How the MIT blackjack team won over $100 million
Whenever the subject of gambling is brought up we’re always told to remember that the house always wins in the end. We’re conditioned in a way to accept the fact that, while we may enjoy our time playing blackjack, we shouldn’t expect it to be profitable. A group of MIT proved that certainly isn’t the case as they hit casinos across the US and Canada, racking up over $100 million in winnings along the way. Read more about the MIT Blackjack team.
We’ve referred to the MIT team before when we put together our list of the biggest ever jackpot winners. However, we wanted to spend more time today looking at just how they pulled off what they did and what, finally, brought their playing days to an end.
| 21+ | Terms & Conditions Apply | NJ Residents Only | ||
 | $25 FREE on Signup 100% up to $1.000 on First Deposit Hotspot Leaderboard | Visit Casino |
Bill Kaplan – maths genius to card counter extraordinaire
Bill Kaplan was known as a maths genius with a hugely promising future ahead. That being the case, you can understand his mother’s alarm as he announced that, rather than attend Harvard, he was going to earn a living from playing blackjack. With his mother in a state of panic, Kaplan’s father seemed impressed and regularly challenged him to play. After two weeks of causing his father, his mother had little choice but to let Kaplan go.
With $1,000 in his pocket, off he went. Some nine months later, he returned home some $35,000 better off. With his point proven, he attended Harvard and graduated, while still playing blackjack when he could. With his mathematical genius, Kaplan had taken card counting to a whole new level and shown that the house really doesn’t have to win.
The the MIT blackjack team gets together
While Kaplan was, without a doubt, a truly amazing blackjack player, things did start to get really interesting until he was overheard by another player. The leader of a group of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) heard Kaplan talking about his winning streak. This player was clearly suitably impressed and asked Kaplan to manage and train what would become the greatest blackjack team of all time.
It wasn’t long before the team was ready to go and very soon the members would be becoming millionaires. They used card counting so expertly that it appeared that they just couldn’t lose. A company, called Strategic Investments, was created and friends and partners of the team all chipped in to raise $1 million. This new company was set up to train new recruits and send them on their way to win from casinos that had no idea what was coming.
The cost of losing
Of course, while it seemed that the team were unbeatable, it’s simply not possible to win every single hand of blackjack. Losses came but they are always far outweighed by the wins. One member of the team, Mike Aponte, had been given $40,000 to gamble in Atlantic City. Unfortunately, even though he had trained and worked hard, things didn’t seem to go his way.
After just 10 minutes at the blackjack table, Aponte was $10,000 down. While such losses may have sent many into a panic, he kept his cool and found the real cost of losing. Rather than sulking away with his tail between his legs, he was greeted by a casino executive and taken to a penthouse suite. Aponte kept playing and eventually returned with a healthy profit of $25,000. Not bad for someone who was on a losing streak!
VIP penthouses for all
It wasn’t just Aponte that got to experience the finer things in life. The thing is that casinos love high rollers. They are keen to welcome players in who are willing to gamble large amounts. Why? Well the house itself believes that it’ll always win. This means that it tempts these high rollers to gamble more with free drinks, food, tickets and luxurious rooms. Of course, had the casinos known what was really going on, the MIT team wouldn’t have been treated quite so well.
The journey that the MIT team took was almost like a fairy tale. During the week, these students were spending their time seeping in dorms and eating from a cafeteria. The other side of their lives saw them living it up and enjoying a lifestyle that most can only dream of.
Carelessness leads to the police knocking
The MIT team had a couple of run-ins with the authorities. While winning such vast amounts, it’s perhaps no surprise that they attracted a little unwanted attention. As players got spotted card counting, the casinos would call the police. With card counting being perfectly legal, there was nothing that the police could do, but it was still an inconvenience.
Other brushes with the law came about through carelessness and sloppiness. The team were so used to seeing huge sums of money that they started to become a little relaxed about it. This led to a bag containing $125,000 being left behind in a classroom. A cleaner put this away and called the police. A 6-month investigation from the FBI and DEA led to the money being returned, and a lesson learned.
The end of the road for the MIT blackjack team
It was inevitable that members of the team were going to get caught while card counting. When they were they were asked to leave and then banned from re-entering. Often, the players who got caught would just leave the team. Others went to the extremes of disguises such as shaven heads or ladies’ clothes so that they could keep playing.
In 1993, Kaplan decided to call it a day. This didn’t stop Aponte from forming a new team and going on to have more success. The reality of the MIT team is that they won to a degree that no other team ever will. Casinos, eventually, grew wise to what was going on and that’s why you’ll find that blackjack games have since changed to make card counting that much harder. That’s not to say it’s impossible though and, if nothing else, this story should inspire you to give it a go.
| 21+ | Terms & Conditions Apply | NJ Residents Only | ||
| $25 FREE on Signup 100% up to $1.000 on First Deposit Hotspot Leaderboard | Visit Casino |
