Book #5 - Bringing Down the House

A week or so ago I finished book #5 of the year, Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. It's the story of a team of MIT students that used card counting to win big in Vegas. The movie, 21, is loosely based on this book. It's a very interesting read and even if you've seen 21, you should read the book. The movie really doesn't do this book justice (as usual). Here's how Amazon summarizes the book:

The amazing inside story about a gambling ring of M.I.T. students who beat the system in Vegas -- and lived to tell how.

Robin Hood meets the Rat Pack when the best and the brightest of M.I.T.'s math students and engineers take up blackjack under the guidance of an eccentric mastermind. Their small blackjack club develops from an experiment in counting cards on M.I.T.'s campus into a ring of card savants with a system for playing large and winning big. In less than two years they take some of the world's most sophisticated casinos for more than three million dollars. But their success also brings with it the formidable ire of casino owners and launches them into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas with its private investigators and other violent heavies.

Filled with tense action, high stakes, and incredibly close calls, Bringing Down the House is a nail-biting read that chronicles a real-life Ocean's Eleven. It's one story that Vegas does not want you to read.

Reading this book got me even more excited for our trip to Las Vegas this summer. I don't think I'll try card counting, but it is good to know the basics of card counting since it could help with maybe giving a little edge in Blackjack. :)