21 is a US movie that was released in 2008. The blackjack movie was based on the New York Times Bestseller novel, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which was written by Ben Mezrich. It tells the story of a group of students from MIT who come together to form a ‘blackjack team’ which is led by Professor Micky Rosa. The lead character, Ben Campbell, is attempting to make his way to Harvard medical school. In order to pay for his fees, he joins the ‘blackjack team’. In the 21 movie, we see the professor training his team of blackjack students in card counting and flying them out to Vegas for weekends of gambling.
This movie shows viewers a different side to the world of gambling. The house edge is defeated multiple times and the students walk away with millions. The thrill of gambling, in the movie, is also an aspect that, somewhat, overpowers the winning. The original MIT blackjack team was established in 1994. Once you have watched 21 you’ll want to play online blackjack, for your convenience we have listed great online casinos below.
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What You’ll Find in this Guide:
21: Separating Facts and Fiction
As with most movies gleaning information from real life, the visual representation and the written perception of card counting differs from the actual reality of this blackjack group. In the book, the author details the theft of money amounting to $75,000. However, this event did not occur. Another fictional element worth pointing out is the use of strippers to cash out chips and the physical altercation in the book. These are just added to make the story a tad bit more interesting. There are several other differences between the fictional story and the real deal:
- We are introduced to one team of five players in the novel and the movie, but initially, it was two teams and more than 20 players.
- Card counters in the blackjack team did not get beat up. This was another fictional addition to the movie and the book.
- The real-life students were Asian but were portrayed as white in the 21 movie.
Card Counting
The 21 movie was dependent on the skill of card counting. This misconception behind the skill is that you need to be a genius to understand it. This isn’t the case and this blackjack strategy is used by many to attempt to defeat the house edge. In 21, we see plenty of millions being won by the students because of this strategy. It is important to note that when players implement this strategy, it will not always be successful.