Who is allie simpson in busting vegas

Unfortunately, that's where my interest ended. I couldn't agree more with previous reviewers who bemoaned the horrifically bad writing, especially when it comes to the female characters. Yes, the main character is a college-aged young man, so it might not be unrealistic for him to be preoccupied with women's breasts.

But phrases like "her perfectly round breasts, her hard nipples"? That sounds like something I'd hear on a Beavis and Butt-Head episode, not from a professional author who expects an adult reader to take him seriously. I admit I listened to the audiobook until the end, so the story did hook me enough to stay with it.

But I winced up until the very last page. Mezrich, please grow up. These kinds of adolescent male fantasies just make a man of your age seem pathetic.

Falls short as a straight up bio, with obvious embellishments and revisionist fantasy sequences attempting to spice things up. Clearly a skewed point of view, written to appease Semyon Dukach, who apparently was the only one willing to spill the story. And the books claim that they brought Vegas to it's knees without card counting or cheating, is quickly proven false. All three of the groups "sequences" involve some method of counting cards, and illegally peaking at the dealer's bottom card sorry, strongly frowned upon even at a friendly quarter poker game with your buds.

They weren't chased from nearly every casino because they were winning, but obviously because they were somehow cheating. Was interested to learn their system, but disappointed to find out their methods. And the whole weirdness of the bizarre fake identities adds absolutely nothing to their scheme, if anything directly contributing their hasty exits in most casinos. The movie 21 was entertaining, as pure fiction.

The book needs to be re classified as fiction as well. Sep 02, Ethan Dennis rated it it was amazing. 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. The one I read didn't have that cover, I promise. Hard to say why I didn't like this book very much. First, I thought Seymon's reasons for publishing the techniques used, as stated in the "afterword" didn't ring true.

Encouraging people to go to casinos, even to "beat" the casinos, is nonsense. People going to the casinos is the lifeblood of the casinos, most people aren't going to be able to beat the dealer no matter what book or dvd they study. So basically that is just more money in the hands of the casinos. I thought he published the techni Hard to say why I didn't like this book very much. I thought he published the techniques and the book to make money for himself. The story itself is interesting but the conversations seem made up and why wouldn't they be, it's been a long time, who remembers.

But my attention kept snagging on it. The gambling techniques themselves didn't seem like cheating, I don't think card counting is cheating either; but I'm not surprised that the casinos saw it differently when they started losing lots of money. I wouldn't expect anything to change; people will go to Vegas etc. If you win at gambling maybe try to win less ostentatiously and less frequently.

Many of Ben Mezrich's books have been made into movies. After reading Busting Vegas, it's easy to see why. Mezrich writes non-fiction in a fictional, personal style that puts you inside the minds of the characters.

Busting Vegas tells the story of Seymion Dukach and a band of MIT number crunchers who form a winning team at doing more than just card counting, but create a revolutionary formula for beating the blackjack tables and at times, avoiding unwanted and hostile attention from Vegas securi Many of Ben Mezrich's books have been made into movies.

Busting Vegas tells the story of Seymion Dukach and a band of MIT number crunchers who form a winning team at doing more than just card counting, but create a revolutionary formula for beating the blackjack tables and at times, avoiding unwanted and hostile attention from Vegas security and mobsters.

At times, one forgets that the book is a non-fiction, rather than a gripping novel, based on the characters and the wild adventures that seem more fiction than fact.

Gone are the dry facts, figures and quotes that slow up most non-fictions. Whether you read Busting Vegas or watch the film 21 based on Mezrich's book, this book is a fun read for casino fans and gambling abstainers alike. 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 ca This just wasn't as interesting to me as the first one. 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.

Interesting book about a bunch of MIT students under the leadership of Victor who use a variety of techniques to give themselves an edge over the house. It relies on teamwork, a knowledge of dealer's shuffling techniques, and the ability to cut to a precise point in the deck. It was interesting and the casinos definitely did not like these folks darkening their doors.

