Rating - 8.1

Mezrich has perfected the quick hook writing formula, as similar to Bringing Down the House. BV is a quick read that has the reader wanting to learn the tricks & how the eventual downfall plays out

Plays into people's fantasies but ultimately, everyone is usually a Victor - keeps on pressing, not knowing when to stop until it is too late; The current day PoV's are more space-filler than necessary

This was a fun read that was fast paced and really kept my interest. His style of writing felt like a movie script: jump into an active scene, get to the point, and get out, without getting bogged down in detail like a book would typically do. That style fit the story.

I was disappointed to find it wasn’t entirely true, but many characters and scenes were composites of real people and events. It made for a better story, but I am constantly disappointed to find that the “based on a true story” books and movies I find have a lot more “based on” than they do “true story”.
The book gave just enough explanation of the blackjack trick to follow it, without getting bogged down in a tutorial. It was enjoyable, and made me interested in reading more from this author. What more could you want in a book?

Este es uno de esos libros que les gusta crear increíbles expectativas. Partiendo por el título. Las cantidades de exceso, sexo, amor y violencia están muy lejos de ser monumentales. De hecho diría que son con suerte perceptibles.
El escritor se pone a si mismo como un personaje que investiga la historia, el único rol de esta acción es crear más expectativa. Lo cual solo sirve para subestimar los eventos que pasan.
También se equivoca en concentrase en Las Vegas siendo que la historia se da vueltas por varios casinos del mundo. La historia habría sido más interesante si no hubieran dado darle tantos aires.
Punto aparte, no me gustó para nada el trato de la historia hacia las mujeres. Aún con las amplias menciones al comercio sexual, la historia tampoco trata bien a las mujeres que son parte el equipo. Las dos mujeres que están siempre al lado de Jake (cuyos nombres ya olvidé) son un par de maniquíes, con tanta presencia como un gomero. Y Allie, la protagonista femenina, solo está ahí como objeto de deseo y motivación del protagonista. Toda mención de ella incluye mencion de su ropa y de lo sensual que es.Tan pronto como terminan juntos deja de tener apariciones.
Y el problema es que la historia sería interesante si tan solo se le diera un buen ángulo. Podría haber sido un buen libro, pero alas, es ahí nomas.

Just WOW is the writing bad. The dialogue sounds like a a desperate attempt to be cool from someone who has never met anyone cool except in movies form the 1940's. I kept getting into it and then having to put it down to wrap my head around the awful phrasing. Also, the man cannot write about a woman to save his life- they're all one dimensional literary devices for sexual conflict, never mind that they're brilliant MIT students. Also, he writes himself in the book! So distracting. And he writes himself visiting a hooker in the book! And he ends that chapter with someone like "did she stay? Well what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." Contrived is the best word to describe the devices.

But my dad LOVED this book and I was entertained by it. I finished it and really enjoyed the plot. Just wish the author felt he could write a book without "cool" dialogue, because it's just awful.

This just wasn't as interesting to me as the first one. It read like fiction but in an almost unbelievable way. While the techniques were interesting and raised a lot of questions about how the casinos would handle it when they learned about it, these questions were never answered and the techniques were presented in such a straightforward way. Honestly, it just felt like a cheap, trashy fiction read (not that there's anything wrong with that but it wasn't what I was expecting). I also didn't care for Mezrich's reading of his own book and hope he cringed as much as I did upon reading certain sentences.

Good story, but I thought the character flip was hard to follow and the end was jarring and sudden

Busting Vegas is one of the best true story's I have ever read it almost doesn't seem real. The best part is how they found an actual system to beat blackjack, and the amount of money they took from the casinos almost seemed like theft. After I read the book I wanted to go to Vegas, but... I'm way too young to gamble so that was a bit of a downside. This book taught me about the casinos run and the consequences if you get caught trying to take the casinos money.




READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun book, let me fantasize about getting a lot of money. Action packed, drama filled vegas story.

Themes of redemption are very strong.

Not too pressed to write a full detailed review

3.8 - compulsively readable, a true story featuring a group of MIT kids beating the blackjack table. Quite well structured with an excellent finger for utilizing emotional beats and points of tension.

The first book of  Ben Mezrich's that I've read,  Bringing Down the House, was about a group of MIT students who used a group blackjack technique to make a lot of money until casinos began to figure out their system and brought heat down on them. This new book,  Busting Vegas, is about a group of MIT students who used a group blackjack technique to make a lot of money until casinos began to figure out their system and brought heat down on them. Seriously. A chapter in I had to double-check to make sure I wasn't just reading the same book over again. And perhaps because he knows that he's repeating himself somewhat, Mezrich is trying way too hard here. It's a dramatic story, but the prose is overblown and Mezrich tries to make even walking through a trendy Boston neighborhood seem psychologically intriguing.

And the dialogue... At one point Mezrich notes that interview subjects often meet him in noisy places to defeat the recording devices they presume he's carrying and notes that he's "not that kind of writer." Well, he might want to start, because the reconstructed dialog he puts in people's mouths is stilted and unrealistic. (I would quote you some, but I gave the book away minutes after I finished.)

The book opens with a girls’ lineup in a Nevada brothel. (That will get your attention.) He follows the chosen girl up to a room, 232, and there the girl leaves and he meets up with the Russian MIT student who had used a technique that would take millions from the casinos. It was the safest place to meet.

Forget counting cards that only increases your advantage slightly, this team, led by Victor (of whom we really learn very little), another MIT student, this team developed several strategies that involved knowing exactly how to cut cards and would seek out dealers who were just a bit sloppy during the shuffle. (I know nothing about Vegas or Blackjack but don’t they all use mechanical shufflers now? In fact, Mezrich suggests this change was a direct outcome of the casinos’ fear of the MIT strategy.) In any case, these techniques increased their odds to 30% or better, a huge advantage, and by knowing just when to place the bets and knowing when the dealer was going to bust, they could take in hundreds of thousands in just a few hours.

The casinos were not stupid and knew they were doing something (the kids had fake IDs and posed as wealthy businessmen or foreigners) but couldn’t figure out what. Not that they were doing anything illegal except that to casinos anything that doesn’t give them their guaranteed 2-5% edge is wrong and needs to be punished.

The book has been somewhat controversial with some of the principals reporting the events didn’t happen as reported in the book. So take it with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, it’s a good read, just assume it’s like a novel. I’m downgrading it a bit because it feels very superficial, more a recounting of what happened (certainly fascinating in itself) but without much analysis of the characters and their motivation.

Perhaps the great irony is that their strategies had little to do with math and probability (MIT students weren’t needed, the personalities were more crucial) and more with concentration, card control, and knowing how to cut decks precisely. In an interview at the end of the book, Mezrich insists he still uses the techniques successfully in Vegas. Bullshit. I don’t buy it.

I'm a bit curious as to why the title was changed from Busting Vega$: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees (2005?) to Busting Vegas: A True Story of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, and Beating the Odds (2006). Both are hyperbolic. No casino was brought to its knees and love played no part.

Audiobook read by the author who does a creditable job.

Considering one of the covers of this book, I should not have been surprised at the raging sexism involved. I found it insulting as if the author never expected women to read it or to have any problems with it if they did.