I recently saw a really decent gambling movie called “21”. My expectations weren’t too high, but they were far exceeded.

The plot is that an intelligent student joins a school club that trains in cheating Blackjack casino systems. Our “hero” only has small experience in poker playing, but since he has a sharp mind he slowly catches up. The math that the members of the club pull off is really something, and with those skills they are able to win absurd amounts of cash. Naturally, though, this has a dark side to it. Their lifestyle is far from safe and they start to get different sorts of enemies, even among them. Actually they are leading a kind of double life, where school is their scene on the weekdays, while Las Vegas is their destination come the weekend. There they can afford to live in a way far beyond imagination, with enormous hotel suites, expensive clothes, expensive food, huge parties, room service and so on.

Their leader, and teacher, is played by Kevin Spacey who does his part brilliantly, as he always does. That actor really has a wide register, in which he knows how to play warm, ice cold, funny, scary and so on. It took me some time to realize it, but fact of the matter is that he has already played a University magister earlier, in the movie “Life of David Gale”. That is also a really nice film, I reckon.

He has also played against Kate Bosworth earlier, in the movie “Beyond the sea”, which he does again in this piece. She plays one of the students.

Another of the actors are Laurence Fishburne, most famous for his role in the Matrix movies. However, the actor that impressed me the most in this film was Jim Sturgess, who plays the leading role. Previously he has mainly done TV productions, but now he is considered one of the rising stars in Hollywood. I loved how his character completely changed during the course of the movie. He went from a geek with no style to a cocky, modern man with nothing to lose.

I haven’t played a lot of card games myself, though I like poker a lot. Even still, I really liked the scenes in which they play Blackjack. The rules aren’t that hard, yet it is amazing to see what they do when they are cheating. Actually, this is based on a true story, where a group of A-students trained themselves in tricking the system.

All in all, I really recommend it!

Hello everybody.....I just finished writing the code for my project and hence have time (??) to write this post.Anyways,yesterday I watched '21' with my dad at ESquare(a multiplex near my house).

The aspect of the movie that probably attracted me  was MIT.I assumed that the story would be of J.P.Massar who headed the MIT Blackjack team based on the documentary shown on History Channel some time back.This team used card counting techniques to 'bring down the house'.But as it turns out the movie is hardly all true (a nice one time watch though).Blackjack as it turns out is a gambling game but also beatable.In most gambling games roulette, dice, slot machines, the lottery the events are independent of each other i.e. events of the past do not determine the future.The probability of every outcome is same on every roll of the dice or spin of wheel.Hence in blackjack if you count correctly you can earn a fortune.Casinos and bookmakers make certain that the probabilities are always stacked slightly in their favor.To know more on the mathematics of blackjack go thorugh The Mathematics of Gambling.

A documentary aired on BBC "Making Millions the easy way" reports the activities of the MIT blackjack team.They comment on the future of card counting in the following way:

"In the early 1990s, however, a new breed of counters emerged. They had a greater level of resources, training and attention to detail than the casinos had ever encountered. Semyon Dukach, Katie Lilienkamp and Andy Bloch were all studying at MIT when they heard of card counting as a way to make extra money. MIT had a history of card counting. Indeed, Ed Thorp himself had developed the original system whilst at MIT, using one of the most powerful computers in the world at that time.

MIT counters played in teams, usually of three or more. Each individual was given a specific role. Some would simply watch tables, and wait for favourable situations to appear (the 'spotters'). They would call in the expert strategist (the 'controller') who would fine-tune exactly when was the optimum moment to play, and how much to bet according to the cards being played. The controller would secretly signal to a 'big player' who would then join a table and place a massive bet at exactly the right moment.

The key was that by only betting when the odds were well in the big player's favour, the big player could maximise potential profit, and also avoid being spotted as a counter. By watching a number of tables at any time, the team could select only those with the greatest promise of a good return. The big player simply looked like a rich, arrogant young gambler who got lucky on a single bet.

The MIT players went to great lengths to conceal both their own identities and their team play. They would work relentlessly to exploit any edge they could find - inexperienced dealers, poor shuffling or lax security. They also recorded exactly how much profit they managed to make from each situation, and honed their skills to be incredibly close to optimum play.

