Bringing Down the House

Happy New Year’s Day!  As the New Year begins, I wish all of you peace, joy, and happiness in all that you do.  So if you are a betting person, this will be a good one for you… Bringing Down the House, by Ben Mezrich.  The story of how MIT students go underground and attempt to make a living at the casinos at the Black Jack tables.  This is a real story of one player who turns to a reporter to go undercover and tell his story.  Working at a University all of these years I have heard numerous stories at my own institution, and of the institutions of my colleagues, who tell stories of students who will do some exotic, erotic, and innovative things to help defray the cost of college.  In this case, it is less about paying for college for the protagonist “Kevin Lewis” (whose real name is Jeff Ma!), it becomes an obsession when his studies are what doesn’t give him the thrill that he wants in life.  Lewis is introduced to the MIT Blackjack Club run by a former Professor of Math at MIT.  Students are brought into the team and then, once trained, go to the real deal, Vegas and then Foxwoods when it is opened!  The team is finally caught as the new technologies at the casinos are introduced in the late 1990s.  Amazing how addictive gambling can be, especially when you can count cards.  An interesting method to how one can “beat” the only game at the casinos.  A fun and great look into how super-smart students can use that to another advantage they have in this life.  A bestseller and it is one to add at some point when your reading list gets low.