Review/Opinion of "21:Bringing Down the House"

Bringing Down the House was really an amazing book. If you know me, then you probably realized five years ago that I HATE (yes I know, a very strong word) non-fiction books. I always find that people who write non-fiction books have sort of a strange style of writing that I just dislike. Well, Bringing Down the House is like a whole different level. If I were to not know the genre of this book, I would think that this was a realistic fiction book, not a non-fiction book! I would have never thought to even look at the gambling section of the books in Borders! The only reason I did was because my teacher recommended it to me. So there I was in Borders, not expecting much when I bought the book. When I got home and read the book, I was so amazed at the style of the writing. To be honest, it was the opposite of what I expected.

Kevin is the main character of this book and learns extremely fast. He's probably one of the best card counters on his team and earns big money. He's got the looks, and the smarts. At casinos, Kevin is doing well until one thing goes wrong. Then it's like a pile of dominos waiting to be pushed at any second. Everything goes downhill and everyone seems to know who Kevin is and what he does for most of his living. After being kicked off his own team, Kevin decides to make his own new team recruiting three people. They might not earn as much money as Fisher's new team, but they have much more fun.

All in all, Bringing Down the House was one of the best books I've ever laid my eyes on. Ben Mezrich is really an under-rated author. In my opinion, he should definitely win a Newbury Award Honor or something similar. Ben Mezrich's writing blew my mind away and I found out he has numerous books. I hope he comes out with a sequel to this book. I'll be the first to read it, no doubt!

Thoughts & Predictions

Thoughts: This was a riveting book! I loved it. It really was extraordinary. I didn't even know there was an author named Ben Mezrich until Mr. D from our school told us. When, I found this book at the gambling section in Borders, I wasn't expecting much. When I read the book, I was completely blown away. I just couldn't stop reading. This book was amazing and I hope that Ben will write more books like this!

Predictions: If Ben were to write a sequel to this book, I would predict that Kianna and Micky would be holding tryouts for the MIT Blackjack team. I predict each year, more and more people will join. The team will be huge and Kianna and Micky will become millionares and maybe even billionares. I think Kevin will also keep doing it with his new team, but they'll take it much slower but have way more fun. I think that Kevin, Andrew, Jill, and Dylan will be friends forever!

MIT Main Building

This was an important picture because Kevin was part of the MIT Blackjack team. This is a picture of MIT's main building.

The MGM Grand

These pictures are important because the MGM Grand was Kevin Lewis's home turf. He loved this casino and he was always welcome here.

Blackjack!

This is an important Picture because this person got a Blackjack. An ace can be counted as a "one" or an "eleven." In this case, the player would use it as an "eleven" and therefore gets a blackjack - 21.

Chapters 31 & 32

Chapters 31 & 32: Kevin and Dylan were celebrating because their new team broke the $50,000 mark! It proved that the more casually run foursome was more viable, profitable, and effective. When Kevin and Dylan drove to Dylan's apartment, they saw that Dylan's room was trashed! Even the hole in the wall where the new team kept their blackjack money was stolen! $75,000 were taken from the new team. When Kevin arrived back at his apartment, he saw a single purple casino chip sitting on his kitchen table. Kevin looked out the window and saw a lone figure standing in the shadows talking on a cell phone. Later Kevin took Ben Mezrich to play some blackjack and show him how to count cards. Kevin heard that the original members of the MIT blackjack team had long become dinosaurs. Rumors were that Micky and Kianna were living in an apartment together recruiting more people to count cards.

$$Connections$$

• My friends and I have played blackjack before. They've taken me to their house to play some blackjack just like how Kevin took Ben to play some blackjack in Las Vegas.
  

Chapters 25-30

Chapters 25-27: Kevin's team played at Jack Binion's Horseshoe and the team was up $50,000. Kevin noticed something bizarre. Four pit bosses were gathered around the center of a blackjack area. Usually pit bosses did not group together unless there was some kind of a security concern. Kevin's stomach dropped when he saw a fax spewing out four faces that were on his team! Kevin gathered up his team and got the heck out of there! Back at home, Kevin received some papers from the IRS. It was the notice of an audit. Kevin was supposed to schedule an appointment with an IRS investigator. Fisher called Kevin to meet Fisher and Martinez at Micky Rosa's place. When he got there he found out that someone from MIT sold a list of both MIT teams to the Plymouth agency. "Names, yearbook photos, Vegas gambling schedules, estimated profits--everything," Micky muttered. The person who turned them in received $25,000.

