Card counting is a casino card game strategy used primarily in the blackjack family of casino games to determine whether the next hand is likely to give a probable advantage to the player or to the dealer. Card counters are a class of advantage players, who attempt to decrease the inherent casino house edge by keeping a running tally of all high and low valued cards seen by the player. Card counting allows players to bet more with less risk when the count gives an advantage as well as minimize losses during an unfavorable count. Card counting also provides the ability to alter playing decisions based on the composition of remaining cards. Card counting also refers to obtaining a count of the distribution or of the remaining high cards in trick-taking games such as contract bridge or spades.
Breaking Vegas (History Channel) (2004) Available at Amazon.
Creating a foolproof plan to beat Las Vegas has been a goal for gamblers and
grifters since the city was established, but only one group has come closest to
making such a system pay off--a collection of math whizzes from M.I.T. The
unique rise and fall of their blackjack team is the focus of this intriguing
2004 History Channel documentary. For two years in the early '90s, the team
reaped millions from casinos around the world with their scheme, until conflict
within the group and a diligent security company brought the group's winnings to
a crashing halt. Interviews with team members and author Ben Mezrich, whose 2003
book Bringing Down the
House focuses on a later M.I.T. team, provide the most interesting
moments; however, the pulpy narration, hyperactive direction, and awkward
dramatic re-creations cheapen the doc's efforts to effectively relay this
engaging story. More straightforward and successful attempts to address the
world of gambling are featured in the DVD's supplemental features, which offer
two additional History Channel documentaries, High Rollers: A History of
Gambling and "How To Win in Las Vegas," an episode from their
Conquest series. --Paul Gaita The true story of six M.I.T. students who went to Las Vegas with a little more
than just luck on their side-they were armed with complex mathematical schemes
to beat the house-and succeeded in taking the casinos for millions of
dollars-until the IRS caught up with them. 2003/color/75 min/NR/fullscreen, Available at Amazon.
The Hangover is a 2009 American comedy film, co-produced and directed by Todd Phillips and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha and Jeffrey Tambor. The Hangover tells the story of Phil Wenneck, Stu Price and Alan Garner, who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party to celebrate their friend Doug Billings' impending marriage. However, Phil, Stu and Alan have no memory of the previous night's events and must find Doug before the wedding can take place.
Lucas and Moore wrote the script after executive producer Chris Bender's friend disappeared and had a large bill after being sent to a strip club. After Lucas and Moore sold it to the studio for $2 million, Philips and Jeremy Garelick rewrote the script to include a tiger as well as a subplot involving a baby and a police cruiser, and also including boxer Mike Tyson. Filming took place in Nevada for 15 days, and during filming, the three main actors (Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis) formed a friendship. The Hangover was released on June 5, 2009, becoming a critical and commercial success. It became the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2009, with a worldwide gross of over US$467 million. Critics praised the film's comedic approach but criticized it for its vulgarity. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and received multiple other accolades. A sequel, The Hangover Part II, was released in 2011.
Celebrating his impending marriage to Tracy Garner, Doug Billings and his friends Phil Wenneck, Stu Price, and Tracy's brother Alan travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, staying at Caesars Palace.
The next morning, Phil, Stu and Alan awaken to find they have no memory of the previous night and Doug is nowhere to be found. Stu is missing a tooth, their hotel suite is in disarray, a tiger is in their bathroom, and a baby is in the closet. They find Doug's mattress impaled on a statue outside of their hotel and when they ask for their Mercedes, the valet delivers a police cruiser.
Following clues to their steps, the trio travel to a hospital where they discover they were drugged with rohypnol, causing their memory loss, and that they came to the hospital from a chapel. At the chapel they learn that Stu married a stripper, Jade, despite having a long-term relationship with his mean-spirited girlfriend, Melissa. Outside the chapel, the trio are attacked by gangsters saying they are looking for someone. They flee and visit Jade, discovering that she is the mother of the baby, before being arrested by the police.
Having been told that the Mercedes has been impounded, the trio is released when they volunteer to be targets for a taser demonstration. While driving the Mercedes, they discover a naked man in the trunk who attacks them and flees. Alan confesses that he drugged their drinks to ensure they had a good night, thinking the drug to be ecstasy.
Returning to their villa, they find Mike Tyson, who orders the trio to return the tiger to his mansion immediately. Stu drugs the tiger with the remaining rohypnol and they drive towards Tyson's home in the Mercedes, but the tiger attacks them and damages the car's interior. After pushing the car the rest of the way to avoid the tiger, Tyson shows the trio footage of them stealing the tiger to help them locate Doug. While driving, their car is struck by another vehicle intentionally; the passengers are revealed to be the gangsters from the chapel and their boss, Leslie Chow – the naked man from their trunk – who accuses the trio of stealing $80,000 of his money and kidnapping him. Chow says he has their friend, and threatens to kill him if his money is not returned. Unaware of the location of Chow's $80,000, Alan, with help from Stu and Jade, uses his knowledge of card counting to win $82,400 playing Blackjack. They meet with Chow and exchange the money, only to find that "Doug" is the drug dealer who inadvertently sold Alan the roofies.
