Asian American Mike Aponte Inspiration for Box Office Topper 21
ovie-goers bet their ticket money on 21, making it the box-office high roller with a $23.7 million opening weekend.
The films stars Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess as math geniuses who use sophisticated card-counting techniques and teamwork to make a killing at Vegas' blackjack tables.
The movie was based on Bringing Down the House, written by Ben Mezrich based on the exploits of the MIT Blackjack Team. The model for 21's Sturgess character is Filipino American Mike Aponte, the MIT Team's leading "Big Player".
Under the Team's elaborate system, several team members acted as spotters at various tables within a casino. When their card counts suggested a hot shoe rich in high cards, Aponte would be called in to place the big bets. The system depended on the ability of each team members to keep a running tally of the number of high (advantageous to the player) versus low cards remaining in the dealer's shoe.
The MIT team proved so successful that it operated over a span of over six years between 1993 and 2000, racking up over $10 million in winnings. Their biggest weekend netted $500,000, recalls Aponte, while their worst performance was a $130,000 loss. Aponte's own biggest personal take from a single evening was $200,000. What made the team's successes so remarkable is that at least initially its members were full-time MIT students who, between weekend jaunts to Vegas, attended classes and took exams.
Counting cards is legal but casinos are quick to ban players who win too much money. By 2000 Aponte had become notorious with casino security staffs, making it difficult to continue as one of the big players, and Aponte left the Team. Though he was the actual inspiration for the Jason Fisher character in Bringing Down the House, Aponte says he actually met Mezrich once shortly before the book's publication.
The skills Aponte honed on the MIT Team didn't go to waste. He used them to win the 2004 World Series of Blackjack, and to co-found The Blackjack Institute with business partner David Irvine to profit from teaching his winning ways to other serious players.
Mike Aponte grew up on U.S. Army bases around the world where his father served as a tactical instructor. He had attended 11 different schools by the time he graduated from a New Jersey high school in 1988. His family moved to Boston where he enrolled in MIT to pursue a degree in economics and play on the football team. It wasn't until 1992, Aponte's senior year, that he was recruited to join the MIT blackjack club which had been legally incorporated as Strategic Investments. He was enthralled by the mathematics the team sought to apply to beating casinos on a large scale. Unfortunately, Strategic Investments never succeeded in making money. It wasn't until Aponte became a key player and organizer of the successor MIT Team that the now legendary winning run began.
03/30/2008 9:55 PM
Staff
LOS ANGELES
Mike Aponte (3rd from left) won the 2004 World Series of Blackjack.
ovie-goers bet their ticket money on 21, making it the box-office high roller with a $23.7 million opening weekend.
