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.