watchlist":true,"tagline":false,"nearby":true},"wgWMESchemaEditAttemptStepOversample":false,"wgWMEPageLength":20000,"wgRelatedArticlesCompat":[],"wgCentralAuthMobileDomain":false,"wgEditSubmitButtonLabelPublish":true,"wgULSPosition":"interlanguage","wgULSisCompactLinksEnabled":false,"wgVector2022LanguageInHeader":true,"wgULSisLanguageSelectorEmpty":false,"wgWikibaseItemId":"Q3273003", "wgCheckUserClientHintsHeadersJsApi":["brands","architecture","bitness","fullVersionList","mobile","model","platform","platformVersion"],"GEHomepageSuggestedEditsEnableTopics":true,"wgGETopicsMatchModeEnabled":false,"wgGEStructuredTaskRejectionReasonTextInputEnabled":false,"wgGELevelingUpEnabledForUser":false};RLSTATE={"ext.globalCssJs.user.styles":"ready","site.styles":"ready","user.styles":"ready","ext.globalCssJs.user":"ready","user":"ready","user.options":"loading","ext.cite.styles":"ready","skins.vector.search.codex.styles":"ready","skins.vector.styles":"ready","skins.vector.icons":"ready","jquery.makeCollapsible.styles":"ready","ext.wikimediamessages.styles":"ready","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript":"ready","ext.uls.interlanguage":"ready","wikibase.client.init":"ready","ext.wikimediaBadges":"ready"};RLPAGEMODULES=["ext.cite.ux-enhancements","site","mediawiki.page.ready","jquery.makeCollapsible","mediawiki.toc","skins.vector.js","ext.centralNotice.geoIP", "ext.centralNotice.startUp","ext.gadget.ReferenceTooltips","ext.gadget.switcher","ext.urlShortener.toolbar","ext.centralauth.centralautologin","mmv.bootstrap","ext.popups","ext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.init","ext.visualEditor.targetLoader","ext.echo.centralauth","ext.eventLogging","ext.wikimediaEvents","ext.navigationTiming","ext.uls.interface","ext.cx.eventlogging.campaigns","ext.cx.uls.quick.actions","wikibase.client.vector-2022","ext.checkUser.clientHints","ext.growthExperiments.SuggestedEditSession","wikibase.sidebar.tracking"];</script> <script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.loader.impl(function(){return["user.options@12s5i",function($,jQuery,require,module){mw.user.tokens.set({"patrolToken":"+\\","watchToken":"+\\","csrfToken":"+\\"}); }];});});</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=ext.cite.styles%7Cext.uls.interlanguage%7Cext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.noscript%7Cext.wikimediaBadges%7Cext.wikimediamessages.styles%7Cjquery.makeCollapsible.styles%7Cskins.vector.icons%2Cstyles%7Cskins.vector.search.codex.styles%7Cwikibase.client.init&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <script async="" src="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=startup&only=scripts&raw=1&skin=vector-2022"></script> <meta name="ResourceLoaderDynamicStyles" content=""> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/w/load.php?lang=en&modules=site.styles&only=styles&skin=vector-2022"> <meta name="generator" content="MediaWiki 1.44.0-wmf.4"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin"> <meta name="referrer" content="origin-when-cross-origin"> <meta name="robots" content="max-image-preview:standard"> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=1120"> <meta property="og:title" content="MIT Blackjack Team - Wikipedia"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <link rel="preconnect" href="//upload.wikimedia.org"> <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-wiki" title="Edit this page" href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/apple-touch/wikipedia.png"> <link rel="icon" href="/static/favicon/wikipedia.ico"> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/w/rest.php/v1/search" title="Wikipedia (en)"> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=rsd"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team"> <link rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Wikipedia Atom feed" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&feed=atom"> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//meta.wikimedia.org" /> <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//login.wikimedia.org"> </head> <body class="skin--responsive skin-vector skin-vector-search-vue mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject mw-editable page-MIT_Blackjack_Team rootpage-MIT_Blackjack_Team skin-vector-2022 action-view"><a class="mw-jump-link" href="#bodyContent">Jump to content</a> <div class="vector-header-container"> <header class="vector-header mw-header"> <div class="vector-header-start"> <nav class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-main-menu-dropdown vector-button-flush-left vector-button-flush-right" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-main-menu-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Main menu" > <label id="vector-main-menu-dropdown-label" for="vector-main-menu-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-menu mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-menu"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Main menu</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-main-menu" class="vector-main-menu vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-main-menu-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="main-menu-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-main-menu" data-pinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-main-menu-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Main menu</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-main-menu.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-navigation" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-navigation" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Navigation </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-mainpage-description" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Main_Page" title="Visit the main page [z]" accesskey="z"><span>Main page</span></a></li><li id="n-contents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents" title="Guides to browsing Wikipedia"><span>Contents</span></a></li><li id="n-currentevents" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Portal:Current_events" title="Articles related to current events"><span>Current events</span></a></li><li id="n-randompage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:Random" title="Visit a randomly selected article [x]" accesskey="x"><span>Random article</span></a></li><li id="n-aboutsite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About" title="Learn about Wikipedia and how it works"><span>About Wikipedia</span></a></li><li id="n-contactpage" class="mw-list-item"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us" title="How to contact Wikipedia"><span>Contact us</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-interaction" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-interaction" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Contribute </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="n-help" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Contents" title="Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia"><span>Help</span></a></li><li id="n-introduction" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" title="Learn how to edit Wikipedia"><span>Learn to edit</span></a></li><li id="n-portal" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_portal" title="The hub for editors"><span>Community portal</span></a></li><li id="n-recentchanges" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChanges" title="A list of recent changes to Wikipedia [r]" accesskey="r"><span>Recent changes</span></a></li><li id="n-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_upload_wizard" title="Add images or other media for use on Wikipedia"><span>Upload file</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <a href="/wiki/Main_Page" class="mw-logo"> <img class="mw-logo-icon" src="/static/images/icons/wikipedia.png" alt="" aria-hidden="true" height="50" width="50"> <span class="mw-logo-container skin-invert"> <img class="mw-logo-wordmark" alt="Wikipedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-wordmark-en.svg" style="width: 7.5em; height: 1.125em;"> <img class="mw-logo-tagline" alt="The Free Encyclopedia" src="/static/images/mobile/copyright/wikipedia-tagline-en.svg" width="117" height="13" style="width: 7.3125em; height: 0.8125em;"> </span> </a> </div> <div class="vector-header-end"> <div id="p-search" role="search" class="vector-search-box-vue vector-search-box-collapses vector-search-box-show-thumbnail vector-search-box-auto-expand-width vector-search-box"> <a href="/wiki/Special:Search" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only search-toggle" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-search mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-search"></span> <span>Search</span> </a> <div class="vector-typeahead-search-container"> <div class="cdx-typeahead-search cdx-typeahead-search--show-thumbnail cdx-typeahead-search--auto-expand-width"> <form action="/w/index.php" id="searchform" class="cdx-search-input cdx-search-input--has-end-button"> <div id="simpleSearch" class="cdx-search-input__input-wrapper" data-search-loc="header-moved"> <div class="cdx-text-input cdx-text-input--has-start-icon"> <input class="cdx-text-input__input" type="search" name="search" placeholder="Search Wikipedia" aria-label="Search Wikipedia" autocapitalize="sentences" title="Search Wikipedia [f]" accesskey="f" id="searchInput" > <span class="cdx-text-input__icon cdx-text-input__start-icon"></span> </div> <input type="hidden" name="title" value="Special:Search"> </div> <button class="cdx-button cdx-search-input__end-button">Search</button> </form> </div> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-user-links vector-user-links-wide" aria-label="Personal tools"> <div class="vector-user-links-main"> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-preferences" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-userpage" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown " title="Change the appearance of the page's font size, width, and color" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-appearance-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Appearance" > <label id="vector-appearance-dropdown-label" for="vector-appearance-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-appearance mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-appearance"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Appearance</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-notifications" class="vector-menu mw-portlet emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-vector-user-menu-overflow" class="vector-menu mw-portlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en" class=""><span>Donate</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-createaccount-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=MIT+Blackjack+Team" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory" class=""><span>Create account</span></a> </li> <li id="pt-login-2" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item user-links-collapsible-item"><a data-mw="interface" href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=MIT+Blackjack+Team" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o" class=""><span>Log in</span></a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-user-menu vector-button-flush-right vector-user-menu-logged-out" title="Log in and more options" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-user-links-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Personal tools" > <label id="vector-user-links-dropdown-label" for="vector-user-links-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-ellipsis mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-ellipsis"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Personal tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-personal" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-personal user-links-collapsible-item" title="User menu" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-sitesupport" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="https://donate.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserRedirector?utm_source=donate&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_campaign=C13_en.wikipedia.org&uselang=en"><span>Donate</span></a></li><li id="pt-createaccount" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=MIT+Blackjack+Team" title="You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-userAdd mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-userAdd"></span> <span>Create account</span></a></li><li id="pt-login" class="user-links-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin&returnto=MIT+Blackjack+Team" title="You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [o]" accesskey="o"><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-logIn mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-logIn"></span> <span>Log in</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-user-menu-anon-editor" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-user-menu-anon-editor" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Pages for logged out editors <a href="/wiki/Help:Introduction" aria-label="Learn more about editing"><span>learn more</span></a> </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="pt-anoncontribs" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyContributions" title="A list of edits made from this IP address [y]" accesskey="y"><span>Contributions</span></a></li><li id="pt-anontalk" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:MyTalk" title="Discussion about edits from this IP address [n]" accesskey="n"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </header> </div> <div class="mw-page-container"> <div class="mw-page-container-inner"> <div class="vector-sitenotice-container"> <div id="siteNotice"></div> </div> <div class="vector-column-start"> <div class="vector-main-menu-container"> <div id="mw-navigation"> <nav id="mw-panel" class="vector-main-menu-landmark" aria-label="Site"> <div id="vector-main-menu-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav id="mw-panel-toc" aria-label="Contents" data-event-name="ui.sidebar-toc" class="mw-table-of-contents-container vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-toc-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-toc" class="vector-toc vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-toc-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="toc-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-toc" > <h2 class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Contents</h2> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Blackjack_and_card_counting" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Blackjack_and_card_counting"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">1</span> <span>Blackjack and card counting</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Blackjack_and_card_counting-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Early_days" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Early_days"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Early days</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Early_days-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Capitalization_and_growth_(1980–1989)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Capitalization_and_growth_(1980–1989)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Capitalization and growth (1980–1989)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Capitalization_and_growth_(1980–1989)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Strategic_Investments_(1992–1993)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Strategic_Investments_(1992–1993)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Strategic Investments (1992–1993)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Strategic_Investments_(1992–1993)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Split_and_dissolution_(1994–2000)" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Split_and_dissolution_(1994–2000)"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Split and dissolution (1994–2000)</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Split_and_dissolution_(1994–2000)-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Strategy_and_techniques" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Strategy_and_techniques"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Strategy and techniques</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Strategy_and_techniques-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-In_the_media" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#In_the_media"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>In the media</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-In_the_media-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle In the media subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-In_the_media-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Books" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Books"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.1</span> <span>Books</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Books-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Films" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Films"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.2</span> <span>Films</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Films-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Television" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Television"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.3</span> <span>Television</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Television-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7.4</span> <span>Other</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-External_links" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#External_links"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>External links</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-External_links-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">MIT Blackjack Team</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 4 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-4" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">4 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="MIT Blackjack Team – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="MIT Blackjack Team" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="MIT Blackjack Team – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="MIT Blackjack Team" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="MIT Blackjack Team – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="MIT Blackjack Team" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="MIT Blackjack Team – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="MIT Blackjack Team" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q3273003#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> <div id="left-navigation"> <nav aria-label="Namespaces"> <div id="p-associated-pages" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-associated-pages" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-nstab-main" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="View the content page [c]" accesskey="c"><span>Article</span></a></li><li id="ca-talk" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Talk:MIT_Blackjack_Team" rel="discussion" title="Discuss improvements to the content page [t]" accesskey="t"><span>Talk</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown emptyPortlet" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-variants-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Change language variant" > <label id="vector-variants-dropdown-label" for="vector-variants-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">English</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="p-variants" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-variants