Chapters 28-30: At the Bahamas, Fisher told Martinez that he'd be in the bathroom. Martinez had been playing blackjack for over 20 minutes and there was still no sign of Fisher. Martinez suspected that something was wrong. Martinez went to the bathroom and saw three men with Fisher. One man had Fisher by the throat and one was holding Fisher from behind. The third man was the tall man with silver hair and narrow blue eyes! Fisher was a mess with blood everywhere. The three men were questioning him. Martinez took the broomstick in the bathroom and whacked the mirror with it. Martinez said, "I called the police. And I called our lawyers. We're going to sue you and the casino for everything you've got." Kevin was at home and Dylan called Kevin asking him why Kianna e-mailed Dylan for the playing records from the past year. Kevin found out later that Fisher and Martinez were starting a new team--and Kevin was not allowed to be a part of it! Kevin was kicked off his own team! Bubbling with anger, Kevin decided to also make a new team. Andrew Tay, Jill, and Dylan were recruited to Kevin's new team. The team would take it slower, have more fun, but not earn as much money. Fisher and Kevin met at the MGM Grand. Kevin told Fisher that this was Kevin's home turf. Fisher wouldn't listen though, and wanted to not just kick Kevin out of the team, but also out of Vegas!

$$Connections$$

• Kevin and Fisher "broke up" and weren't friends anymore. It's just like how in 3rd grade, I was best friends with a girl (not mentioning name) and then we just never talked in 4th and 5th grade. Then in 6th grade, we were in the same class so we became best friends again and we still are.
• When Fisher kicked Kevin off his own team, it reminded me of a story. It was like backstabbing your friend. In the story, best friends became worst enemies and always talked behind each others backs. It was a good book though. Too bad I don't remember the title of the book.

Chapters 19-24

Chapters 19-21: Kevin sometimes talked to Teri Pollack on the phone, but the longer time Kevin didn't spend in Vegas, the more he realized that the only thing Teri and him had in common was Las Vegas! Kevin and his team went to a new resort/casino. The team situated themselves quickly. Jill called Kevin over to a table and after Kevin won seventeen thousand dollars, he saw Jill with her hands through her hair! A man in a suit approached him and had a word with Mr. Chow (a.k.a Kevin). Kevin was no longer permitted to play blackjack at their casino and was almost back-roomed. He ran out of the casino but caught a glimpse of a tall, man with weathered cheeks, narrow, ice-blue eyes, and silver hair. The team had two-way emergency beeper and Martinez was in his suite. He wasn't aware of what happened to Kevin and also of the loud beeping of his beeper! Three burly men busted into Martinez's suite and told him to report to the casino manager downstairs. Martinez knew the drill and what to say to the manager. Martinez was taught by Micky himself. Martinez was able to leave the casino but was never welcome there again. The team decided to try another casino. They didn't want to become dinosaurs. So, Kevin and Martinez checked into the Rio under assumed names. At midnight, Kevin was called to a hot table by Martinez. The pit boss looked up, saw Kevin, and immediately strode over to Kevin and told him that his money was no good here. The pit boss even called Kevin by the imposter name Kevin had used at the new resort/casino! The MIT blackjack team decided to go to their home turf-- a casino they'd been tearing up for more than a year. After Kevin was playing very well, a pit boss came and told Kevin that he wasn't welcome here anymore! The team played some more at the MGM Grand and Andrew Tay noticed something very weird going on. There was a cowboy with a plastic ear piece in his ear at Tay's table! Tay was chatting with a beautiful woman. Kevin found out that the woman seduced information out of Tay. When Kevin followed her, he saw her chatting with the guy with narrow blue eyes and silver hair. Kevin's heart missed a beat and he rapidly disappeared into the casino. This was not a coincidence. The MIT blackjack team had been made.

