Rating: 
Summary: Go try it..
Review: Vegas must love books like this.
The actual book is written in a disjointed forward-backward-forward style that left me a bit confused at times. I'm a Vegas
visitor, but not a blackjack player, but even at that, the
gambling narratives were interesting.
I would have liked to find out more about the actual characters.
As it is, they are simply the trees around which the author
tries to describe a forest.
Rating:
Summary: Fictionalized account of a "true" story.
Review: This book is way over-hyped for what it really is. For anyone who has ever played blackjack, or spent any time in Vegas, there are too many incorrect items and half-truths to just pass it off as anything but a fictionalized version of a partially true story and a not very intriguingly written account at that.If you want some light reading while you're flying to Vegas this will do but you won't really gain any deep insight to what really happened. There are far more interesting books regarding Blackjack and Las Vegas. You might start with "The Big Player" by Ken Uston (circa 1976). He and his people did what the MIT kids exploited and they did it in the early 70s.
Rating: 
Summary: Great entertaining non-fiction
Review: This (non)-fiction book reads like a movie. That makes it both a light and easy read, but it also leaves you wondering (like many of the other reviewers) "How much of this is true?". I understand the concern of the many reviewers claiming that the numbers don't "add up." To that, I just have to say, "I don't really care." This book isn't primarily a documentary. It is just a really entertaining and addicting read. The goal is not to teach you how to beat the system; it isn't to document how they beat the system. Like the title says, the book is primarily a story about the "Six M.I.T. Students." Like I said in the title, this book is entertaining, but it is not something that you're going to want to keep in your library. This will ultimately wind up at garage sales galore in about a year, so save yourself the money and go to the library and check it out or wait for all of the $0.01 Amazon Marketplace specials that will inevitably appear come about Christmas time. I hope this review gives you the incentive to read this book, but also does not give you the exagerated expectations of so many other reviews (including the cover reviews) that have been circulating. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: genius?
Review: As has already been pointed out by other reviewers,
the numbers here just don't add up. A win rate anything
close to what they boast should give a far greater
overall return. "Boast" being the operative word by
the way. The number of times we are told how smart
these people are is laughable. Let's examine the evidence
for this genius. They counted cards. So what? Anyone
can learn to do this in a few hours. This was invented
over thirty years ago. They played in teams. Again,
a lot of people have done this. I believe this was also
done in the seventies. They got caught. Not evidence
of great skill there. In fact, if they were not MIT
kids there would be absolutely zero evidence of any intelligence
above average. seems like a case of a few college kids who happened
to know the author.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate if slightly overdramatized story
Review: I was a blackjack spotter on one of the MIT teams in the period described in this book. The overall picture is accurate, although the prose is a little sophomoric. But it's a fun read, and it is nice to see it laid out where people can see the whole system in all its glory, in particular the role of the BP, the geeks playing the role of the rich kid gambler.
Rating: 
Summary: ODDS ARE YOU'LL LOVE IT
Review: THE AUTHOR TAKES US WHERE WE ALL DREAM OF GOING BUT VERY FEW DO -- ALWAYS BEATING THE CASINO. INCREDIBLE, TRUE STORY WHICH EMULATES THE STATEMENT "TRUTH-IS-STRANGER-THAN-FICTION." A 257 PAGE BOOK WITHOUT ONE BORING PAGE. THE AUTHOR DOESN'T STRAY FROM THE STORYINE FOR A MOMENT, AND USES A REMARKABLEY CONSISTENT WRITING STYLE THAT'S PERFECT FOR THE SUBJECT.
Rating:
Summary: Bringing Down the House : The Inside Story of Six MIT Studen
Review: Thriller author Mezrich (Reaper, 1998, etc.) depicts a team of card-counting MIT students who live the Vegas high life for a while before getting caught and barred from all casinos everywhere. Approached to join the MIT blackjack club, Kevin Lewis was hesitant: Aren't they nerds who play cards in the library all night long? Still, Kevin is far enough along in his education to know that he's not cut out for the typical life of an MIT alum, so he decides to check out the club, which he discovers is churning out teams of card counters. (The author suggests that the Techies developed a new system for card counting, but it seems more likely they simply expanded its possibilities.) After passing a series of tests, learning "basic strategy," and such, Kevin is allowed to join the teams of counters spread throughout a casino so as to raise the chance that someone will find a sufficiently advantageous situation to play in. (Playing alone can take forever.) Soon he's mastered all the dodges, and before he can say Ocean's 11 he's rolling in dough and dating an LA Rams cheerleader. The scam works for a time-it's legal, actually, so where's the fun?-but soon enough the casinos seem to be onto them. Faceless authority suddenly assumes the form of Vincent Cole, who may work for a private investigation service specializing in routing out counters. From there it's mainly a question of how the counters got caught. Did one of their own turn them in, or was it facial recognition software developed at (you guessed it) MIT? Mezrich's prose is generally colorless, and he unwisely attempts to punch it up with some over-dramatized scenes at the card tables and by using italics wherever he's talking about a lot of money. Compelling-if you're into that sort of thing.
Rating:
Summary: Plays almost like a movie...
Review: I have been reading this for a while, and it really hits the style of Vegas -- the glitz, glamour and all sides of Vegas in vivid detail. The writing seems to show the personalities of all the characters and the dialogue and action seem to play almost like a suspense film would.
Rating:
Summary: Send me to Vegas now!
Review: I loved it, loved it, loved it! This book, while some parts seemed a bit exaggerated, was grrrreat! Even though it was a nonfiction book, parts of the "story" were so stressful, it could have been fiction! Ben M's a great writer and this was a great book! Send me to Vegas now; I'm ready to count those cards at the blackjack table! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Rating:
Summary: A real page turner
Review: Wow, I was so impressed by this book. I enjoy math related subjects, but the idea of card counting had never crossed my mind. Yes, there is one chapter thats is a 'how to' on card counting but this book is the story of 6 college students from MIT that, well, 'took vegas for millions'. I was shocked at the amount of money that went through their hands. I do wonder how factual the book is. It is supposed to be a true story and at one point the students in the book play cards with famous basketball players. But either way, I just couldnt' put the book down. Nice suspense.
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