emptyPortlet" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="right-navigation" class="vector-collapsible"> <nav aria-label="Views"> <div id="p-views" class="vector-menu vector-menu-tabs mw-portlet mw-portlet-views" > <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-view" class="selected vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-edit" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-history" class="vector-tab-noicon mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=history" title="Past revisions of this page [h]" accesskey="h"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-tools-dropdown" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-tools-dropdown" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Tools" > <label id="vector-page-tools-dropdown-label" for="vector-page-tools-dropdown-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Tools</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> <div id="vector-page-tools" class="vector-page-tools vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-page-tools-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-unpinned" data-feature-name="page-tools-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-page-tools" data-pinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-page-tools-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Tools</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-page-tools.unpin">hide</button> </div> <div id="p-cactions" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-cactions emptyPortlet vector-has-collapsible-items" title="More options" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Actions </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="ca-more-view" class="selected vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team"><span>Read</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-edit" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit" title="Edit this page [e]" accesskey="e"><span>Edit</span></a></li><li id="ca-more-history" class="vector-more-collapsible-item mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=history"><span>View history</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-tb" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-tb" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> General </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-whatlinkshere" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [j]" accesskey="j"><span>What links here</span></a></li><li id="t-recentchangeslinked" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:RecentChangesLinked/MIT_Blackjack_Team" rel="nofollow" title="Recent changes in pages linked from this page [k]" accesskey="k"><span>Related changes</span></a></li><li id="t-upload" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard" title="Upload files [u]" accesskey="u"><span>Upload file</span></a></li><li id="t-specialpages" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/wiki/Special:SpecialPages" title="A list of all special pages [q]" accesskey="q"><span>Special pages</span></a></li><li id="t-permalink" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&oldid=1255881440" title="Permanent link to this revision of this page"><span>Permanent link</span></a></li><li id="t-info" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=info" title="More information about this page"><span>Page information</span></a></li><li id="t-cite" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=MIT_Blackjack_Team&id=1255881440&wpFormIdentifier=titleform" title="Information on how to cite this page"><span>Cite this page</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:UrlShortener&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMIT_Blackjack_Team"><span>Get shortened URL</span></a></li><li id="t-urlshortener-qrcode" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:QrCode&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMIT_Blackjack_Team"><span>Download QR code</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-coll-print_export" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-coll-print_export" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> Print/export </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="coll-download-as-rl" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=show-download-screen" title="Download this page as a PDF file"><span>Download as PDF</span></a></li><li id="t-print" class="mw-list-item"><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&printable=yes" title="Printable version of this page [p]" accesskey="p"><span>Printable version</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="p-wikibase-otherprojects" class="vector-menu mw-portlet mw-portlet-wikibase-otherprojects" > <div class="vector-menu-heading"> In other projects </div> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li id="t-wikibase" class="wb-otherproject-link wb-otherproject-wikibase-dataitem mw-list-item"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q3273003" title="Structured data on this page hosted by Wikidata [g]" accesskey="g"><span>Wikidata item</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-column-end"> <div class="vector-sticky-pinned-container"> <nav class="vector-page-tools-landmark" aria-label="Page tools"> <div id="vector-page-tools-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> </div> </nav> <nav class="vector-appearance-landmark" aria-label="Appearance"> <div id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" class="vector-pinned-container"> <div id="vector-appearance" class="vector-appearance vector-pinnable-element"> <div class="vector-pinnable-header vector-appearance-pinnable-header vector-pinnable-header-pinned" data-feature-name="appearance-pinned" data-pinnable-element-id="vector-appearance" data-pinned-container-id="vector-appearance-pinned-container" data-unpinned-container-id="vector-appearance-unpinned-container" > <div class="vector-pinnable-header-label">Appearance</div> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-pin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.pin">move to sidebar</button> <button class="vector-pinnable-header-toggle-button vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-appearance.unpin">hide</button> </div> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div id="bodyContent" class="vector-body" aria-labelledby="firstHeading" data-mw-ve-target-container> <div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Professional casino card counters</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-More_citations_needed plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Refimprove" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>needs additional citations for <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/MIT_Blackjack_Team" title="Special:EditPage/MIT Blackjack Team">improve this article</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22MIT+Blackjack+Team%22">"MIT Blackjack Team"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22MIT+Blackjack+Team%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22MIT+Blackjack+Team%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22MIT+Blackjack+Team%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22MIT+Blackjack+Team%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22MIT+Blackjack+Team%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">April 2012</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The <b>MIT Blackjack Team</b> was a group of students and ex-students. The students were from <a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a>, <a href="/wiki/Harvard_University" title="Harvard University">Harvard University</a>, and other leading colleges; they used <a href="/wiki/Card_counting" title="Card counting">card counting</a> techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat <a href="/wiki/Casino" title="Casino">casinos</a> at <a href="/wiki/Blackjack" title="Blackjack">blackjack</a> worldwide. The team and its successors operated successfully from 1979 through the beginning of the 21st century. Many other blackjack teams around the world have been formed with the goal of beating the casinos. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Blackjack_and_card_counting">Blackjack and card counting</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Blackjack and card counting"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Card_counting" title="Card counting">Card counting</a></div> <p>Blackjack can be legally beaten by a skilled player. Beyond the <a href="/wiki/Blackjack#Basic_strategy" title="Blackjack">basic strategy</a> of when to hit and when to stand, individual players can use card counting, <a href="/wiki/Shuffle_track" title="Shuffle track">shuffle tracking</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Hole_carding" title="Hole carding">hole carding</a> to improve their odds. Since the early 1960s, a large number of card counting schemes have been published, and casinos have adjusted the rules of play in an attempt to counter the most popular methods. The idea behind all card counting is that, because a low card is usually bad and a high card usually good, and as cards already seen since the last shuffle cannot be at the top of the deck and thus drawn, the counter can determine the high and low cards that have already been played. They then may know the probability of getting a high card (10, J, Q, K, A) as compared to a low card (2, 3, 4, 5, 6). