http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/ en-us Copyright 2010 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:10:20 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss You may have seen the Travel Channel documentary called "Bringing Down the House," based on Ben Mezrich's book about a team of M.I.T. trained card counters who took Las Vegas for millions. Mezrich's book sold over 1.5 million copies and was optioned by actor Kevin Spacey. Now six years later, Spacey has produced "21," which also stars Kate Bosworth and Laurence Fishburne , and is scheduled to open later this month. Jeff Ma was one of the M.I. T. card counters who advised Mezrich on the book, and also was a major consultant on the film. Senior writer Rich Podolsky interviewed Jeff recently and asked him what it was like to beat Vegas at its own game. Playbook: Basically, the idea of card counting is to know when the blackjack deck is rich with picture cards and to increase your bet at that time. If you're working with someone you can signal them, and they can join the table and start betting big while you stay inconspicuous. We asked Jeff Ma how card counting got started. Jeff: Edward Thorpe, a Cal Tech professor, invented card counting in the '70s or early '80s. He brought it to M.I.T. when he was a visiting professor. Playbook: The M.I. T. students would spend their weekends in Vegas then go back to school on Monday. How long was the team able to successfully play the cat and mouse game with the casinos? Jeff: We did it over a period of about seven years. I didn't get involved until 1994, after the team had been going for a number of years. I knew somebody on the team who became my roommate and he recruited me. At first I was just a spotter, but then the nerves kicked in when I started betting the big money. It was like having to take the winning shot, and even though you were nervous, you still had to take it. But after a while it was easy for me to metamorphosis into a high roller who enjoyed beating the house. Jeff: There was always the fear of getting caught. The casinos would study our play on tape and decide who they wanted to ban from their tables. That's why we had to keep switching casinos and recruit new team members. The attitude of the casinos was that everyone should lose. They reasoned that losing was the price of entertainment for playing. If you didn't lose you weren't paying your entertainment fee. Playbook: Doesn't it seem unfair that the casinos will let you play as long as you want as long as you're losing, but can ban you for playing by the rules if you're winning? Jeff: Unfair? I'd say it was un-American. Playbook: What was it like for a bunch of ordinary, average-looking students to fly to Vegas every weekend and get treated like superstars? Jeff: It was amazing. The casino hosts saw how high our level of play was and gave us anything we wanted - suites, limos, front-row tickets, anything. Playbook: How much did you take down before you knew your role was over? Jeff: I'm the type of person that doesn't like to get yelled at in a job. I won about $1 million -- enough so that I don't have to get yelled at ever again. Playbook: It was also enough for you to start a sports marketing company called "Pro Trade." What's that all about? Jeff: "Pro Trade" is a next generation fantasy sports community. And it's now part of a bigger company I started called "Citizens Sports Network." Playbook: Thanks Jeff, and good luck, if you can still use some.]]> http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/2008/03/bringing-down-the-house/ http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/2008/03/bringing-down-the-house/ Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:52:54 -0500 Playbook: How'd you become a pro? Erik: I was originally a backgammon player and came out to Vegas for backgammon tournaments here. I knew some of the poker players as well. I started playing tiny stakes games to try it and I enjoyed it and went back to New York and started to play a little there. Playbook: And how did you get from playing a little to playing professionally? Erik: At that time ('87) a game started at the Mayfair Club at the Gramarcy Park Hotel and some of the people in the game were Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington. They were both friends who had played in the World Series of Poker and they encouraged me to come out and try it. So I did in '88. Playbook: You finished second that year to repeating champion Johnny Chan. Tell us about it. Erik: Some of my friends staked me to play and I came in second to Chan. (out of 178 players). Second money was $280,000, but I didn't have that big a piece of myself. I was the chip leader going in but early on I lost a big hand where he was all in. Also, I was so inexperienced playing heads-up and I think he was able to take advantage of that, too. A few months later, I won a tournament beating Phil Hellmuth and I had 100% of myself, which gave me tremendous confidence that the World Series wasn't a one-shot deal. Playbook: What did you do before turning pro? Erik: I traded mortgages on the floor of the Amex but the firm I worked for went under in the '87 crash which took me into backgammon full time. Playbook: What was the hand you'll never forget from that game? Erik: I guess the last hand with Chan was pretty memorable. It was dramatized in the movie Rounders where Chan reeled me in. I flopped top pair but he flopped a straight. I didn't have a whole lot of money at that point and wound up getting it all in. They played it up in Rounders for dramatic effect.]]> http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/2007/10/erik-seidel/ http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/2007/10/erik-seidel/ Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:27:18 -0500 Gavin Smith for the first of a series of Q&A's we'll bring you with some of the game's best players. Smith, 38, from the small Canadian town of Guelph, near Toronto, turned pro in '98. Since then he's won nearly $3 million. Playbook: How'd you become a pro? Gavin: They had these roving charity casinos that came through Guelph. They'd change towns every three days, sponsoring a different charity each time. Until then I played blackjack and not that well. Then I stumbled into Texas Hold 'Em at the charity casinos. Playbook: What did you do before turning pro? Gavin: I drove a cab for a few years and then I took up golf course maintenance, grooming the greens and cutting the fairways. Playbook: Who were your early mentors? Gavin: Grant Pittman and Jeremy Balka. I was playing Limit Hold 'Em then and the biggest thing they showed me was that I was playing way too many hands. Another thing they taught me: to raise on the Turn (instead of just call) if I had a good chance to improve on the River. Then if I didn't catch anything I could roll it (check) on the River. Playbook: How'd you switch from the smaller tourneys to the bigger ones? Gavin: After having some success in the smaller events Eric Lindgren ('04 WPT Player of Year) decided to stake me ($10,000 entry fee) for the 2004 World Series of Poker. I came in 52nd and made $45,000. Instead of splitting up the money we said, "Why not take $10,000 of it and play WPT Championship Poker at the Plaza." To make a long story short, I went into the final table as the chip leader, made some mistakes, but still finished fifth. Then eight months later lightning struck at the (WPT event) at the Mirage. Playbook: We suppose you mean the $1.3 million paycheck you got at 2005 Mirage Poker Showdown? Gavin: Yeah. First I won the $2.000 No-Limit event and then I won the $10,000 one. Playbook: What was the hand you'll never forget from that game? Gavin: It was down to the three of us - me, Chris Bell and Ted Forest. I had Ace. Jack and Chris had Ace, 9. He was on the button and opened with 200,000. I was the small blind and raised 600,000. Ted folded. Chris started talking after my raise, which was strange because he hadn't talked much before that, so I figured him to be on a worse Ace than mine. So I went all in after the flop and he immediately called. The flop came 5, 7, 9 and I realized I was screwed. I had just three outs, but then a Jack hit on the River. The room exploded. It was an electric feeling. It wasn't the last hand but it made me the chip leader. The tide had turned. Playbook: What was your biggest bluff? Gavin: It's difficult to pull off a big bluff because everybody does the math. It's mostly a lot of little bluffs in the big games. But with my reputation for being a bit of a clown, I get a lot more players calling me than I should. Call it a reverse bluff. Playbook: Any superstitions? Gavin: Nearly three years ago I got a haircut and then went cold for three months. It's now been 2½ years since I cut my hair but it may be time. It's getting a little chilly. Playbook: Thanks Gavin. We hope things warm up.]]> http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/2007/09/gavin-smith/ http://www.theplaybookpub.com/gambling/2007/09/gavin-smith/ Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:44:31 -0500