With the wedding occurring in hours, Phil tells Tracy they cannot find Doug. Following a conversation with "Black Doug", Stu realizes where Doug is. The trio travel back to their hotel where they find Doug on the roof, moved there on his mattress while he was asleep, as a practical joke by Stu, Phil and Alan. Before leaving, Stu makes arrangements to go on a date with Jade the following week. With less than four hours before the wedding and with no flights available, the foursome race home, with Doug revealing he has possession of Chow's original $80,000. Despite their late arrival, Doug and Tracy are married and Stu breaks up with Melissa after having grown tired of her controlling his life. As the reception ends, Alan finds Stu's digital camera detailing the events they cannot remember and the four agree to look at the pictures together before deleting the evidence of their exploits.
Blackjack, also known as twenty-one, is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. Blackjack is a comparing card game between a player and dealer, meaning that players compete against the dealer but not against any other players. Blackjack is played with one or more decks of 52 cards. The object of the game is to reach 21 points or to reach a score higher than the dealer without exceeding 21.
The player or players are dealt an initial two card hand and add the total of their cards. Face cards (Kings, Queens, and Jacks) are counted as ten points. The player and dealer can count his own ace as 1-point or 11 points. All other cards are counted as the numeric value shown on the card. After receiving their initial two cards, players have the option of getting a "hit," which means taking an additional card. In a given round, the player or the dealer wins by having a score of 21 or by having the highest score that is less than 21. Scoring higher than 21 (called "busting" or "going bust") results in a loss. A player may win by having any final score less than 21 if the dealer busts. If a player holds an ace valued as 11, the hand is called "soft", meaning that the player cannot go bust by taking an additional card; otherwise, the hand is "hard".
The dealer has to take hits until his cards total 17 or more points. (In some casinos, the dealer also hits on a "soft" 17, e.g. initial ace and six.) Players who do not bust and have a total higher than the dealer, win. The dealer will lose if he or she busts, or has a lesser hand than the player who has not busted. If the player and dealer have the same point total, this is called a "push" and the player typically does not win or lose money on that hand.
Many rule variations of blackjack exist. Since the 1960s, blackjack has been a high profile target of advantage players, particularly card counters, who track the profile of cards that have been dealt and adapt their wager and playing strategies accordingly.
Other casino games inspired by blackjack include Spanish 21 and pontoon. The recreational British card game of black jack is a shedding-type game and unrelated to the subject of this article.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) senior math major Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is accepted into Harvard Medical School but cannot afford the $300,000 fee. Despite a 44 MCAT score and top grades, Ben faces a fierce competition for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship that would pay entirely for the medical school. The director tells him that the scholarship would go to the student who would "dazzle" him.
At MIT, professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) challenges Campbell with the Monty Hall problem, which he solves successfully. After looking at Campbell's score on his latest non-linear equations paper, on which he got 97%, Rosa invites Campbell to join his blackjack team, which consists of fellow students Choi, Fisher, Jill, and Kianna. Despite being told by Rosa that he had already gotten into the Harvard Medical School, Campbell refuses to join the team on the premise he had been promoted at his job. Next day, Jill visits Campbell at his job and attempts to coax him into joining the team. The system involves card counting and the team is split into two groups. "Spotters" play the minimum bet and keep track of the count. They send secret signals to the "big players", who place large bets whenever the count at the table is favorable. Campbell reluctantly joins the team, telling Rosa he is only doing so until he can pay for medical school.
Rosa takes the team to Las Vegas over many weekends; Campbell comes to enjoy his luxurious lifestyle as a "big player" there. His performance impresses Jill – who develops a mutual attraction with him — and Rosa. However, Fisher becomes jealous of Campbell's blackjack success. Rosa kicks a drunken Fisher off the team after he insults Campbell and incites a melee, requiring the team to scramble to cash in their stock of chips before the casino swaps out (a common practice after a fight). Meanwhile, security chief Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) monitors the blackjack team, particularly Campbell.
Campbell, distracted by blackjack, does not complete his part of a project for an engineering competition, estranging him from his pre-blackjack friends. During the next trip to Vegas, an emotionally distracted Campbell continues playing even after he is signaled to walk away, losing $200,000. An angry Rosa leaves the team and demands that Campbell repay him for the loss. Campbell and his three remaining teammates agree to go into business for themselves; Williams, however, apprehends Campbell, beats him up, then lets him go after a dire warning.
Campbell learns that he has been given an incomplete for Rosa's class and therefore will not graduate, and that his winnings have been stolen from his dormitory room. He suspects that Rosa is behind the events but has no evidence. Campbell reconciles with his friends and Jill, and approaches Rosa with an offer: he and the team will hit Vegas for one more attempt before the casinos install biometric software that will quickly identify card counters, as long as Rosa, once a very successful "big player", also plays.
Disguised, the team returns to Planet Hollywood and wins $640,000 before fleeing with their chips from Williams and his men. Campbell and Rosa split up, with Rosa taking the bag of chips. Rosa escapes into a livery cab with the intention of stealing the winnings, but finds his bag is full of chocolate coins and that the casino manager is driving Rosa's cab.
Williams had made a deal with Campbell after beating him up: he would let Campbell come to Vegas for one night to make a lot of money gambling in exchange for Rosa. Rosa had won a seven-figure sum at Williams' casino by counting cards, a feat that cost Williams a pit boss job. After capturing Rosa, Williams confronts Campbell and demands at gunpoint the bag of chips for his retirement; after giving up the money, Campbell rejoins his friends and pre-blackjack friends, who have, in fact, been counting all night themselves. The film closes with Campbell recounting the entire tale to a "dazzled" Harvard director.
