An alumnus of the class of 1986 nominates the "Team of card counting geeks started at MIT in the 80's and possibly still alive today. Made famous by a cheesy book, "Bringing Down the House"; an even cheesier movie, "21"; and a pretty good Discovery Channel documentary, "Breaking Vegas"."
if the team still alive, is there any possibility to contact Them somehow ASAP, i was trying to do an experiment based on the game, i could explain the details only in private.
Thank you.
This is the one thing related to MIT that people most often ask me about. Actually the published solution to blackjack was known, e.g. to the National Science Foundation Summer Institute attendees I was with in 1966, but MIT did “put it on the map,” raising this to the ranks of the most successful hacks. Of course, the hacker who discovered you could deposit the roundoffs in a banking system to your account (also rumored to be from MIT) might have made more money.
if the team still alive, is there any possibility to contact Them somehow ASAP, i was trying to do an experiment based on the game, i could explain the details only in private.
Thank you.
assel
10 Dec 09 at 8:12 pm
The Team is not still alive. Of course, some people who were on it are still alive…
JP
26 Dec 09 at 11:56 pm
For the record, the team was founded in late 1979, not “the 80s”.
Assel, I”d be curious to hear what you have in mind.
Jonathan
28 Dec 09 at 10:50 am
Course XVIII, 1970. Wish I could have hooked up with these kids.
Phil Gustafson
30 Dec 09 at 6:42 pm
Not kids no more
JP
1 Jan 10 at 2:07 am
This is the one thing related to MIT that people most often ask me about. Actually the published solution to blackjack was known, e.g. to the National Science Foundation Summer Institute attendees I was with in 1966, but MIT did “put it on the map,” raising this to the ranks of the most successful hacks. Of course, the hacker who discovered you could deposit the roundoffs in a banking system to your account (also rumored to be from MIT) might have made more money.
Wells Eddleman '71
24 May 10 at 3:02 pm