The trio played blackjack all over the world on and off throughout most of the 1990s, making money wherever they played. Their exploits only came to an end when Griffin Investigations, a private agency hired by casinos, identified the members of the MIT teams after months of surveillance. From that point on a team player even entering a casino would be swiftly ejected.

Card counting still occurs wherever blackjack is played, though as casino technology advances it becomes harder and harder to make anything but a small profit. Facial recognition technology, computerised blackjack tables and rule changes are slowly eating away at the small advantage possible through counting. But the lure of easy money makes it unlikely the casinos have seen the last of the counters. For 40 years they have found ways to make profit, and their ingenuity is bound to succeed again."

So is Winner, winner, chicken dinner! enough for you ....

 چند روز پيش نشستم 21 رو ديدم. فيلمي متوسط و سرگرم كننده. داستان چند دانشجوي تراز اول MIT كه به سرگروهي يكي از اساتيدشون (با بازي كيوين اسپيسي) آخر هفته ها رو قاچاقي مي رفتن لاس وگاس و قمار مي كردند تا با استفاده از قدرت حافظه و تحليل استثنائيشون پولدار بشن.

     بازي 21 رو چندين بار جسته و گريخته آموخته بودم اما چون بازي نمي كردم چيز زيادي ازش تو ذهنم نمي موند. فكر ميكنم فيلم 21 رسالت خودش رو به نحو احسن انجام داده باشه، چون باعث شد كه بار ديگه از پدرم درخواست كنم كه اين بازي رو بهم آموزش بده و چند تا از تريكها و حقه هاشو كه از قديم تو يادش مونده يادم بده. همين كه اين فيلم نسبتاً كم خرج با اتكا به جذابيتهاي بصري شهر لاس وگاس، ريتم تند، تصوير برداري خوب، و حتي با درجه بندي PG-13 تونسته عليرغم نظرات منفي منتقدان امتياز كاربري 7 از 10 رو تو IMDB از آن خودش كنه نشون ميده كه فيلم موفقي بوده.

خلاصه اگر با ورق و بازيهاي اون آشنايي خوبي داريد (منظورم 4 برگ نيست ها!) اين فيلم رو از دست نديد. به هر حال من كه به شدت هوس كردم پس اندازم رو ور دارم برم لاس وگاس. 

Here is a short review of the movie 21 (which I saw at the Bryd Theater for 2 dollars!).

21 is a movie based off a book called Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich about card counting in the game of blackjack. It's also one of those "college kid gets the world handed to him on a platter but fucks it up and has to redeem himself" movie. If you like those kind of movies, then this is for you. If you are looking for something deeper (or looking for a card counting tutorial), look somewhere else. It's a teen/young adult movie that has taps into the dreams of everyone's greedy side because the characters make ridiculous amounts of money ridiculously fast.

Despite its departure from the book on many occasions, I found the movie enjoyable. Maybe it's because I wasn't looking for a deep movie, just a way to kill an evening or maybe it's because it only cost me $2, either way, it was good.

Now, if you could only choose one or the other- book or movie? Read the book. It's worth it and it's also a quick read.

Ben Campbell es un brillante estudiante del prestigioso instituto M.I.T. y necesita pagar los costos de su enseñanza. Sin querer encontró la solución a este problema en los naipes. Micky Rosa, un profesor de matemáticas poco ortodoxo y genio de la estadística, lo invitó a formar parte de un grupo de estudiantes que cada fin de semana va a Las Vegas con identificaciones falsas y una tremenda habilidad para ganar las partidas de blackjack.

Título original: 21

Duración: 122

Trailer:http://www.sonypictures.net/movies/21/

Actor:Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne y Aaron Yoo

Yesterday I went and saw the movie 21 for my friend's birthday. It was really good. It is all about this really smart guy who, along with four others, is taught how to count cards, a technique which almost guarentees a win at blackjack.

Another thing: Hoyts now has BANANA FLAVOURED CHOCTOP ICECREAM!!!!

21, schoon filmke :)

Voor de gokkers onder jullie, ik heb van een maat een "foolproof" methode gehoord om te winnen met roulette...

Stel, je wil 100€ winnen.