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Early_days">Early days</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Early days"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In 1979, several friends of J.P. Massar at MIT took a class on <a href="/wiki/Blackjack" title="Blackjack">blackjack</a> called "How to Gamble If You Must." They reported to Massar, then about to graduate with a master's degree in computer science, that the game was beatable. Using a mainframe computer at the <a href="/wiki/Lincoln_Lab" class="mw-redirect" title="Lincoln Lab">Lincoln Lab</a> in nearby <a href="/wiki/Lexington,_Massachusetts" title="Lexington, Massachusetts">Lexington</a>, Massachusetts, Massar determined that by playing enough hands with enough players willing to signal others about their hands, it was possible for a player to win more hands than they would lose.<sup id="cite_ref-SFGate_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SFGate-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Massar and several others took a trip to <a href="/wiki/Atlantic_City" class="mw-redirect" title="Atlantic City">Atlantic City</a> during spring break to test the theory, but did not find success.<sup id="cite_ref-SFGate_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SFGate-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The group went their separate ways when most of them graduated in May of the same year. Most never gambled again, but some of them maintained an avid interest in card counting and remained in <a href="/wiki/Cambridge,_Massachusetts" title="Cambridge, Massachusetts">Cambridge, Massachusetts</a>. Two of them, J.P. Massar and Jonathan, offered a course on blackjack for MIT's January 1980 Independent Activities Period (IAP), during which classes may be offered on almost any subject. </p><p>In late November 1979, a professional blackjack player named Dave contacted Massar after seeing a flyer for Massar's blackjack course. He offered to bankroll a group to go to Atlantic City<sup id="cite_ref-SFGate_1-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SFGate-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> to take advantage of the <a href="/wiki/New_Jersey_Casino_Control_Commission" title="New Jersey Casino Control Commission">New Jersey Casino Control Commission</a>'s recent ruling which made it illegal for the Atlantic City casinos to ban card counters. Casinos instead have to take other countermeasures like shuffling the cards earlier than normal, using more decks of cards, or offering games with worse rules to destroy the advantage gained by counting—even though these all negatively impact the non-counter as well.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The group of four players, a professional gambler, and an investor who put up most of their capital ($5,000), went to Atlantic City in late December. They recruited more MIT students as players at the January blackjack class. They played intermittently through May 1980 and increased their capital four-fold, but were nonetheless more like a loose group sharing capital than a team with consistent strategies and quality control. </p><p>In May 1980, Massar met Bill Kaplan at a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge.<sup id="cite_ref-SFGate_1-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-SFGate-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Kaplan had earned his BA at Harvard in 1977 and delayed his admission to <a href="/wiki/Harvard_Business_School" title="Harvard Business School">Harvard Business School</a> for a year, when he moved to <a href="/wiki/Las_Vegas" title="Las Vegas">Las Vegas</a> and formed a team of blackjack players using his own research and statistical analysis of the game. Using funds he received on graduation as Harvard's outstanding scholar-athlete, he generated more than a 35 fold <a href="/wiki/Rate_of_return" title="Rate of return">rate of return</a> in less than nine months of play.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Kaplan continued to run his Las Vegas blackjack team as a sideline while attending Harvard Business School but, by the time of his graduation in May 1980, the players were so "burnt out" in Nevada they were forced to hit the international circuit. Not feeling he could continue to manage the team successfully while they traveled throughout Europe and elsewhere, encountering different rules, playing conditions, and casino practices, Kaplan parted ways with his teammates, who then splintered into multiple small playing teams in pursuit of more favorable conditions throughout the world. </p><p>After meeting Kaplan and hearing about his blackjack successes, Massar asked Kaplan if he was interested in going with a few of Massar's blackjack-playing friends to Atlantic City to observe their play. Given the serendipitous timing (Kaplan's parting with his Las Vegas team), he agreed to go in the hopes of putting together a new local team that he could train and manage. Kaplan observed Massar and his teammates playing for a weekend in Atlantic City. He noted that each of the players used a different, and overcomplicated, card counting strategy. It resulted in error rates that undermined the benefits of the more complicated strategies. After returning to Cambridge, Kaplan detailed the problems he observed to Massar. </p><p>Kaplan said he would back a team but it had to be run as a business with formal management procedures, a required counting and betting system, strict training and player approval processes, and careful tracking of all casino play. A couple of the players were initially averse to the idea. They had no interest in having to learn a new playing system, being put through "trial by fire" checkout procedures before being approved to play, being supervised in the casinos, or having to fill out detailed player sheets (such as casino, cash in and cash out totals, time period, betting strategy and limits, and the rest) for every playing session. However, their keen interest in the game coupled with Kaplan's successful track record won out. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Capitalization_and_growth_(1980–1989)"><span id="Capitalization_and_growth_.281980.E2.80.931989.29"></span>Capitalization and growth (1980–1989)</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Capitalization and growth (1980–1989)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The newly capitalized "bank" of the MIT Blackjack Team started on 1 August 1980. The investment stake was $89,000, with both outside investors and players putting up the capital. Ten players, including Kaplan, Massar, Jonathan, Goose, and "Big Dave" (aka "coach", to distinguish from the other Dave from the first round) played on this bank. Ten weeks later they more than doubled the original stake. Profits per hour played at the tables were $162.50, statistically equivalent to the projected rate of $170/hour detailed in the investor offering prospectus. Per the terms of the investment offering, players and investors split the profits with players paid in proportion to their playing hours and computer simulated win rates. Over the ten-week period of this first bank, players, mostly undergraduates, earned an average of over $80/hour while investors achieved an annualized return in excess of 250%. </p><p>The MIT Blackjack Team continued to play throughout the 1980s, growing to as many as 35 players in 1984 with a capitalization of as much as $350,000. Having played and run successful teams since 1977, Kaplan reached a point in late 1984 where he could not show his face in any casino without being followed by the casino personnel in search of his team members. As a result he decided to fall back on his growing real estate investment and development company, his "day job" since 1980, and stopped managing the team. He continued for another year or so as an occasional player and investor in the team, now being run by Massar, Chang and Bill Rubin, a player who joined the team in 1984. </p><p>The MIT Blackjack Team ran at least 22 partnerships in the time period from late 1979 through 1989. At least 70 people played on the team in some capacity (either as counters, big players, or in various supporting roles) over that time span. Every partnership was profitable during this time period, after paying all expenses as well as the players' and managers' share of the winnings, with returns to investors ranging from 4%/year to over 300%/year. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Strategic_Investments_(1992–1993)"><span id="Strategic_Investments_.281992.E2.80.931993.29"></span>Strategic Investments (1992–1993)</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Strategic Investments (1992–1993)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In 1992, Bill Kaplan, J.P. Massar, and John Chang decided to capitalize on the opening of <a href="/wiki/Foxwoods_Casino" class="mw-redirect" title="Foxwoods Casino">Foxwoods Casino</a> in nearby <a href="/wiki/Connecticut" title="Connecticut">Connecticut</a>, where they planned to train new players. Acting as the General Partner, they formed a Massachusetts Limited Partnership in June 1992 called Strategic Investments to bankroll the new team. Structured similar to the numerous real estate development limited partnerships that Kaplan had formed, the limited partnership raised a million dollars, significantly more money than any of their previous teams, with a method based on <a href="/wiki/Edward_O._Thorp" title="Edward O. Thorp">Edward Thorp</a>'s high low system. It involved three players: a big player, a controller, and a spotter. The spotter checked when the deck went positive with card counting, the controller would bet small constantly, wasting money, and verifying the spotter's count. Once the controller found a positive, he would signal to the big player. He would make a massive bet, and win big. Confident with this new funding, the three general partners ramped up their recruitment and training efforts to capitalize on the opportunity. </p><p>Over the next two years, the MIT Team grew to nearly 80 players, including groups and players in Cambridge, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, and Washington. Sarah McCord, who joined the team in 1983 as an MIT student and later moved to California, was added as a partner soon after SI was formed and became responsible