The Rundown of the Legendary MIT Blackjack Win Strategy

How did the MIT Blackjack Team Make All Its Wins?

For many players, gambling is a rapid way to lose their hard-earned money while gulping down some drinks (me involved… Sometimes…).

However, this isn’t always the case.

A few years back in the 1980s, a few associates figured out an incredible way to clean the house and win more money. This idea gave birth to the legendary MIT Blackjack Team.

I’m sure you must have heard of them, as it was one of the biggest wins in blackjack history. There’s a movie as well as a documentary based on the event.

Helmed by Bill Kaplan, the MIT team essentially used the blackjack card counting technique and a stern system to create a brilliant advantage against the dealer, which they ruthlessly exploited.

This makes me wonder: Do I really have to be a mastermind to pull off a plan like this? Or can any bubblehead with dollar signs in his/her eyes and the determination to learn to make it?

Well, by seeing the MIT Blackjack Team, I can firmly say that you need to strategise before you enter into the battlefield and think of playing at live casinos online. It’s not a blind date after all!

You need to know blackjack in and out before you could even think of making a move of playing with real money online. So, make sure you have practised the game enough.

Moving forward, let me tell you in-depth about what the MIT blackjack team did and how they actually got rich by beating the casino. This will also give you a better idea on how to play blackjack in a way that you can bring the house down.

The MIT Blackjack Team: A Quick Overview

According to Wikipedia, the MIT Blackjack Team comprised a group of ex-students and students from the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Harvard University, Harvard Business School, and other renowned institutions who used card counting strategies and more complex tricks to beat the casinos while playing blackjack.

The team as well as its successors worked brilliantly from 1979. After that, several blackjack teams were formed and of course, whose ultimate goal was to beat the casinos at a blackjack table.

Bill Kaplan, an MBA graduate from the Harvard Business School in 1980, founded the MIT Blackjack team and trained them with his own statistical analysis and research. He earned from the funds the team won, which he further used to graduate himself at Harvard and even went on to be an outstanding scholar-athlete.

How did this Historical Blackjack Win Happen?

During an interview (which was held long back) when Bill Kaplan was asked about the legendary win, he laughed and remembered how his mom reacted when he said that he was going to postpone his entry to Harvard Business School and make all his fortune in gambling.

Of course, like every mom would panic and be shocked, she reacted the same way and said:

“Oh my God, this is ridiculous! What am I going to tell my friends now?”

But little did she know that her son would make it among the world’s historical wins.

So, before this popular win could take place, Kaplan had actually read a novel named How to Beat the Dealer, written by Edward O. Thorp.

He always wanted to play and earn blackjack professionally. His curiosity and interest even made him take a year off from his school during which he moved to Las Vegas just to see if he was capable enough to take an arithmetic approach to the basic blackjack strategies and overcome the house edge to make a neat profit.

Well, his dream did come true (because he made an effort). He recruited a few players and trained them enough to turn his mere $1000 investment into a massive $35,000 win. Wish I was in his team too!

But that didn’t stop him from graduating. He kept the promise (he made to his mother) of graduating from Harvard.

Interestingly, even when attending school, Kaplan still managed to train his team. He kept doing this for 2 years. But the casinos in Las Vegas began catching on and many of his members were barred.

Leaving Bill behind, the team decided to move to Europe. In the meantime, MIT started providing a course named “How to Gamble If You Will” and educated different players on the basic rules of various card games, with different strategies to win.

J.P. Massar was one of the foremost students to take this brilliant class. With others, he even headed to Atlantic City just to test if they could count cards at a casino.

The Team was Backed by Investors too

A few investors jumped in and with the team’s personal funds too, the bankroll was now $89,000. After playing for a few months at different casinos, they made a quarter of $1 million, giving investors a nice 250% return.

The MIT blackjack team went on strong for almost a decade and consistently made good money. Every Las Vegas trip gave them $100,000 minimum. Rarely, they even made above $1,000,000.

Final Thoughts

The card counting technique has already made them win big. So, don’t be a sloth! It’s high time for you to make a move and keep practising at any of the blackjack casinos I’ve reviewed. Who knows, you might win big soon and I will be featuring your story here!