Released in 2008, before the first mobile casinos really emerged, “21” is all about Blackjack and how a group of MIT graduates beat the system by developing a card counting model boosted by exceptional math skills. Their card counting scam was concocted in order for them to raise the necessary funds to further their studies at some of the top universities in the US – and raise the funds they certainly did.
While the movie is based on author Ben Mezrich’s novel, “Bringing Down the House”, many believe the storyline to have been based on actual events.
No Crime – Only A Dream
Significant about the group of Blackjack card-counters from MIT is the fact that none of its members had any background in criminal activities.
They were skilled college graduates with a single mission in mind: funding further studies. This in itself changed many a perception about Blackjack and about card counting. Instead of being considered a criminal activity, the movie created new insight into the exceptional and rare skill of creating wealth from a casino game that can now even be enjoyed at a mobile casino.
Based On Real Life
The real-life story revolves around the lives of three exceptional intellectuals led by Harvard graduate Bill Kaplan.
The film tells the story about one of the students, Jeff Ma, losing his father Ben, while enjoying no financial support at all from his mother. This places him in the precarious position of not being able to fund his studies, while facing the reality of being an exceptionally bright-minded individual.
Again, this particular storyline places new emphasis on the humanity of Blackjack’s story – instead of portraying 21 to be just another casino game following the luck of the draw.
Ironic about the movie is Jeff’s regular emotional outbursts and supposed inability of remaining part of a team of people working together against the “system”. This error in judgement eventually leads him to lose a whopping $200,000 during his lone shenanigans.
Card counting is portrayed by the movie as being a kind of team-sport, which is another storyline that ends up changing the minds of many about card-counting in general.
But perhaps the movie’s greatest contribution to changing how people think about casino games is that the people involved in the plot aren’t the typical addicts on a losing streak so many for so long believed to be the stereotypical casino games player. This, more than anything else, made of “21” a real changer of long-held negative perceptions about casino games and why people play and enjoy games in the first place.
While card counting may not be that easy online, especially in RNG games, the movie certainly boosted the popularity of Blackjack, and the use of skill and strategy. Skill and strategy can be used when playing at an online and mobile casino, and players who take the time to master the game will reap the rewards for sure.