Finding a way to beat Catch-21

‘You’re not losing; we don’t care for that type of play here. Just cash in your chips and collect your check.’ Thus the Caesar’s Palace pit boss to your reviewer in the Sixties when in fact, contrary to what the author says, the casinos did already know about, and object to, players counting the cards at blackjack.

Even if bits in the blurb such as ‘utterly gripping’ (of the book), ‘utterly corrupt’ (of Las Vegas) and especially ‘rich, sharp’ (of the dialogue) are something of an exaggeration, the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent MIT boys and girls took on Las Vegas, and beat them for millions of dollars, is fun. You should also read it, by the way, or at any rate the relevant parts, if you want to know where in Vegas to find girls to entertain you in various ways.

Las Vegas is built first and foremost on gambling. The book tells us that in the mid- or late-Nineties 19 of the 20 biggest hotels in the world were in Vegas. Where does the colossal amount of money required come from? Amazing as it may seem, it comes from the small percentage that the casino normally has in its favour when you play there. Although the casino’s percentage is small, you are extremely likely to lose all your weekend gambling money because you will turn it over many times.

So how did these MIT geeks overcome Vegas? Partly they took advantage of the fact that at blackjack, unlike any other casino game, the odds swing around according to what cards are left in the deck or decks after earlier hands have been played. So a ‘card-counter’ keeps track of the cards, makes a low bet on the next hand if the odds are in the casino’s favour, or a high bet if the odds are in his favour.