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Product Description: #1 National Bestseller! 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. Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-23
This needed to have more umph to it
Rhis book needed to have more umph, more dynamite suspense. more of a sense of 'will we get away with it' to it. No pictures also makes this book lacking. I wanted to see the people who pulled all these card counting routines off. Pictures of the eye in the sky cameras. Pictures of casino bosses. Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-17
Fantastic book...one of my favorites!
I don't read much since it's hard to find something that keeps me interested. I couldn't put this down! It's an amazing story, especially considering it's true. I didn't think there would be much suspense to the story, but man was I wrong. The way the author tells it, he hints at something that could be coming, and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I loved it. For those looking to buy a book to learn how to count cards...this isn't it! This isn't even really a book about basic strategy. They talk about it VERY little since it's needed for the story, but the book is focused on the journey of one young man (20s for most of the book...my age) through Vegas, Atlantic City, and finding himself and his place in the world.
I can't recommend this book enough. I loved it! Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-12
Different from the movie, but still an enjoyable read
The reason why I'm focusing on the way the book relates to the movie is because this is the movie tie-in edition. After watching the movie I decided to read the book. I normally don't watch a movie unless I've read the book first. In this case, I'm glad I watched the movie first. The movie made it easier to understand the nonverbal and verbal cues they used to count cards.
It seems to me like the producers and writers just took the idea of counting cards and how the MIT kids did it and then Hollywood-ized the rest.
As a standalone, the book was good. Not only did they hit Vegas but they also a steamboat casino in the midwest, an Indian casino on the east coast and Atlantic City. The main character, Kevin joins the team because he is tired of his ho-hum life (because I'm sure life at MIT is so ho-hum).
Anyway, if you've watched the movie and are interested in a more factual and realistic setting in how they earned millions, you should read the book. Plus, there's an essay at the end by Kevin who teaches those who wish to learn how to count cards. Rating:
Date: 2008-06-02
Great book!
Loved ths book! I thought it was even more thrilling than the movie. Lots of fun and kept you enthralled and rooting for the "good guys". Rating:
Date: 2008-05-28
Hit Me!
This is a great story and the writing stands up to the quality of the story itself. It leads the reader through the rise and ultimate fall of a team that approaches Blackjack as if it were a sport that can be trained for and mastered rather than a game of chance. Absolutely great. Could have given greater perspective on those who developed the card counting methods that the MIT team built upon, but that's just a nit pick. Read this book if you have any affinity to playing games! | 
