Back then, 24-year old andy bloch was just an engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but by night, he was a member of the mit blackjack team, playing at different blackjack tables in casinos around the country. The team had its successful run during 1993 up to 1999.
The exploits of the MIT blackjack team have been documented in the recently released blackjack movie "21" on March 21st, 2008, which starts Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and others. It is currently at the top spot of the U.S. box office. During in an interview conducted on April 15th, 2008, Andy Bloch-which is now one of the top poker players all over the world-relates on how you can get the better of the casino facilities in their own game. He said that he has made almost half a million dollars in six years. He added that earned as a blackjack player and as an investor. Bloch was also threatened with arrest and barred from entering every casino facility in the Las Vegas strip.
Card counting is not considered illegal but most casinos see it as threat to their profits. Players usually use card counting to keep track of the cards that are leaving the shoe. To avoid suspicion, the team uses different signals to get a large player into a blackjack game. They also have codes for the numbers 0-twenty in the game so that the large player will know what amount to wager. Andy Bloch is not your usual blackjack player. He has two degrees in electrical engineering and a 3rd degree from the Harvard Law School.
Bloch just recently finished second in the World Heads-Up poker championship, increasing his lifetime poker event winnings to $3.2 million. He was recruited to the MIT Blackjack Team in 1993. Bloch has no regrets on what they have did because card counting is not cheating, it is just using your skills and the only people that think that it is cheating is the one who do not understand the concept.
Monday, May 12 , 2008
Victor Sanchez