for training and recruitment of West Coast players. </p><p>At various times, there were nearly 30 players playing simultaneously at different casinos around the world, including Native American casinos throughout the country, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, <a href="/wiki/Canada" title="Canada">Canada</a>, and island locations. Never before had casinos throughout the world seen such an organized and scientific onslaught directed at the game. While the profits rolled in, so did the "heat" from the casinos, and many MIT Team members were identified and barred. These members were replaced by fresh players from MIT, Harvard, and other colleges and companies, and play continued. Eventually, investigators hired by casinos realized that many of those they had banned had addresses in or near Cambridge, and the connection to MIT and a formalized team became clear. The detectives obtained copies of recent MIT yearbooks and added photographs from it to their image database. </p><p>With its leading players banned from most casinos and other more lucrative investment opportunities opening up at the end of the recession, Strategic Investments paid out its substantial earnings to players and investors and dissolved its partnership on December 31, 1993. </p><p>By the team's peak in the 1990s, the team was visiting Las Vegas almost every weekend. According to a casino security investigator, the team took over $400,000 in one weekend. After the trips to Vegas, the team would enter what they remembered into computer programs to devise the best strategy for specific situations.<sup id="cite_ref-ABC_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ABC-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Split_and_dissolution_(1994–2000)"><span id="Split_and_dissolution_.281994.E2.80.932000.29"></span>Split and dissolution (1994–2000)</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Split and dissolution (1994–2000)"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>After the dissolution of Strategic Investments, a few of the players took their winnings and split off into two independent groups. The Amphibians were primarily led by <a href="/wiki/Semyon_Dukach" title="Semyon Dukach">Semyon Dukach</a>, with Dukach as the big player, Katie Lilienkamp (a controller), and <a href="/wiki/Andy_Bloch" title="Andy Bloch">Andy Bloch</a> (a spotter). The other team was the Reptiles, led by <a href="/wiki/Mike_Aponte" title="Mike Aponte">Mike Aponte</a>, Manlio Lopez and Wes Atamian. These teams had various legal structures, and at times million dollar banks and 50+ players. By 2000 the 15+ year reign of the MIT Blackjack Teams came to an end as players drifted into other pursuits. </p><p>In 1999, a member of the Amphibians won at Max Rubin's 3rd Annual Blackjack Ball competition. The event was featured in an October 1999 <i><a href="/wiki/Cigar_Aficionado" title="Cigar Aficionado">Cigar Aficionado</a></i> article, which said the winner earned the unofficial title "Most Feared Man in the Casino Business".<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Strategy_and_techniques">Strategy and techniques</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Strategy and techniques"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The team often recruited students through flyers and the players' friends from college campuses across the country. The team tested potential members to find out if they were suitable candidates and, if they were, the team thoroughly trained the new members for free. Fully trained players had to pass an intense "trial by fire," consisting of playing through 8 six-deck shoes with almost perfect play, and then undergo further training, supervision, and similar check-outs in actual casino play until they could become full stakes players. </p><p>New members of the team would train for weeks or months, starting on MIT's campus, then practicing in backroom card games in <a href="/wiki/Chinatown,_Boston" title="Chinatown, Boston">Boston's Chinatown</a>. They would then begin as the team's mule in Vegas, carrying cash, as they worked up the team's hierarchy.<sup id="cite_ref-ABC_4-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ABC-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The group combined individual play with a team approach of counters and big players to maximize opportunities and disguise the betting patterns that card counting produces. In a 2002 interview in <i><a href="/wiki/Blackjack_Forum" title="Blackjack Forum">Blackjack Forum</a></i> magazine,<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> John Chang, an MIT undergrad who joined the team in late 1980 (and became MIT team co-manager in the mid-1980s and 1990s), reported that, in addition to classic card counting and blackjack team techniques, at various times the group used advanced shuffle and ace tracking techniques. While the MIT team's card counting techniques can give players an overall edge of about 2 percent, some of the MIT team's methods have been established as gaining players an overall <a href="/wiki/Casino_game#House_advantage" title="Casino game">edge</a> of about 4 percent.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2008)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> In his interview, Chang reported that the MIT team had difficulty attaining such edges in actual play, and their overall results had been best with straight card counting. </p><p>The MIT Team's approach was originally developed by <a href="/wiki/Al_Francesco" title="Al Francesco">Al Francesco</a>, elected by professional gamblers as one of the original seven inductees into the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Blackjack team play was first written about by <a href="/wiki/Ken_Uston" title="Ken Uston">Ken Uston</a>, an early member of Al Francesco's teams along with Bill Erb and <a href="/wiki/Blair_Hull" title="Blair Hull">Blair Hull</a>. Uston wrote <i>The Big Player</i> (1977) and <i>Million Dollar Blackjack</i> (1981) about Blackjack team card counting techniques. Kaplan enhanced Francesco's team methods and used them for the MIT team. The team concept enabled players and investors to leverage both their time and money, reducing their "risk of ruin" while also making it more difficult for casinos to detect card counting at their tables. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="In_the_media">In the media</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: In the media"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Books">Books</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Books"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>A variety of stories about a few of the players from the MIT Blackjack Team formed the basis of <a href="/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller_list" title="The New York Times Best Seller list"><i>The New York Times</i> best-selling</a> <i><a href="/wiki/Bringing_Down_the_House_(book)" title="Bringing Down the House (book)">Bringing Down the House</a></i>, written by <a href="/wiki/Ben_Mezrich" title="Ben Mezrich">Ben Mezrich</a>. While originally marketed as nonfiction, Mezrich later admitted characters and stories in the book were mostly fictitious and composites of players and stories he had heard about through <a href="/wiki/Hearsay" title="Hearsay">hearsay</a>. The private investigation firm referred to as Plymouth in <i>Bringing Down the House</i> was <a href="/wiki/Griffin_Investigations" title="Griffin Investigations">Griffin Investigations</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>Mezrich wrote a follow-up book, <i>Busting Vegas</i>, which took even greater liberty with the actual happenings of the team. Many events in this book were at least partly based on incidents that occurred during the team's Strategic Investments era.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jeff_Ma" title="Jeff Ma">Jeff Ma</a> wrote a book titled <i>The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business</i> about his time on the 1994 MIT blackjack team.</li> <li>Nathaniel Tilton, a student of former MIT team captains <a href="/wiki/Mike_Aponte" title="Mike Aponte">Mike Aponte</a> and <a href="/wiki/Semyon_Dukach" title="Semyon Dukach">Semyon Dukach</a>, authored <i>The Blackjack Life</i> detailing his experiences playing and being trained by the MIT Blackjack Team players.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Films">Films</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Films"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>The 2004 film <i><a href="/wiki/The_Last_Casino" title="The Last Casino">The Last Casino</a></i> is loosely based on this premise and features three students and a professor counting cards in Ontario and Quebec.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>The 2008 film <i><a href="/wiki/21_(2008_film)" title="21 (2008 film)">21</a></i>, inspired by <i>Bringing Down the House</i> and produced by and starring <a href="/wiki/Kevin_Spacey" title="Kevin Spacey">Kevin Spacey</a> and <a href="/wiki/Jim_Sturgess" title="Jim Sturgess">Jim Sturgess</a>, was released on March 28, 2008, by <a href="/wiki/Columbia_Pictures" title="Columbia Pictures">Columbia Pictures</a>. <a href="/wiki/Jeff_Ma" title="Jeff Ma">Jeff Ma</a> and Henry Houh, former players on the team, appear in the movie as <a href="/wiki/Casino_dealer" class="mw-redirect" title="Casino dealer">casino dealers</a>, and Bill Kaplan appears in a <a href="/wiki/Cameo_role" class="mw-redirect" title="Cameo role">cameo</a> in the background of the underground Chinese gambling parlor scene. The script took significant <a href="/wiki/Artistic_license" title="Artistic license">artistic license</a> with events, with most of its plot being invented for the movie, hence it refers to being 'inspired by true events' rather than 'based on true events.' One of the most significant departures from reality was the portrayal of the team being run by a professor (the Kevin Spacey character), when in reality the team was always run by students and alumni. The characters in the movie were also fictionalized amalgams of various players throughout the years of the team's existence - for example, the character Choi is very loosely based on Johnny Chang, and the character Ben Campbell is an amalgam of numerous players, with the opening scene based on Big Dave's interview, and subsequent admission to Harvard Medical School, where much of the interview revolved around his participation on the team.