There are some real-life stories that read like they were made for comic books. Stranger-than-fiction tales of plucky heroes and cartoonish villains, alongside almost superhuman abilities and a just, fair ending. There are countless tales of adventurous spirits who have achieved things and lived lives that would put even the likes of Superman to shame.
One example that deserves much more attention is the case of the MIT blackjack team, who were able to use their unparalleled wit and intelligence to fleece the big Vegas casinos out of millions of dollars, and they got away with it. It’s the story of a group of gifted young people using their expertise to hit the big time and win a fortune, one filled with intrigue, code names, and dramatic attempts to avoid the wrath of the big casino owners.
Most importantly, it’s a story that deserves to be turned into a comic of its very own. Here is the story of the MIT Blackjack Team.
Humble Beginnings
Our tale begins and ends with Bill Kaplan, an assuming, bespectacled Harvard grad who realized his passion for blackjack back in the 1970s before you could easily visits sits like https://bedstespiludenomrofus.com/casinoer-med-lav-indbetaling/casino-indbetaling-20-kr/. It is he who was credited with popularizing the card counting technique which has since been immortalized in films such as The Hangover and 21.
After working on his technique in his free time, he announced to his parents that he was going to eschew a high-flying finance job to win his fortune in Vegas, beating his own father at dozens of games of blackjack to prove his abilities.
After winning $1000 in one sitting in 1977, he decided he was ready to go pro. However, it wasn’t until 1990 when things really got heated up.
It was during this year when he was sat with a group of MIT students discussing blackjack in a Chinese restaurant in Boston. In a stranger-than-fiction twist of fate, a pro gambler who went by the pseudonym “Mr. M” was in the same restaurant and overheard the conversation. He approached the table and swiftly offered them thousands of dollars in capital and the opportunity to make them the card counting experts of the world. 
Hitting the Big Time
After this, a daring plan was hatched. It was the 1990s and super-casinos were being built in Las Vegas at a dizzying pace. The idea of playing blackjack for real money, which millions of people do every day in 2019 with the help of online casinos and free bonuses, was starting to just become popularized like never before.
The idea was that the “MIT Team” would perfect their card counting skills as a group in Boston, before being set loose on the new Vegas casinos and taking the unsuspecting casino owners for everything they had. They spent months training in empty classrooms, even offering card counting classes for free to anyone who wished to learn the trick.
Once they were trained up, they were able to attract close to $1 million from investors, and then they were set loose. Kaplan himself remembers his first time being a flop, as when he rocked up at a big casino with thousands to bet, the staff immediately whisked him up to the High Roller Penthouse. He claims he was so dazzled by the luxury that he got distracted and lost all of the money in minutes.
His acolytes were more successful, earning 35-fold returns on their investment in just a few days. Back then, card counting was the kind of thing only true geniuses could grasp, so the casino staff wasn’t wise to it. Once they started winning seven-figures jackpots, the team were dispersed to casinos in Europe and Asia, making the MIT Team global.
How it Ended
Of course, all good things must come to an end. In true comic book fashion, the MIT Team went out with a bang rather than a whimper. Despite card counting being a very discreet form of playing which consists largely of calculating your odds of getting a high or a low card, no one can win that kind of money without attracting a lot of attention.
Pretty soon, anytime Kaplan showed up at a casino in Vegas, the staff would make a beeline for him and demand to know the identities of his team. He even claims to have been chased through casino floors by furious staff trying to catch him out.
The media quickly got wind, and it soon became unviable for the MIT Team to continue, since their faces were burned into the memories of every casino manager in the country. After just a few months of glittering success, the team disbanded for good.
It should come as no surprise that this exciting tale has already been turned into numerous forms of entertainment. The best-selling novel Bringing Down the House is based on their exploits, whilst numerous films and TV specials have also been made about the MIT Team. The story would make a brilliant graphic novel, and we can only hope that we get one in the near future.
Main Image: Source: Pixabay
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