Metaboston

John Chang and the Story Behing '21'

An article on John Chang, 50, a member of the MIT blackjack team, that looks at some of the real history of the team and its links to business in Boston as the opening of the movie 21 approaches.  "He’s the Micky Rosa character in the book played by Kevin Spacey in the movie (you can find his blog here, and the April issue of Men’s Vogue also has a piece that quotes him at length."

"[O]ver time, the once close-knit teams fell apart. They were partly victims of their own success, says Chang. Everybody seemed to want bigger stakes or for their investments to grow faster, he says. A number of players decided to form new, smaller teams.

Chang draws a lot of parallels to the challenges businesses face. People become dissatisfied with their compensation as the company grows. Or they miss the entrepreneurial environment and go off to find it again somewhere else. “I guess this is the essence of startups,” he says. And it wasn’t like he had much leverage to convince people to stay. “I had not hidden anything from anybody. It was all transparent, so it was easy to break away. We had no contracts. We didn’t have golden-handcuff-type benefits. You didn’t vest, anything like that.” Chang estimates the MIT teams took about $10 million out of casinos over the years. “Although it seems like a lot of money, it’s not really a lot of money, not in a business sense,” he says."

MIT Card-Counters Now Teach Blackjack

The real-life MIT card-counters on whose story the movie 21 is "based" now teach students how to play .  The movie must be great marketing and they must be hoping that the public will get as excited by blackjack as they are by Texas Hold'Em.

"Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates Mike Aponte and David Irvine recounted the rise and fall of their careers as world-famous, card-counting blackjack players at their alma mater last night, as a movie based on their experiences is set to premiere.

The upcoming movie, "21," was filmed last year on Boston University's campus. The movie and a future HBO series are based on Ben Mezrich's best-selling book, "Bringing Down the House," whose characters are based on some of the MIT students involved in the team of card counters. Card counting allows players to determine their odds against those of the house depending on the cards that have already been dealt, and to bet big when cards turn in their favor. "

Charles Nesson on the Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert confronts Harvard Law prof Charles Nesson over the value of poker in education and in life.

Trailer for 21: movie on MIT cardcounters

Trailer for 21:  an upcoming movie on MIT card counters loosely based on the MIT blackjack team.  Shot in and around Boston with a reference in the trailer to Ivy League clothier J. Press.

Will Massachusetts Make Online Gambling and Poker a Felony? And Why?

Will Massachusetts make online gambling and poker a felony?  And why? 

"Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick wants jail terms of up to two years and $25,000 fines for those who play poker and other casino games for real money online" in his bill to allow casinos in the state.    "'If you were cynical about it, you'd think that they're trying to set up a monopoly for the casinos,'" said David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.