Je zet 100€ in op rood (of zwart als je dat prefereert, maar blijf bij dezelfde kleur)
- Het balletje land op rood: je inzet wordt verdubbeld, je bent 100€ rijker.
- Het balletje valt op zwart of 00, je bent je 100€ kwijt, maar dan doe je het volgende:

Je zet 200€ in op rood
- Het balletje land op rood: je inzet wordt verdubbeld, je krijgt 400€, in totaal heb je wel al 300€ ingezet maar je bent dus wel 100€ rijker...
- Het balletje valt op zwart of 00 je bent 300€ kwijt, maar je doet weer hetvolgende:

Je zet 400€ in op rood
- Het balletje land op rood: je inzet wordt verdubbeld, je krijgt 800€, in totaal heb je wel al 700€ ingezet maar je bent dus wel 100€ rijker...
- Het balletje valt op zwart of 00 je bent 700€ kwijt, maar je doet gewoon verder.

De kansen blijven steeds 50/50 dat je de juiste kleur hebt. Als je dus genoeg geld hebt om een paar beurten op deze manier te spelen verdien je dus de initiële inzet terug. Als je pech hebt, valt het balletje in het hierbovenstaande geval 10 keer op zwart en heb je al 103400€ ingezet om 100€ te verdienen...

Dus zorg dat je initiële inzet klein genoeg is, of dat je geld genoeg hebt om het een paar keer te proberen. Het blijft tenslotte een kansspel.

Bij dezen, u bent volledig verantwoordelijk voor uw eigen doen en laten in een casino of andere gokgelegenheid. Zoals gezegd, het blijft een kansspel en deze methode garandeert niks, dus kom niet zeiken als je veel geld verloren bent terwijl je dit uitprobeert, capiche? :)

(Robert Luketic, 2008 - USA)

Il timido Ben, brillante studente del MIT, viene reclutato - inizialmente controvoglia - da uno dei suoi professori per far parte di un team che sbanca i casinò di Las Vegas contando le carte del blackjack con complicati calcoli matematici. Sviluppo più che prevedibile: in due ore di film (troppe) scopriamo che il professore non è esattamente un modello di virtù, che Ben conquista la bionda di turno, rinnega gli amici sfigati con conseguente senso di colpa, e si gode soldi, auto lussuose e cocktail per poi tornare a casa con le pive nel sacco e la classica lezioncina di vita all'americana (i soldi non fanno la felicità, blablabla zzzzzzz). Film dunque banalotto e leggero come una piuma, con contorno di musica trendy e vedute da cartolina delle mille luci di Las Vegas, che si salva giusto per un paio di sequenze delle partite di blackjack e per i momenti in cui sale in cattedra il vecchio volpone Kevin Spacey (Laurence Fishburne, invece, è una macchietta). Il giovane Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe) conferma di avere il carisma da protagonista unito ad un fascino da bravo ragazzo assolutamente non banale, ma lo si attende alle prese con sceneggiature un po' più solide.

Trailer

One of this years most surprising movies yet, 21 is the movie that will make you laugh, clench your teeth and finally when the movie is over...a simple ( but satisfying ) sigh. Honestly, i had no intetion of ever watching this movie. I was dragged to the theater's by a bunch of my girlfriends who wanted to celebrate ( because one of them finally got their drivers license). Before I watched this movie, I had no idea what the story line was. But I was bombarded with so many of the movie's crappy commercial, that i figured out that it was based on the infamous MIT Blackjack team. Knowing all I knew, I still didn't want to watch this movie.

But there I was, sitting down in a seat for the movie premier. I suggested we go see Drillbit Taylor, but noone else did. So, in the rule of law that is peer pressure, I gave the ticket booth $8's that I was certain I would never see again. After the first couple of scenes, I was honestly bored and was kicking myself for ever going to the movies. I kept telling myself that the only reason I was even watching the movie was Kate Bosworth. But after 10 minutes of watching the movie, I actually started to enjoy the experience. The directing in the movie wasn't bad. Like i said before, I laughed, felt sympathy for the characters and my heart was racing from the suspense given to the audience, in the form of Laurence Fishburne ( the head security agent for some of the casino's). It is smart, witty, and at parts hilarious.Overall I had fun in this movie and highly recommend it. I went into the movie not expecting anything, and came out blown away.

4/5 stars