</li> <li>The 2010 film <i><a href="/wiki/Teen_Patti_(film)" title="Teen Patti (film)">Teen Patti</a></i> is an uncredited remake of <i>21</i>.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Television">Television</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Television"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>The <i><a href="/wiki/Mysteries_at_the_Museum" title="Mysteries at the Museum">Mysteries at the Museum</a></i> series on the <a href="/wiki/Travel_Channel" title="Travel Channel">Travel Channel</a> featured the story of the MIT Blackjack Team in the episode titled "Siamese Twins, Assassin Umbrella, Capone's Cell".</li> <li>The story of the MIT Blackjack Team, in its incarnation as Strategic Investments, was told in <a href="/wiki/History_(U.S._TV_channel)" class="mw-redirect" title="History (U.S. TV channel)">The History Channel</a> documentary, <i>Breaking Vegas</i>, directed by <a href="/wiki/Bruce_David_Klein" title="Bruce David Klein">Bruce David Klein</a>.</li> <li>The <i>Bringing Down The House</i> period was featured on episodes of the <a href="/wiki/Game_Show_Network" title="Game Show Network">Game Show Network</a> documentary series, <i>Anything to Win</i>, and <a href="/wiki/HBO" title="HBO">HBO</a>'s <i><a href="/wiki/Real_Sports_with_Bryant_Gumbel" title="Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel">Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel</a></i> (episode 116).</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/BBC" title="BBC">BBC</a> documentary, <i>Making Millions the Easy Way</i>, addressed the <i>Bringing Down the House</i> period as part of the renowned "Horizon" strand (directed by Johanna Gibbon), told the story of a Strategic Investments breakaway group, and revealed the science behind the winning formula.</li> <li>"Double Down", an episode of <i><a href="/wiki/Numb3rs" class="mw-redirect" title="Numb3rs">Numb3rs</a></i> concerned a counting group, led by a High School teacher, which launders money through casino winnings.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other">Other</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Other"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>The <a href="/wiki/StarTalk_(podcast)" title="StarTalk (podcast)">StarTalk podcast</a> has <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqt6aOHKby8">an episode</a> dedicated to this topic</li> <li>Several members of the two teams have used their expertise to start <a href="/wiki/Public_speaking" title="Public speaking">public speaking</a> careers as well as businesses teaching others how to count cards. For example:</li></ul> <dl><dd><ul><li><a href="/wiki/Mike_Aponte" title="Mike Aponte">Mike Aponte</a> of the Reptiles co-founded a company with former MIT Blackjack Team member <a href="/wiki/David_Irvine_(blackjack_player)" title="David Irvine (blackjack player)">David Irvine</a> called the Blackjack Institute.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semyon_Dukach" title="Semyon Dukach">Semyon Dukach</a> of the Amphibians founded Blackjack Science.</li></ul></dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em;"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-SFGate-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-SFGate_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-SFGate_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-SFGate_1-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-SFGate_1-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFShultz2022" class="citation news cs1">Shultz, Alex (2022-03-10). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/MIT-card-counter-turned-Bay-Area-activist-profile-16983859.php">"How a prodigious card-counting blackjack player became a Bay Area activist and organizer"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/SFGate" title="SFGate">SFGate</a></i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 February</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=SFGate&rft.atitle=How+a+prodigious+card-counting+blackjack+player+became+a+Bay+Area+activist+and+organizer&rft.date=2022-03-10&rft.aulast=Shultz&rft.aufirst=Alex&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfgate.com%2Flocal%2Farticle%2FMIT-card-counter-turned-Bay-Area-activist-profile-16983859.php&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGriffin1979" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Peter_A._Griffin" title="Peter A. Griffin">Griffin, Peter A.</a> (1979). <i>The Theory of Blackjack</i>. Huntington Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-915141-02-7" title="Special:BookSources/0-915141-02-7"><bdi>0-915141-02-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+Theory+of+Blackjack&rft.pub=Huntington+Press&rft.date=1979&rft.isbn=0-915141-02-7&rft.aulast=Griffin&rft.aufirst=Peter+A.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27519748">"How a team of students beat the casinos"</a>. <i>BBC News</i>. 25 May 2014<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">26 May</span> 2014</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=BBC+News&rft.atitle=How+a+team+of+students+beat+the+casinos&rft.date=2014-05-25&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fmagazine-27519748&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ABC-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-ABC_4-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-ABC_4-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=131939&page=1">"How MIT Students Broke the Bank in Vegas"</a>. <i><a href="/wiki/ABC_News_(United_States)" title="ABC News (United States)">ABC News</a></i>. 2003-09-12<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">10 February</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=ABC+News&rft.atitle=How+MIT+Students+Broke+the+Bank+in+Vegas&rft.date=2003-09-12&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FPrimetime%2Fstory%3Fid%3D131939%26page%3D1&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,324,00.html">The Twenty One Club: The annual blackjack ball hosts Gambling's Most Furtive (and Quirky) Fraternity</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090420030836/http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Archives/CA_Show_Article/0,2322,324,00.html">Archived</a> 2009-04-20 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a> cigaraficionado.com, Sept/Oct 1999</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/interviewJC.htm">Blackjack Forum interview with Johnny Chang</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFIan_Kaplan2004" class="citation web cs1">Ian Kaplan (March 2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bearcave.com/bookrev/bringing_down_the_house.html">"review of <i>Bringing Down the House</i>"</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=review+of+Bringing+Down+the+House&rft.date=2004-03&rft.au=Ian+Kaplan&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bearcave.com%2Fbookrev%2Fbringing_down_the_house.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCasinoReviews2024" class="citation web cs1">CasinoReviews (30 January 2024). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://casinoreviews.com/blog/casinoreviews-interviews-semyon-dukach-mit-card-counting-team-captain">"CasinoReviews Interviews – Semyon Dukach – MIT Card Counting team captain"</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=CasinoReviews+Interviews+%E2%80%93+Semyon+Dukach+%E2%80%93+MIT+Card+Counting+team+captain&rft.date=2024-01-30&rft.au=CasinoReviews&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fcasinoreviews.com%2Fblog%2Fcasinoreviews-interviews-semyon-dukach-mit-card-counting-team-captain&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://casinoreviews.com/blog/casinoreviews-interviews-nathaniel-tilton-author-of-the-blackjack-life">"CasinoReviews Interviews – Nathaniel Tilton author of 'The Blackjack Life'<span class="cs1-kern-right"></span>"</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">30 January</span> 2024</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=CasinoReviews+Interviews+%E2%80%93+Nathaniel+Tilton+author+of+%27The+Blackjack+Life%27&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fcasinoreviews.com%2Fblog%2Fcasinoreviews-interviews-nathaniel-tilton-author-of-the-blackjack-life&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMIT+Blackjack+Team" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419909/"><i>The Last Casino</i></a> at <a href="/wiki/IMDb_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="IMDb (identifier)">IMDb</a> <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7745612#P345" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20" /></a></span>.<span class="reference-accessdate">Retrieved 2009-11-03<span style="font-size: 90%; color: #555"></span>.