Chapters 22-24: The MIT blackjack team had a meeting and Fisher presented Martinez in a fat "suit." Martinez had transformed from a 150 pound man to a 300 pound gargantuan! Over the past few days, Fisher and Martinez had been meeting with Hollywood's top make-up artists. The team had purchased some of the highest quality disguises--prosthetics, wigs, hair coloring, skin dye--all for only a small fortune. The team played at the Pyramid's casino. Martinez entered his VIP suite upstairs and took out the hidden duffel bag filled with $400,000 in mostly cash. He took out chips from his pockets and added it to the stash. It was his job this time to keep the duffel bag. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door from the hotel security. Martinez took the duffel bag with him and hid in the bathtub of his suite. The door was kicked open and three guards yanked off the bath curtain. Martinez saw three angry faces staring down at him. "I guess this looks pretty strange," Martinez said nervously. The guards searched his duffel bag and didn't find any chips from this casino. The pit boss shouted, "You think you're fooling anyone with that idiotic mustache? You got five minutes to get out of our hotel, college boy. And tell your friends--if we ever catch any of you in here again, you're going to wish you never set foot out of Boston. We'll be back to make sure you're gone. If we find you in here, maybe we'll erase all the tape from our cameras. Maybe you weren't in the casino tonight, maybe you never came back to your room. Maybe you just f**king disappeared."

$$Connections/Thoughts$$

• I've seen a pyramid before but I never knew that pyramids could be casinos!
• Just like the MIT blackjack team, I've dressed up to try and look like a different person. Also, just like them, people could see through my disguise.
  

Chapters 13-18

Chapters 13-15: At the Delta Air Lines terminal at Logan Airport, Kevin broke up with Felicia. She was not pleased about it at all! Kevin then took off to the Grand Victoria Casino to meet Martinez, Fisher, and the rest of the team. Kevin started as a Big Player (BP) this time and was ecstatic! He pretended to be Barry Chow this week and racked up millions of dollars! He was so famous, that everyone in the hotel and casino knew him! People were all talking about him everywhere! Micky Rosa gathered the team for a team meeting. They needed more players...and fast, because they weren't taking full advantage of the system. With more people, they would be able to earn much more money! The team talked about stereotypes like: Black men aren't smart enough to count cards, and a pretty woman in a nice dress could never be a card counter. The MIT blackjack team needed to gather more people that fit into stereotypes of "not being a card counter". The casinos' own stereotypes would come back and bite them! Kevin recommended that Andrew Tay, a sophomore, join their team. He had the look and the math skills. Fisher said that he knew two other people who would be perfect for their team. One was Jill Taylor, a pretty woman. No one would ever think that she was actually a tough fledgling corporate consultant at one of the top firms in the country. She graduated from MIT undergraduate school with honors and from Harvard Business School. At 27, Jill lives by herself in a million dollar town-house and recently divorced with an advertising executive who didn't like her eagerness and unyielding "need for speed." Dylan Taylor used to be her husband, but they divorced, and neither has been in Vegas for five years.

Chapters 16-18: Dylan had a the highest profile advertising agencies in Boston. At Vegas, Dylan and Jill completely burned up the tables! On one Sunday Morning, the money earned was particularly high. With more players, the team was able to get much more money each. Kevin found himself lying by the Mirage pool waiting for Teri Pollack to come, his new "girlfriend" who probably only liked him for his money. At Kevin's apartment, he found so much money stashed everywhere. When he went to restaurants with his friends/colleagues, he always paid with 100 dollar bills. He did it not to show off, but to get rid of those darn things! Everything was going better than perfect. At Vegas and Chicago, the MIT team earned so much money, their pockets were bulging with chips. Then suddenly, Kevin saw that Indian kid again--Sanjay Das. Kevin was so confounded! Vegas might have been a coincidence, but this was a riverboat in what, Elgin, Illinois?! Then something even more perplexing happened--Kevin saw Sanjay Das's roommate, a Japanese kid. Fisher signaled to Kevin that they needed to talk. At the bathroom, Fisher told Kevin that he also noticed Sanjay and at least seven others with him! It was another team from MIT that Micky has money with. That team is called the Amphibians and Kevin's team is called the Reptiles because Kevin's team stemmed from the Amphibians. Fisher and Kevin talked and decided to fire Micky. Fisher and Kevin told Micky the news and suprisingly, Micky took it well, but had some advice. He told them, "Don't let yourselves get too comfortable. Remember everything I taught you. Every time you walk into a casino, they're watching. Every time you cash in a chip, they're taking notes. Sooner or later, they're going to start asking questions. And things will change. One last thing. The most important decision a card counter ever has to make is the decision to walk away. From a bad table, from a negative shoe, from an unfriendly casino. It was the one thing I was never very good at." Kevin and his team decided to go to the Mohegan Sun in southwestern Connecticut. That evening, the team left with a salary of $330,000. A pit boss came to Kevin and told him about the new comps program. Kevin had generated an amazing amount of comp points. Kevin was able to purchase everything from microwave ovens to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with comp points. That day, he stocked up his apartment with many new things. A fight broke out during Fight Night and someone started shooting a gun. People stole chips from blackjack tables. Now, the MGM Grand could only take a few chips to trade in for cash. Fisher recruited some women to help them trade in the chips so it wouldn't look like the MIT team had so much in chips. It would be suspicious.

