Going to see it tonight. Not expecting a great movie, but I love to gamble, so it should atleast hold my attention.

[Edited on March 30, 2008 at 4:36 PM. Reason : had to put the .. to make the title long enough]

3/30/2008 4:35:53 PM

The book was great.

3/30/2008 4:48:37 PM

I saw the History Channel shows on the same thing when they came out a while back.

However, the commercials are obnoxious enough to make me not want to see it.

"Dude, I lost count 20 cards ago."
"Don't call me dude."



[Edited on March 30, 2008 at 6:26 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2008 6:25:45 PM

it wasn't good.

3/30/2008 6:33:36 PM

I disagree, I thought it was pretty good. I also enjoyed the book a good deal.

3/30/2008 6:37:41 PM

I probably would have liked the movie a bit more if I hadn't read the book beforehand. Besides a few minor details, the only thing the book and movie had in common was there were some kids from MIT who counted cards in Vegas.

3/30/2008 7:10:40 PM

^well they had to make it more interesting and give it some extra plot to appeal to the average person


I liked it

3/30/2008 7:17:06 PM

If you know anything about cards... I'd skip it, the book was ridiculous.

3/31/2008 11:05:34 AM

yeah, wont be seeing that, looks really really dumb/annoying from the trailer... looked like an MTV movie

3/31/2008 11:09:22 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_(2008_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team

Quote :

"The movie falsely claims that "biometric identification" is the only mitigation against card counting. In reality casinos today use continuous automatic shufflers which make the game memoryless and completely immune to any card counting technique. The movie also implies that the technique used resulted in continuous wins when in reality the technique could only create an approximately 1% bias in the card counter's favor."

the movie was ok, nothing to get excited about. wait till it hits the 1.50 or watch on dvd

3/31/2008 12:02:43 PM

I liked it....entertaining

3/31/2008 12:23:39 PM

^^ Not to mention:

- It implies you have to be a math genius to count cards. It's simple arithmetic, it's the pace of it that is difficult, maintaining the count while talking, etc
- Most tables do not let you enter mid deck.
- Their technique (at least as described in the book) would draw way too much attention, even in places that do allow mid-deck entry you can't just sit down and bet $10000 on one hand without pit boss approval.
- With the 1% win bias for the card counter, casinos have found other ways to eliminate that favor (5-4 blackjack wins instead of 3-2, etc)

There are a lot of others. Like I said, the book was entertaining, but if you know the game it will bother you. Like the poker scenes in Casino Royale

3/31/2008 12:53:36 PM

^ You do not have to be a math genius to count cards but the entire process is more difficult then they explained in the movie. There are two counts they keep up with, one they made reference to was "the true count" and they use that count with a multiplier depending on how far down the shoe they are to come up with the exact bet they will make the next hand.

The plan isn't just to "bet a lot" when the count is favorable...there's a precise bet they have to make each hand to actually gain that 1% edge. I'm sure you have to be pretty quick witted and good with numbers to not only keep up with the two counts but compute the correct bet every hand.

[Edited on March 31, 2008 at 1:45 PM. Reason : ]

3/31/2008 1:45:15 PM

yay... don't analyze the movie and you will find it to be ok...


I would say $1.50, we are going to vegas this week so it got us in the mood...

3/31/2008 1:52:29 PM

Rounders is a better movie to get you in the mood for Vegas

4/1/2008 2:06:44 PM

I enjoyed this.

It wasn't a great movie, but definitely kept me entertained.

4/1/2008 2:12:50 PM

^^Well not really, considering other than the grainy footage of them watching the WSOP on the TV, there is nothing in the movie that even takes place in Vegas or any shots of Vegas.

4/1/2008 4:22:03 PM

Owning Mahoney was quality. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a compulsive gambler embezzling money from a bank to pay for his habit. Based on a true story.

4/1/2008 4:27:10 PM

Casino is a Vegas great.

4/1/2008 4:28:55 PM

Ocean's 11

4/1/2008 4:35:37 PM

^^^^ that is true, but what they might have meant was that Rounders kind of made you want to play Poker, while this movie didn't really make you want to card count and play blackjack.

[Edited on April 1, 2008 at 4:38 PM. Reason : ^]

4/1/2008 4:37:15 PM

F That.. Swingers will get us in the mood.

4/1/2008 5:01:26 PM

Saw it. Thought it was garbage. Had that obnoxious asian kid from Disturbia in it. He must taint everything he does...

4/9/2008 6:43:04 PM