</span></span> </li> </ol></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080801/luck-is-for-losers.html">"Inc. Magazine: Business Lessons from the Blackjack King"</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080506144335/http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/homepage/x1012437033">"Newton Man, Bill Kaplan, Provides Inspiration for Kevin Spacey's Character in 21"</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140901142019/http://www.citynetmagazine.com/lifestyle/mit-blackjack-team.html">Citynet Magazine article on the team and card counting</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080511222958/http://www.necn.com/Boston/Arts-Entertainment/Bringing-Down-the-House-with-Bill-Kaplan/1207956706.html">"Chet Curtis Report on NECN: Interview with Bill Kaplan" – video</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rawvegas.tv/watch.php?vID=16bab0b493691eaae960d5eba53d05">"Mike Aponte Talks 21" Raw Vegas – video</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/Math_Whiz_Breaks_the_Blackjack_Bank">"Math Whiz Breaks The Blackjack Bank" Fox News DC – video</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.blackjackinfo.com/MIT-Mike-Aponte.php">"Interview with MIT Mike" BlackjackInfo.com</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080509162843/http://www.blackjackinstitute.com/store/JanuaryMIT.pdf#zoom=150,0,0">"The MIT Team's $500,000 Weekend" Midwest Gaming and Travel</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/vegas.html">Wired Magazine: Hacking Las Vegas</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/million_prog_summary.shtml">BBC documentary about card counting and the Team</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2008-04-06-april-first-monday-briefing_N.htm">USA Today Q&A with Bill Kaplan (with photo)</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mikeaponte.com/mit_blackjack_team/">MIT Blackjack Team</a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Template:Massachusetts Institute of Technology"><abbr title="View this template" style="color:#FFFFFF">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Template talk:Massachusetts Institute of Technology"><abbr title="Discuss this template" style="color:#FFFFFF">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Massachusetts Institute of Technology"><abbr title="Edit this template" style="color:#FFFFFF">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span></a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_academics" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology academics"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;">Academics</span></a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li>School of <ul><li><a href="/wiki/MIT_School_of_Architecture_and_Planning" title="MIT School of Architecture and Planning">Architecture and Planning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_School_of_Engineering" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Engineering">Engineering</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_School_of_Humanities,_Arts,_and_Social_Sciences" title="MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences">Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_School_of_Science" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science">Science</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Sloan_School_of_Management" title="MIT Sloan School of Management">Sloan School of Management</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Schwarzman_College_of_Computing" title="MIT Schwarzman College of Computing">Schwarzman College of Computing</a></li> <li>Department of <ul><li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Department_of_Biology" title="MIT Department of Biology">Biology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Department_of_Brain_and_Cognitive_Sciences" title="MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences">Brain and Cognitive Sciences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Department_of_Economics" title="MIT Department of Economics">Economics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Department_of_Mathematics" title="MIT Department of Mathematics">Mathematics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Department_of_Physics" title="MIT Department of Physics">Physics</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harvard%E2%80%93MIT_Program_in_Health_Sciences_and_Technology" title="Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology">Health Sciences and Technology</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%">Research</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abdul_Latif_Jameel_Poverty_Action_Lab" title="Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab">Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Broad_Institute" title="Broad Institute">Broad Institute</a></li> <li>Center for <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Center_for_Bits_and_Atoms" title="Center for Bits and Atoms">Bits and Atoms</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Center_for_Information_Systems_Research" title="MIT Center for Information Systems Research">Information Systems Research</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Center_for_International_Studies" title="MIT Center for International Studies">International Studies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Center_for_Theoretical_Physics" title="MIT Center for Theoretical Physics">Theoretical Physics</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Computer_Science_and_Artificial_Intelligence_Laboratory" title="MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory">Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Institute_for_Medical_Engineering_and_Science" title="Institute for Medical Engineering and Science">Institute for Medical Engineering and Science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Koch_Institute_for_Integrative_Cancer_Research" title="Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research">Koch Institute</a></li> <li>Laboratory for <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Laboratory_for_Electromagnetic_and_Electronic_Systems" title="Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems">Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Laboratory_for_Information_and_Decision_Systems" title="MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems">Information and Decision Systems</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Lincoln_Laboratory" title="MIT Lincoln Laboratory">Lincoln Laboratory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Green_High_Performance_Computing_Center" title="Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center">Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/McGovern_Institute_for_Brain_Research" title="McGovern Institute for Brain Research">McGovern Institute</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Media_Lab" title="MIT Media Lab">Media Lab</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_Libraries" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries">MIT Libraries</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Nuclear_Research_Reactor" title="MIT Nuclear Research Reactor">Nuclear Research Reactor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Picower_Institute_for_Learning_and_Memory" title="Picower Institute for Learning and Memory">Picower Institute</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Plasma_Science_and_Fusion_Center" title="MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center">Plasma Science and Fusion Center</a></li> <li>Research Laboratory of Electronics</li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Senseable_City_Lab" title="MIT Senseable City Lab">Senseable City Lab</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Whitehead_Institute" title="Whitehead Institute">Whitehead Institute</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%">People</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_alumni" title="List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni">Alumni</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_faculty" title="List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty">Faculty</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Institute_Professors_at_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" class="mw-redirect" title="List of Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology">Institute Professors</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" class="mw-redirect" title="List of Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology">Presidents</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/William_Barton_Rogers" title="William Barton Rogers">William Barton Rogers</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%">Culture</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/MIT_class_ring" title="MIT class ring">Brass Rat</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Caltech%E2%80%93MIT_rivalry" title="Caltech–MIT rivalry">Caltech rivalry</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hacks_at_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology">Hacks</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lemelson%E2%80%93MIT_Prize" title="Lemelson–MIT Prize">Lemelson–MIT Prize</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_Visual_Arts_Center" title="List Visual Arts Center">List Visual Arts Center</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_$100K_Entrepreneurship_Competition" title="MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition">MIT $100K</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Press" title="MIT Press">MIT Press</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/MIT_Technology_Review" title="MIT Technology Review">MIT Technology Review</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Science_Fiction_Society" title="MIT Science Fiction Society">MIT Science Fiction Society</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Mystery_Hunt" title="MIT Mystery Hunt">Mystery Hunt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Project_Athena" title="Project Athena">Project Athena</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Smoot" title="Smoot">Smoot</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Student_Information_Processing_Board" title="Student Information Processing Board">Student Information Processing Board</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club" title="Tech Model Railroad Club">Tech Model Railroad