$$Connections$$

• I've heard a gunshot before just like during Fight Night, someone shot a gun. It was during a track meet and the signal to start was a gunshot.
• Just like in casinos when Kevin met some of people that he knew, I've met people that I know in various locations like the supermarket and such.
  

Chapter 7-12

Chapters 7-9: Kevin approached a derelict alley and found an underground casino in Chinatown. This was his test. If he could do well here gambling/counting cards, he would be able to become part of the team. Kevin was thrilled and also solicitous. When Kevin entered the casino, he burned up the tables. He was on fire and earned an abundance of money. The casino knew though, that the team counted cards and only let them come when new members needed to take the test. The casino would not let them keep the money. Kevin was congratulated because he passed the test! Martinez, Kevin, and Fisher were going to the MGM Grand to watch George Foreman and Michael Moorer wrestle. Kevin didn't tell Felicia about anything, though. He lied to Felicia to go on the plane! The relationship was not looking good because Kevin missed almost every dinner with Felicia. He never really even saw her anymore. Martinez told Kevin that everytime he's in a casino, he must know that there are "the Eyes in the Sky" watching him. There are fish-eye cameras that hang from the ceiling in the casino pit. There are also many of them in elevators, restaurants, and even in hotel hallways. Martinez then explained to Kevin about the book that's put together by a detective agency called Plymouth Associates hired by the casinos to catch the card counters and cheaters. Certain notorious card counters are in the Plymouth Facebook. Martinez's and Fisher's faces are not in the book but Micky's is on the first page. If casinos see the team hanging out with Micky, then they will ask them to leave. So, the team must obey. The casinos also might back room them, meaning they tell the people to come with them. They take you to probably the basement of the casino, take your picture, and tell you to sign something that says you won't come back to the casino. If you do, then you're legally trespassing and they can arrest you. So, you should just say "no" when they tell you to follow them. Then, the last tip Martinez told Kevin was, "Don't let some guy named Vinnie take you on any long drives out into the desert."

Chapters 10-12: The team booked rooms at hotels near each other with imposter names. Micky told the team the rules. He said, "Whenever we're in public, we don't know each other. We don't use our real names, and we never mention MIT. If you need to go back to one of the rooms to rest, make sure you go alone. Once we're in the rooms, we're okay--as far as I know, they don't put cameras in the rooms. But the hallways and elevators are definitely wired, so we have to make sure we stagger our breaks." Micky Rosa told the team to play in two shifts with five people on the floor at a time. Kevin thought that Kianna Lam and Brian were professionals and wanted to be just as good as him. He was extremely impressed. Kevin played a spotter and gestured Martinez to his positive fifteen count table. Martinez acted like a rich man from Southern California. Martinez received a huge amount of money. They brought back $20,000 that night and split it between the eight people in their team. Each person received $250 from just a night's work! Then it was fight night and celebrities from the Knick's basketball team came to play blackjack. Kevin crushed them and the Knick's basketball players even invited him to an after-fight party in a celebrity suite. Then something very outlandish happened--Kevin saw Sanjay Das, the Indian kid. Kevin had taken physics with him at MIT two years ago. Another time, Kevin was playing blackjack, and he met a woman named Teri Pollack. She was a 22 year old rookie cheerleader with the Saint Louis Rams. She even gave Kevin her phone number! Kevin was so amazed by his good luck that he didn't see the man in the suit walk over to him. The man told Kevin that Kevin was not allowed to play blackjack here anymore. Kevin just said, "I never liked this casino anyway. Smells too much like smoke," and walked away like Micky told him to do.

