Do you dream about beating the odds? Then check out this fascinating documentary focusing on a group of six M.I.T. students who used their impressive math skills to win millions from Las Vegas' gambling palaces. Through interviews with the card-counting collegians, security experts, and casino executives, you'll learn how the young men pulled off the daring feat--and how they were eventually caught. Based on the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House." 75 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; bonus programs.

Creating a foolproof plan to beat Las Vegas has been a goal for gamblers and grifters since the city was established, but only one group has come closest to making such a system pay off--a collection of math whizzes from M.I.T. The unique rise and fall of their blackjack team is the focus of this intriguing 2004 History Channel documentary. For two years in the early '90s, the team reaped millions from casinos around the world with their scheme, until conflict within the group and a diligent security company brought the group's winnings to a crashing halt. Interviews with team members and author Ben Mezrich, whose 2003 book Bringing Down the House focuses on a later M.I.T. team, provide the most interesting moments; however, the pulpy narration, hyperactive direction, and awkward dramatic re-creations cheapen the doc's efforts to effectively relay this engaging story. More straightforward and successful attempts to address the world of gambling are featured in the DVD's supplemental features, which offer two additional History Channel documentaries, High Rollers: A History of Gambling and "How To Win in Las Vegas," an episode from their Conquest series. --Paul Gaita

BEATING BLACKJACK - DVD Movie

Their exploits have been chronicled in a New York Times bestseller, in magazines, on radio, and on cable and network television. Now, for the first time, the blackjack players featured in the bestselling book, Bringing Down the House, reveal the secrets they used to win millions. "60 Minutes to Winning Blackjack" teaches you how to count cards like a pro. Hosted by former MIT student Mike Aponte, the 2004 World Series of Blackjack Champion, this DVD covers everything from the basics of blackjack to the science and art of card counting. In addition, "60 minutes to Winning Blackjack" contains never before seen interactive practice chapters for players of all skill levels. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned gambler, this DVD is a must for anyone who wants to win at blackjack. Learn how to play a winning game exactly like the MIT students did! "60 Minutes to Winning Blackjack" includes: Blackjack 101, Basic Strategy, Running Count, Deck Estimation, True Count, Betting Strategy, Interactive Practice Chapters, and more!

It's Friday night and you're on a red-eye to the city of sin. Strapped to your chest is half a million dollars; in your overnight bag is another twenty-five thousand in blackjack chips; and your wallet holds ten fake IDs. As soon as you land in Las Vegas, you are positive you are being investigated and followed. To top it all off, the IRS is auditing you, someone has been going through your mail -- and you have a multivariable calculus exam on Monday morning. Welcome to the world of an exclusive group of audacious MIT math geniuses who legally took the casinos for over three million dollars -- while still finding time for college keg parties, football games, and final exams.In the midst of the go-go eighties and nineties, a group of overachieving, anarchistic MIT students joined a decades-old underground blackjack club dedicated to counting cards and beating the system at major casinos around the world. While their classmates were working long hours in labs and libraries, the blackjack team traveled weekly to Las Vegas and other glamorous gambling locales, with hundreds of thousands of dollars duct-taped to their bodies. Underwritten by shady investors they would never meet, these kids bet fifty thousand dollars a hand, enjoyed VIP suites and other upscale treats, and partied with showgirls and celebrities.Handpicked by an eccentric mastermind -- a former MIT professor and an obsessive player who had developed a unique system of verbal cues, body signals, and role-playing -- this one ring of card savants earned more than three million dollars from corporate Vegas, making them the object of the casinos' wrath and eventually targets of revenge. Here is their inside story, revealing their secrets for the first time.Master storyteller Ben Mezrich takes you from the ivory towers of academia to the Technicolor world of Las Vegas, where anything can happen -- and often does. "Bringing Down the House" launches you into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas -- deep into the realm of back rooms, ever-present video cameras, private investigators, and the threats and tactics of pit bosses and violent heavies. Equipped with twenty different aliases and disguises, the group of young card counters struggles around these roadblocks to live the high life -- until one fateful day when Vegas violently follows them home to Boston. Suddenly, there can be no more hiding behind false identities; the high life folds like a bad hand of cards.Filled with tense action and incredibly close calls, "Bringing Down the House" is a real-life mix of "Liar's Poker" and "Ocean's Eleven "-- and it's a story Vegas doesn't want you to read.