My only criticism is that the action shuffles back and forth between the MIT players and the author's background interviews and i Interesting book about a bunch of MIT students under the leadership of Victor who use a variety of techniques to give themselves an edge over the house. My only criticism is that the action shuffles back and forth between the MIT players and the author's background interviews and investigations - this almost seems an unnecessary interruption of the action.

Rating - 8. I've always enjoyed my trips to Vegas, but have never won big or lost big. I play just enough to have fun, but I always wondered what it would be like to win big, but I'm not sure I'd have it takes to do what this team did. One thing I never understood about blackjack is why its illegal for people to count cards, which is not the method used by this team.

To me, if someone can count cards then more power to them. They still can't predict how other players are going to play, unless they're in on i I've always enjoyed my trips to Vegas, but have never won big or lost big. They still can't predict how other players are going to play, unless they're in on it to. In "Busting Vegas" , a group of MIT students come up with three different techniques that give them advantage, an advantage that is not appreciated by the casinos.

I enjoyed the the storytelling of how the team was put together, how the techniques were were created, and how they were used to help them win. Although the team does well in some cases, they definitely run into dangerous and problematic situations. How are they able to get out of them? Well, you will just have to give this one a whirl. Nov 27, Federico Castillo rated it liked it. They took a real life story and give hire a gun to write it down.

The writing is functional, to say something, but the whole story and characters never come alive. Besides, I doubt the veracity of it all. The MIT stereotypes are briefly there with a poor effort to write any human character. Some personality traits are thrown here and there for no purpose at all.

In short, the storytelling sucks. Besides, on the veracity side, it is too perfectly arranged with escalating difficulty and absurdity f They took a real life story and give hire a gun to write it down.

Besides, on the veracity side, it is too perfectly arranged with escalating difficulty and absurdity for having happened like that. It is not entirely discardable though. This is the sort of book you want to read on a long flight.

There is little oxygen up there and little room for thinking. Still, in the category of "airplane reading" is far from my favorites. A moment to remember is the brief appearance of Trump himself and the mocking tone the book has for him this was written a decade before 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. 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? Apr 29, John Magee rated it liked it.

It was hard for me to discern whether this was a supposed to be fiction or non-fiction with the author getting too deep inside the heads' of many of the characters as well as other huge leaps of logic that are very well covered in other reviews of this book. May 31, Kevin Johnson rated it really liked it Shelves: book-shout.

Very entertaining book. Not at all your typical "card counting"tale. Likable characters and a well paced story. Apr 14, Luke rated it it was ok. Good story, but I thought the character flip was hard to follow and the end was jarring and sudden. This book was very interesting. I found this extremely readable. A mixture of maths, thrill and excitement with some interesting characters and relationships.

I'm off to Vegas in a few weeks and this has really got me in the mood! Hmmm, I don't know about this one. I suppose it's mostly true, but there is plenty of obvious embellishment. Not something I would recommend to readers of non-fiction. Mar 29, Heather rated it really liked it. Fast-paced casino action through the eyes of MIT students with an edge. Aug 05, Jennifer Jager rated it liked it. A friend recommended this as a really good book. Not nearly as good as Bringing Down the House.

Writing could be improved a bit. He played in casinos around the world with a plan to make himself richer than anyone could possibly imagine -- but it would nearly cost him his life.

Semyon Dukach was known as the Darling of Las Vegas. A legend at age twenty-one, this cocky hotshot was the biggest high roller to appear in Sin City in decades, a mathematical genius with a system the casinos had never seen before and couldn't stop — a system that has never been revealed until now; that has nothing to do with card counting, wasn't illegal, and was more powerful than anything that had been tried before.

Las Vegas. Atlantic City. And the jewel of the gambling crown — Monte Carlo. Dukach and his fellow MIT students hit them all and made millions. They came in hard, with stacks of cash; big, seemingly insane bets; women hanging on their arms; and fake identities.