$$Connections$$

• Just like Kevin, I also noticed that there are cameras everywhere in a hotel. I would think that even more in a fancy hotel!
• I agree with Micky. I think that if you let the men in suits take you down to back rooms, you might be tortured. So, you shouldn't let the men take you to back rooms.
  

Spotter's Signal List & Oral Count Signals

Spotter's Signal List

• The deck's warm = folding arms in front of chest
• The deck's turned hot = folding arms behind back
• Even hotter! = putting hands in pockets
• I need to talk = touch your eye
• Get over here = lower head to folded arms
• What's the count = scratch your ear
• I'm too tired to play anymore = rub your neck
• I'm getting heat from the pit boss = move hands to forehead
• Something's wrong, get out now! = run your hands through your hair

Oral Count Signals

These were used when you were calling in a big player to tell him/her what the count was. These were simple words that could be used in a sentence, right under the nose of a pit boss or dealer.

• Tree: +1
  
• Switch: +2
• Car: +4
• Glove: +5
• Gun: +6
• Craps: +7
• Pool: +8
• Cat: +9
• Bowling: +10
• Football: +11
• Eggs: +12
• Witch: +13
• Ring: +14
• Paycheck: +15
• Sweet: +16
• Magazine: +17
• Voting Booth: +18
  

Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4: Kevin was in Atlantic City with Martinez and Fisher. Dino Taratolli was a host at the Tropicana casino and picked Kevin and Fisher up in a limousine to a hotel. Hosts do whatever it took. They made peoples' stay as pleasant as possible and brought the big players (people that bet five-twenty thousand dollars a stay) to their casino. Big players got the full treatment with rides in limos, food, beverages, a free room, and anything you could imagine! Fisher and Kevin had different identities in Atlantic City though. That weekend, Fisher was Robert Kim, but Kevin was still Kevin. They were both supposed to be Eurotrash millionaires. Kevin was getting very curious. Their room was a humongous suite! Kevin found out the Fisher and Martinez played blackjack. At a blackjack table, Martinez and Kevin bet ten thousand dollars. Martinez helped Kevin learn how to count cards, a strategy that would probably make you a millionaire. Then Fisher played but made sure that he made no eye contact with Martinez or Kevin because the "eyes in the sky" were watching him.

Chapter 5: Each stroke made Kevin's lungs burn. He was swimming very hard. Kevin had begun dating a girl he met at the library. Her name was Felicia and she had a swimmer's body, too, like Kevin. After Kevin swam, he saw Fisher and Martinez standing right near the pool. They told Kevin to follow them and brought Kevin to a classroom full of "The Club/Blackjack 101" members. He saw seven people including Kianna Lam (a pretty, young Asian), Michael Sloan (a blond tennis jock), and Brian Hale (a brilliant senior), the few that he recognized. Then the one standing at a blackboard was Micky Rosa, the leader of Blackjack 101. His teeth were gnarled and his clothes were two sizes too small. This was the M.I.T. Blackjack Team. Micky told Kevin how he had discovered the system of subjugating casinos at blackjack. It was a combination of card counting and communication. He wanted Kevin to join the team and go to Las Vegas. Kevin found out that each player had made about $100,000 spending their time in Vegas playing blackjack. Kevin decided to join the team but learned that he needed to pass the Test.

