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 Card
counting is a plus-minus counting technique developed in the 1960's
and mastered by Edward Thorp in his book Beat the Dealer. If you haven't
heard of this form of legal, intelligent strategy yet, trust us, you
soon will. During the 1990's, a team of MIT students hit casinos
nationwide with a plan to use the card counting technique at various
blackjack tables… and in Ben Mezrich's 2003 book Bringing Down the
House, six of these students were finally exposed. On March 28th, the
film 21 hit the theaters, ensuring that more people will soon become
intrigued by the methods of card counting and their payoffs. The MIT
blackjack team, in which the film is based off of, could run from the
public eye now that they are getting more attention. As it turns out,
however, they are looking to take the publicity and turn it into an
entrepreneurial opportunity. Mike Aponte (Fisher in Mezrich's best
selling book) and Dave Irvine are just two examples of MIT blackjack
team members that have turned their notorious skills into a thriving
business. The two men, after being exposed five years ago, decided to
help others take home more winnings from the blackjack tables. They
founded The Blackjack Institute, an organization with the aim to teach
the card counting strategy to clients.
The Blackjack
Institute is in fact getting ready to launch a new visual training
site online that hosts card demonstrations and one-on-one training.
Different modules are offered to participants that must be passed before
moving onto a new lesson or skill. Players are able to keep track of
their own progress (as well as their level) as a blackjack player on the
Internet. The program's launch, which coincides with the release of the
film 21, has a first time set up fee and subsequent monthly charge.
Although Mike Aponte and Dave Irvine started the Blackjack Institute in
2004, and offer both a home training course and items that customers can
take home with them, the virtual training site is the first complement
to the company that can be found entirely online. UPBEAT Entertainment
News Syndicate had the chance to speak with co-founder of The Blackjack
Institute, Dave Irvine, about the launch of their new visual training
site. We asked what it was like to be involved with the MIT blackjack
team in the 1990's, and all about how to count cards like the infamous
millionaires did during their reign in Vegas.
UPBEAT So Dave, have you seen the movie 21 yet?
Dave Irvine "You know, I haven't
seen it yet. We were scheduled to see it at a sneak preview at MIT on
March 18th, and Sony pulled the plug on that one. We're still going to
talk to MIT students on the 18th, but then we're also going to meet Dr.
Richard Brown from NYU film school on the 20th. We're actually going to
see the preview of the movie at that time because he wants to get our
reaction to it. He's kind of an icon, and normally just interviews major
stars like Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney, so that will be really
cool."
UPBEAT Were you actually featured in the book Bringing Down the House
by Ben Mezrich? And what did you think about it?
Dave Irvine "No I wasn't in it, but
my partner Mike Aponte was. The book was about six main characters, but
there were about fifty people that went through the MIT blackjack
school. I'm one of the other forty-six. When it first came out, we were
like 'Oh man, the cat's out of the bag.' If we ever had a vision of a
comeback, that put an end to it. Then we thought about it for a little
bit and decided that we could do something with the publicity and that's
why we created the The Blackjack Institute to sell the system that we
had. That's what the new Blackjack Virtual Training site is about as
well."
 UPBEAT
So if I work with you on the virtual training web site, am I going to
learn enough to become rich and fabulous like you did?
Dave Irvine "Yes and no— yes, you
can be successful but no, you aren't going to win millions and millions
of dollars. But at the same time, if we teach you the whole system, you
can definitely go out and make money at the casinos and get everything
comped and instead of giving five hundred to five thousand dollars every
time you go, you can take that away. It definitely pays off, but at the
same time, you're not going to win a million bucks. Here's another thing
too: we were betting thousands and thousands of dollars. If we were
betting only one hundred to three hundred dollars a hand, we'd still be
playing today. The casinos really scrutinized us because of the amounts
that we were betting. So if you learn the system and you are only
betting three to four hundred per hand (or less), no one is going to pay
attention. The casinos have a lot of other things that they are paying
attention to, not someone that's changing their bets from fifty to
seventy-five bucks. Most of our clients are usually betting under five
hundred dollars. Now, we have instructed one individual that would bet
thirty thousand dollars a hand in the past. I can say that if you are
betting over five hundred dollars per hand, the value we bring will be
tremendous because when you are betting that much money, getting the
edge that we give to you turns into a lot of money."
