[Assam] No Calculated Risk , No Gain: Harvard-MIT BlackJack Team

[umesh sharma]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team

The origins of blackjack play at MIT The origin of blackjack play at MIT was a mini-course called 'How to Gamble if You Must', taught in January 1979 at MIT over what is known as Independent Activities Period (IAP). A number of MIT students from a living group in the Burton House dorm known as Conner III, who often played penny-ante poker with each other, attended this course and learned about blackjack and card counting methods.
 Determined to put their newly-discovered knowledge to work, the group resolved to travel to Atlantic City in the spring of 1979 to win their fortunes. Failing miserably in this endeavor, the group went their separate ways when most of them graduated in May, but two members maintained an avid interest in card counting.
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"Mr. M" Meets Bill Kaplan, Harvard MBA with a Las Vegas blackjack team of his own In May 1980, one of the original MIT players, J.P. Massar ("Mr. M" as he is known in the History Channel documentary on the MIT Blackjack Team) overheard a conversation about professional blackjack at a Cambridge Chinese restaurant. JP introduced himself to the speaker, Bill Kaplan, a 1980 Harvard MBA graduate who had been running a successful blackjack team based in Las Vegas for the prior three years. Kaplan had earned his BA at Harvard in 1977 and deferred his admission to Harvard Business School for a year, during which time he moved to Las Vegas and formed a team of blackjack players based on his research and own statistical analysis of the game. Staked by the funds he received upon graduation as Harvard's outstanding scholar-athlete, Kaplan generated a 35+ fold rate of return in less than 9 months of play during this "year off."[citation needed]
 Kaplan continued to run his Las Vegas blackjack team as a sideline while attending Harvard Business School but, by the time of his graduation in May 1980, the players were so "burnt out" in Nevada, they were forced to hit the international circuit. Not feeling he could continue to manage the team successfully while they traveled throughout Europe and elsewhere, encountering different rules, playing conditions, and casino practices, Kaplan parted ways with his teammates, who then splintered into multiple small playing teams in pursuit of more favorable conditions throughout the world.
 
 [edit] Kaplan observes Massar and his friends in action After meeting Kaplan in a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge and hearing about his blackjack successes, Massar asked Kaplan if he was interested in going with a few of Massar's blackjack-playing friends to Atlantic City to observe their play, in the hopes of figuring out what they were doing wrong. Given the fortuitous timing (Kaplan's parting with his Las Vegas team), he agreed to go in the hopes of putting together a new local team that he could train and manage.
 Kaplan observed Massar and three or four of his friends playing for a weekend in Atlantic City. The trip was a disaster......



Strategic Investments, 1992-1993 In 1992, Bill Kaplan, JP Massar, and John Chang, a player who joined the team in 1982, decided to capitalize on the opening of Foxwoods Casino in nearby Connecticut, which they planned to use as a training ground for new players. Acting as the General Partner, they formed a Massachusetts Limited Partnership in June 1982 called Strategic Investments to bankroll the new team. Structured similar to the numerous real estate development limited partnerships Kaplan had formed, the limited partnership raised a million dollars, significantly more money than any of their previous teams. Coincident with this new funding, the three general partners ramped up their recruitment and training efforts to capitalize on the opportunity.
 The MIT Team grew to nearly 80 players, including groups and players located in Cambridge, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, and Washington. At various times, there were nearly 30 players playing simultaneously at different casinos around the world, including Indian casinos throughout the country, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Canada, and island locations. Never before had casinos throughout the world seen such an organized and scientific onslaught of their game. While the profits rolled in, so did the "heat" from the casinos and many MIT Team members were identified and barred. These members were replaced by fresh players from MIT, Harvard, and other colleges and companies, and play continued. Eventually, however, investigators hired by casinos realized that many of those they had banned had addresses in or near Cambridge, and the connection to MIT and a formalized team became clear. The detectives obtained copies of recent MIT yearbooks and added
 photographs from it to their image database.
 With many of the top performing players banned, less time on nights and weekends to devote to managing the enterprise, and opportunities in the real estate market that made blackjack team profits pale in comparison, the General Partners decided to end Strategic Investments. On December 31, 1993, they terminated the limited partnership and paid out the winnings to investors and players alike.



Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)




www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/



http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
       
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