Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions (ISBN 0-7432-4999-2) is a non-fiction book by Ben Mezrich about a group of MIT card counters and the MIT Blackjack Team.
Synopsis
The book's main character is Kevin Lewis, an MIT graduate who was invited to join the MIT Blackjack Team in 1993 . The team was financed by a colorful character named Micky Rosa, who had organized a number of other teams to play the Vegas strip. This new team was the most profitable yet. Personality conflicts and card counting deterrent efforts at the casinos eventually ended this incarnation of the MIT Blackjack Team.
Kevin Lewis
Although not revealed in the book, Kevin Lewis's real name is Jeff Ma, an MIT student who graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1994. Jeff has since gone on to found a fantasy sports company called ProTrade extending the principles of Moneyball. [1]
Film adaptation
In early 2007, Columbia Pictures and director Robert Luketic began to shoot a film based on the book. The film will be entitled 21 so as not to cause confusion with the unrelated 2003 film that bears the same name as the book. [1]
Kevin Spacey will portray Mickey Rosa in the film. Other cast members include Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, Jacob Pitts, Liza Lapira, Aaron Yoo, and Sam Golzari.[2] The movie is being shot in Boston and on the Boston University campus. Although the events in the book involve students and faculty from across the river at MIT in Cambridge, the movie will not be shot there.
Sequel
Though not originally intended to have a sequel, Mezrich followed this book with Busting Vegas (ISBN 0060575123). Busting Vegas is about another group of MIT students who use different tactics than the card counting the group in this book employ. This sequel, like the original, went on to become a New York Times Best Seller.
See also
Notes
- ^ Production Weekly: Luketic Hacking Las Vegas. Retrieved March 6, 2007.
- ^ benmezrich.com. Retrieved March 6, 2007
External links
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