UPBEAT Tell us, did you have a favorite disguise that you ever had to
wear?
Dave Irvine "Well, I actually had a
favorite name that I used to use— remember the film Pulp Fiction? Well
when that movie came out, I started using the name Vincent Vega. That
was my favorite… As far as disguises, you felt absolutely ridiculous. I
played a guy that looks like Paulie from the Sopranos because I come
from Italian decent. You know, gold chains around my neck and
everything. It's funny though, I actually had to stop using the name
Vincent Vega though because one of the pit bosses came up to me one
night and said "Vince…Vince…Vince…Vince…?" And it took me a few minutes
to realize that he was actually talking to me. I totally forgot that I
was playing the part. After that I switched my name to always begin with
David so that wouldn't happen again."
UPBEAT Where is the strangest place that you ever had to carry money?
Dave Irvine "There are two places
where they don't have cameras in casinos— one is the bathroom and two is
your private room. So when we would count money, we'd meet in the
bathroom and two or three of us would have to shut ourselves into a
bathroom stall. We'd have thousand dollar chips stacked all over the
stall, I'm sure that bystanders were wondering what was going on."
UPBEAT Are you still banned from the casinos?
Dave Irvine "I don't get to play
anymore, the casinos recognize who we are and what we were part of in
the past. I haven't really gone and tried to play or count cards in a
while in a casino. The last time that I went in there though, we were
having a good time at the twenty-five dollar table, and there was a pit
boss with his arms crossed staring right at me the whole time (laughs)."
UPBEAT Is it true that you are working on a reality show?
Dave Irvine "Yeah we are working on
two television shows— one is a reality show and one is a drama series.
For the drama series, the pilot is in development right now and it's
going to be really cool. I not supposed to say too much about it, but
it's on an awesome network. In fact, we got really lucky that it got
picked up…and yeah; we're working on a reality show as well."
UPBEAT What is your favorite film about Vegas?
Dave Irvine "Definitely Casino…and
well, it's not really about Vegas, but of course I'd have to say Rainman.
That scene with Dustin Hoffman counting cards is great."
UPBEAT They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day
and helps with brainpower. Our readers need some brainpower. What do
you, Dave Irvine, eat for breakfast each morning?
Dave Irvine "Multigrain cheerios
every morning with skim milk. I've been eating Cheerios since I was five
years old."
UPBEAT What else would you like to tell consumers about your new
product, the Virtual Training complement to the Blackjack Institute?
Dave Irvine "Well, we offer
opportunities for people to stop losing, and it's really not difficult.
I have a two year old and have seen Ratatouille about a dozen or two
times in the past six months. Gusto always says, 'Everyone can cook.'
Everyone can count too. There's this perception that you need to be an
MIT rocket scientist to do it and that's just not true. You can go to
the bookstore and find twenty books about how to count cards, but what
none of those will teach you is how to actually get good. They teach you
the theory, but what The Blackjack Institute and in particular Blackjack
virtual training does is how to get good at it. You can try to learn how
to hit a baseball for example: you take the bat, stand here by the plate
and you swing when the ball comes. OK great, but I'm not really going to
be able to hit a fastball, right? But if I got Alex Rodriguez to
personally train me in what to look for and all of the details, I'd be
more successful. That's just what we do, we teach the details on how to
get good at card counting. We give you all the theory as well, but we're
more interested in applying that skill. There's nothing else like it in
the world. You are playing blackjack exactly the way that we did. It's
like a kid riding a bike for the first time without training wheels—
we're supporting him from behind and all of a sudden we let go."
UB
Dave Irvine is co-founder of the Blackjack Institute and a member of
the MIT Blackjack Team. As an undergraduate at MIT, Dave was recruited
by Mike and refined his blackjack skills playing in casinos all over the
country. Dave has earned a masters degree in biological engineering from
Cornell and an MBA from Purdue University's Krannert School of
Management. Dave also owns a successful engineering consulting company.
Virtual training from The Blackjack Institute can easily be found online
at the following web sites:
www.blackjackvt.com and The Blackjack Institute also offers a
wide array of additional resources at:
www.blackjackinstitute.com.
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