For my first "real" post, I thought I would talk a little bit about my background and how I got started on the MIT Blackjack Team. It all started in the summer of 1993 while I was spending the summer taking classes and living in my fraternity, Delta Upsilon (DU). Over the summer, we often had non-DU members live in our house to help with expenses, and one of my housemates that summer was my good friend Mike Aponte. Mike would always disappear for the weekend, and then come back with wads of hundred dollar bills and an uncorked bottle of Dom Perignon. He actually had about 20 bottles of Dom all lined up on the faux-fireplace mantle in his room. Now, being a poor college kid, I had never seen a hundred dollar bill before, let alone bought stuff with one. Here I am eating Raman noodles at 12 boxes for a dollar, and Mike is buying sushi every night and paying for it with $100 bills. Thankfully, Mike finally let me in on his little secret and one day asked if I wanted to join the MIT Blackjack Team.
Growing up I wasn’t into blackjack and didn’t really even know all the rules of the game. The only thing I knew about card counting was what I had seen in the movie, Rain Man. But curiosity got the best of me and I decide to attend a team meeting. At that meeting I learned two things. 1) Card counting is a legitimate, mathematically proven system that can actually beat the house, and 2) that I would have the opportunity to go on some pretty awesome trips. I would have the opportunity to bet thousands of dollars and live the life of a high roller. For a young college kid it was like a dream come true. I had nothing to lose, right? At the very least I thought it would be a nice change of pace from doing my differential equations homework. So, I signed onto the team immediately.
Trip to Atlantic City with "Martinez"
My first trip to Atlantic City was with Martinez, one of the main characters from the book "Bringing Down The House" by Ben Mezrich. Martinez is another one of my good friends, and also was one of my housemates that summer. When we first got to AC the weekend started off a little rough and we had trouble getting action until right before we had to catch our plane back to Boston. We decided to walk down to Trump Plaza for a little bit and we ended up winning about $55,000 in less than an hour. $55,000 in an hour!!!! I was as totally hooked! I often wonder what would have happened if we would have lost $55,000 that weekend. Even though it wasn’t our own money at that time, losing more money in an hour than most people make in a year really puts a knot in your stomach. A common theme of the people who actually played on the team is that we won money our first trip. Luckily, I was one of those, and kept playing on the team until my last trip in 1999.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
wow, great story!, tons of detail. I always wondered how you guys went from rags to riches.
u have to join to show thats a joke
Wow, what a story. sounds like you got a really lucky break. I hope the winning streak continues. Wish making money was as easy for all of us!
Wow, that’s pretty cool. I once made $23,000 in an evening – but never $55K in one hour. Well done! Will you be posting more articles about your adventures as part of that team? I for one would read them.