Chapter 6: Actually, Kevin had to pass three tests. If you were caught by the casinos when you card counted, you would have to leave and you were never welcome there again. If you were burned out of all the casinos in town, you would become extinct like a dinosaur. You were finished. The M.I.T blackjack team used team play which was split into three parts: Spotters, Gorillas, and Big Players. Everyone in the team started as a Spotter. The job of a Spotter was to find a good table with a good deck and then call a Gorilla or Big Player to the table. Spotters would sit at the table playing the minimum bet and counting the cards. When the count gets good, they would signal in either a Big Player or a Gorilla. After you are a Spotter, you get promoted to a Gorilla. Basically, when Gorilla's get signaled to a hot deck, they just stumble over as if they were a drunk, rich kid. They would throw down huge bets of money and watch for Spotter's signals to tell them when the run of the good cards is over. Then they would just stumble out of the table to receive a signal from another Spotter. Now being the Big Player was the hardest and most vital job. After a Spotter called you in to a hot deck, you would take over. You had to act, count, and bet! Big Players carry the big money and are the ones known by the casino personnel. You have to look the part of a Big Player. The first part of the test was learning how to be a Spotter. The second part was learning how to be a Gorilla. The third and last part of the test was to learn how to be a big player. Kevin learned that the higher the count, the better the deck, and the lower the count, the worse the deck. Kevin learned the Spotter's signal list and the oral count signals. Micky told Kevin that Kevin was ready and would be able to take the test Saturday night. Kevin was fatigued but felt a rush of adrenaline.

$$Connections$$

• Just like Kevin in chapter 4, I would feel extremely tired after swimming. I would be huffing and puffing to catch my breath.

• Like Kevin in chapter 6, I would feel very happy/excited even if I was tired because I qualified for something/won something!

Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1: Kevin Lewis (which wasn't really his real name) acted drunk. He was playing blackjack and had already won $30,000. Kevin found his spotter, waiting for a signal. The spotter was a woman wearing too much makeup and a low-cut blouse. A bent right arm would tell him to double his bet. Both arms folded would tell him to push most of his chips into the betting circle. Arms flat at her sides meant that he should drop down to the lowest possible bet. But she didn't do any of those things! Instead, the spotter ran her hand through her hair. That meant Kevin had to get out of her fast! There were three, burly men (the suits) headed toward him. If the suits caught up to him . . . well everyone heard the stories. They were put in back rooms and intimidated. In Kevin's duffel bag, were stashes of money. Kevin didn't invent the System, he was just one of the few people smart enough to pull it off.

Chapter 2: $25,000 in hundreds were strapped to Kevin's thighs and back by velcro. He was in an airport at the security place. There were metal detectors and he forgot to take his cellphone out! If the security woman asked him to take off the jacket, he was doomed because she would see the huge bulges in his jacket. After she checked him, she said "You're okay. Have a nice flight." A wave of relief washed over Kevin. Kevin's resume was perfect--he was the typical M.I.T. student stereotype. He was a math and science whiz. He was top of his class at Exeter, a boarding school. He earned straight A's there and also at M.I.T. Kevin lead a double life. In one, he was a "geek" at M.I.T. In his other more exhilarating life, he was a card counter in Las Vegas earning millions.

Chapter 3: It was 1993 and Kevin was tired from taking so many chemistry classes and swimming so long. Kevin was 20 years old. Jason Fisher's towering body and Andy Martinez's slim and short stature approached Kevin. Fisher and Martinez somehow were always able to travel to Las Vegas almost every weekend. They never ran out of money even though they didn't have any job. They took out a stack of $100 bills. Fisher and Martinez told Kevin to come with them on the weekend to Las Vegas. They were going to show him and teach him how they earned so much money.

$$Connections$$

I remember going on a plane before. The security checks were really annoying. Just like in chapter 1 of Bringing Down the House. Kevin had to go through a frustrating security check.

Welcome!

Welcome to my guide on Bringing Down the House. This compelling, nonfiction book is by Ben Mezrich. This guide will help you analyze and understand this book better. Bringing Down the House is a story about six M.I.T. students who counted cards, and decided to bring their talents to Vegas. Supersmart mathletes were recruited to join a secret blackjack organization called "The Club." This club was dedicated to counting cards and beating the casinos at their own game all around the nation. These elite mathletes infiltrated Las Vegas and took home millions. Bringing Down the House is a riveting book, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading the book. Welcome to my blog and please feel free to post any comments you like!