Club</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tech_Squares" title="Tech Squares">Tech Squares</a></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Tech_(newspaper)" title="The Tech (newspaper)">The Tech</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Traditions_and_student_activities_at_MIT" title="Traditions and student activities at MIT">Traditions and activities</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Campus_of_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;">Campus</span></a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Building_20" title="Building 20">Building 20</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Chapel" title="MIT Chapel">Chapel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Housing_at_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology">Dormitories</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_MIT_fraternities,_sororities,_and_ILGs" class="mw-redirect" title="List of MIT fraternities, sororities, and ILGs">Fraternities and sororities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Green_Building_(MIT)" title="Green Building (MIT)">Green Building</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Infinite_Corridor" title="Infinite Corridor">Infinite Corridor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Killian_Court" title="Killian Court">Killian Court</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kresge_Auditorium" title="Kresge Auditorium">Kresge Auditorium</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_Libraries" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries">Libraries</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Museum" title="MIT Museum">MIT Museum</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_Police_Department" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Department">Police</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stata_Center" title="Stata Center">Stata Center</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sean_Collier_Memorial" title="Sean Collier Memorial">Sean Collier Memorial</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wiesner_Building" title="Wiesner Building">Wiesner Building</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%">History</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_the_Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="History of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology">History of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Round_Hill_(Dartmouth,_Massachusetts)" title="Round Hill (Dartmouth, Massachusetts)">Round Hill</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%">Athletics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/MIT_Engineers" title="MIT Engineers">Engineers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tech_Dinghy" title="Tech Dinghy">Tech Dinghy</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="background:#A31F34; color:#FFFFFF; box-shadow: inset 2px 2px 0 #8A8B8C, inset -2px -2px 0 #8A8B8C;;;width:1%">Notable projects</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/MIT_App_Inventor" title="MIT App Inventor">MIT App Inventor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MIT_OpenCourseWare" title="MIT OpenCourseWare">MIT OpenCourseWare</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/MITx" title="MITx">MITx</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)" title="Scratch (programming language)">Scratch</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&oldid=1255881440">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&oldid=1255881440</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_student_life" title="Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology student life">Massachusetts Institute of Technology student life</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:American_blackjack_players" title="Category:American blackjack players">American blackjack players</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Harvard_University" title="Category:Harvard University">Harvard University</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Webarchive_template_wayback_links" title="Category:Webarchive template wayback links">Webarchive template wayback links</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Pages_using_IMDb_title_with_no_id_set" title="Category:Pages using IMDb title with no id set">Pages using IMDb title with no id set</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description" title="Category:Articles with short description">Articles with short description</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Short_description_is_different_from_Wikidata" title="Category:Short description is different from Wikidata">Short description is different from Wikidata</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_needing_additional_references_from_April_2012" title="Category:Articles needing additional references from April 2012">Articles needing additional references from April 2012</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_needing_additional_references" title="Category:All articles needing additional references">All articles needing additional references</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_with_unsourced_statements" title="Category:All articles with unsourced statements">All articles with unsourced statements</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_unsourced_statements_from_March_2008" title="Category:Articles with unsourced statements from March 2008">Articles with unsourced statements from March 2008</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 7 November 2024, at 03:35<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms_of_Use" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Terms of Use">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy" class="extiw" title="foundation:Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy policy">Privacy Policy</a>. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/">Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.</a>, a non-profit organization.</li> </ul> <ul id="footer-places"> <li id="footer-places-privacy"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Privacy_policy">Privacy policy</a></li> <li id="footer-places-about"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-disclaimers"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer">Disclaimers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-contact"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us">Contact Wikipedia</a></li> <li id="footer-places-wm-codeofconduct"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct">Code of Conduct</a></li> <li id="footer-places-developers"><a href="https://developer.wikimedia.org">Developers</a></li> <li id="footer-places-statslink"><a href="https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/en.wikipedia.org">Statistics</a></li> <li id="footer-places-cookiestatement"><a href="https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Policy:Cookie_statement">Cookie statement</a></li> <li id="footer-places-mobileview"><a href="//en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MIT_Blackjack_Team&mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile" class="noprint stopMobileRedirectToggle">Mobile view</a></li> </ul> <ul id="footer-icons" class="noprint"> <li id="footer-copyrightico"><a href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/static/images/footer/wikimedia-button.svg" width="84" height="29" alt="Wikimedia Foundation" loading="lazy"></a></li> <li id="footer-poweredbyico"><a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/" class="cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--size-large cdx-button--fake-button--enabled"><img src="/w/resources/assets/poweredby_mediawiki.svg" alt="Powered by MediaWiki" width="88" height="31" loading="lazy"></a></li> </ul> </footer> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vector-settings" id="p-dock-bottom"> <ul></ul> </div><script>(RLQ=window.RLQ||[]).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgHostname":"mw-web.codfw.main-f69cdc8f6-sbtsb","wgBackendResponseTime":172,"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.388","walltime":"0.532","ppvisitednodes":{"value":1329,"limit":1000000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":49212,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":1388,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":12,"limit":100},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":5,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":37711,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":2,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 484.119 1 -total"," 47.74% 231.130 1 Template:Reflist"," 21.80% 105.535 4 Template:Cite_news"," 17.77% 86.029 1 Template:MIT"," 16.65% 80.589 1 Template:Navbox"," 12.95% 62.705 1 Template:IMDb_title"," 12.74% 61.684 1 Template:Short_description"," 12.65% 61.262 1 Template:More_citations_needed"," 11.71% 56.708 1 Template:Ambox"," 7.65% 37.051 2 Template:Pagetype"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.242","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":5994208,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw-web.eqiad.main-5dc468848-7zb78","timestamp":"20241122140901","ttl":2592000,"transientcontent":false}}});});</script> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","name":"MIT Blackjack Team","url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/MIT_Blackjack_Team","sameAs":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q3273003","mainEntity":"http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q3273003","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Contributors to Wikimedia projects"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.wikimedia.org\/static\/images\/wmf-hor-googpub.png"}},"datePublished":"2004-07-01T22:33:20Z","dateModified":"2024-11-07T03:35:50Z","headline":"Group of students from MIT"}</script> </body> </html>