Bringing Down the House week 3

In this section that i read kevin returns from the casino he went to back to his normal life as a student. A month after he gets back he get taken from his swim meet to go to an old math room where Fisher and Martinez are trying to get Kevin onto the Blackjack team. Kevin meets Mickey who he finds out is the top dog of the blackjack team. Kevin is told about other basic strategies and is asked what he knows about blackjack. Kevin is impressive to the group and they tell him that he is accepted if he can pass the test. A week later Kevin arrives at an underground chinese casino which is run by a local gangster, and Kevin is supposed to act like its Vegas. Kevin receives the clues from the spotters and goes to a table with Martinez and Mickey. Everyone seems to be watching him as he wins over 600$ and he starts to have a whole lot of fun. Somebody then comes and drags him with a bag over his head to an enclosed room and he is asked if he knows what the count is. Kevin says 7 and he is correct so he does pass the test( it turns out to be JUST a test all along). Kevin and the team head to Vegas and Kevin has to carry all the money through, and he also caries a bunch of chips because a 500$ chip looks exactly like a 1$ chip. Kevin also learns that Mickey is a very notorious blackjack card counter, and if he is ever seen with him by a casino he will probly be taken to the back room and beaten.

Briging down the house week 2

In these new chapters i learn that Kevin learned about counting cards and he was introduced to the Vegas lifestyle through his two friends Martinez and Fisher. Martinez is amazingly good at math and finished grad classes by freshman year, and Fisher is a giant, 6'3'' 220. They both are really good at math and both dropped out of school. They still go to MIT though which would confuse you at first but then you learn that its because they are still in the math club which is how they make their money. Martinez and Fisher kind of let Kevin into their secret by telling him to come to a famous boxing match in Atlanta, they also show him a stack of 100's which really surprises him and makes him wonder about his friends. First he thinks they are drug dealers, but then when they arrive in Atlanta he learns that they make their money through blackjack. Martinez and Kevin get picked up in a limo by the casinos owner and later are put in an extremely nice expensive room. they then hit the casinos and Martinez gives Kevin a huge stack of 100's to play with which equal out to 10,000$. Kevin is unsure if he wants to because he doesn't know anything about blackjack, but Martinez reassures him that he will help him. They end up making over 10,000$ and Kevin learns how they can afford such extravagant lifestyles. Martinez and Fisher also teach Kevin the basic strategies they use to make a lot of money.

Briging down the house week 1

I have not read much of the book so far, but from what i have read i have learned about the main character; Kevin Lewis. Kevin is an MIT student who has finished all his premed things but isn't even going to go to med school, he just finished it to make his dad happy. Kevin in the bulk of his free time and even into some of his school time, counts cards and makes a fortune. The book says that no one really knows how much Kevin really has but they guess that it has to be around 4-5 million that he has made off counting cards. I haver not learned how they actually go about counting cards but i am eager to find out. After watching the movie in Disney, one of my fellow teammates told me that basically it is face cards make the count -1 and every other card makes it +1 except some cards in between. Kevin and his spotters give each other signs to tell each other what the count is and if the table is hot, or, like in the first chapter, signs to get the he11 out(hand through their hair). Kevin is sort of a shy kid in real life(back at MIT), but when hes in Vegas he lets loose, it says that he has partied with people like Kevin Costner, Micheal Jordan, Howard Stern, and Dennis Rodman. Also it tells of how he has to bring the money to and from Vegas, he has to tape the money to his chest, thighs, arms and back and also has to stick some in his pants.

Outside reading book project

The book that i choose is Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrich. The reason that i want to read this book is because my brother, David, recommended it to me and told me that i'd like it alot. He read it and toldme that it is the book that 21, the movie, is based on. In disney last week for spring break, our whole lacrosse team was really bored with the lack of cool things for 17 year olds to do there, so we went to 21. I absolutely loved the movie. I love gambling, and i love blackjack, and this whole book is based on blackjack in vagas, and how they count cards.