“Bringing Down the House” is a 2003 book by Ben Mezrich. It is about a group of six MIT students who engage in card-counting as a team called the MIT Blackjack Team in Las Vegas. The book is based on a true story, although it has plenty of fictional elements. In the book, the main character, Kevin Lewis, an MIT graduate is invited by two of the team’s top players Andre Martinez and Jason Fisher to join the MIT Blackjack team in 1993. Kevin goes on to live a double life as a professional in Boston and a card counter in Las Vegas from June 1994 to June 1998. Kevin’s dedication to the Blackjack team helps to show that the Las Vegas blackjack gambling can be mastered through a combination of disguise, acting, skill, attitude, teamwork, and luck.
Kevin was dedicated to the Blackjack team and he maintained a positive attitude that they could do more than win ordinarily but to beat all odds. He states that “contrary to what many novices believed, the goal of blackjack was not to get the best hand possible; it was to beat the dealer’s hand.” (Mezrich 47). The tough circumstances and goal of blackjack was not easy and it needed the Blackjack team to be at their best in to beat not only the best hand in the game but the dealer’s hand as well. Kevin was instrumental to the attainment of the numerous instances when the team managed to beat the dealer and make lots of money. Kevin was also one to take care of him and others. He is described as “someone exceedingly loyal, a true yes-man, a cog who knew when to turn, when to lay still” (Mezrich 34). Moreover, Kevin knew when to rely on the system so well that he could as well have been said to be the one perfected it.
Kevin had the ability to disguise himself in different settings of the double life that he led. He was pursuing a professional career on the side after graduating while he also engaged in card-counting. When he had been banned from visiting several casinos due to his participation in card-counting, he concentrated on his professional career (Gonzalez). However, at the times that he was in the casino, he was a witty and clever actor. At some point he manages to interpret a strange signal from a female spotter and he quit a game. However, Kevin still harbored a desire to practice his career and when he receives a letter from the IRIS; he knew that it was time to quit Las Vegas. He states that, “The most important decision a card counter ever has to make is the decision to walk away” (Mezrich 56).
There is an extent of luck in the amounts that the Blackjack team led by Kevin is able to make from their gambling activities. The team made more than 3 million dollars in a legal way. At some point, Kevin “had seventy thousand dollars in a money belt around his waist and another quarter a million back in his room” (Mezrich 159). This shows an extreme luck that befell Kevin while he was in Vegas. Mezrich states that ‘card counting was the key that had unlocked the casino’s coffers” (159). As such, he alludes to the great luck that befell Kevin. Moreover, Kevin was lucky to have engaged in intense partying and card counting to make millions while still pursuing his studies and doing well in them.
Kevin led his team to learn several valuable lessons and with each lesson he increased the group’s chances through luck and proper organization. At the beginning, the group relied on pure Maths to get things right with their card-counting system. “No matter the count the card could go wrong” (Mezrich 23). With time the games began to go either way and there was little room for luck. It was at such times that Kevin showed his true worth to the group by helping them win money to take them among the difficult moments.
Kevin was skilled in card counting and it helped to give him confidence whenever he was feeling nervous. For instance, when he pretended to get nervous and had his hands trembling, he breathed deeply, calming himself because “he had done this a hundred times, and there was no reason to think that tonight would be any different” (Mezrich 5). After he had been trained in the techniques that the Blackjack team used, Kevin learned them quickly and he becomes one of their best members after a short while. Kevin goes acquires so much experience and skills in card-counting that he separates from his original group and forms his own group.
In the instances when he and his team members saw the threat of being back roomed, he was trying hard not to panic but he was gripped with fear that his plans would be thwarted. Although he didn’t see the policemen he was not willing to sit back and wait for them because he knew that a wrong brush with the laws and the systems meant that he would have to be constantly on the run.
Kevin acts real and true to himself and the group all times and he is the central figure in the book who plays a critical, if not determinant role in the successes of beating Las Vegas casinos at their game. He relied on skill and was confident that after card-counting for more than 100 times he needed not fear. In other instances, Kevin was simply lucky going by the huge amounts of money that he used to make in the casinos. He disguised himself well and was able to operate undetected for a long time. After all, he maintains a great balance between wit, disguise, skill, attitude, teamwork and luck that see him prove that indeed the Las Vegas Blackjack gambling can be mastered.
Works cited
Mezrich, Ben. Bringing down the house. Free Press. 2003.
Gonzalez, John Ben Mezrich: based on a true story. March 2008. Web 16 march 2016 http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/02/ben-mezrich-based-on-a-true-story/
