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Mike Aponte

Mike Aponte had been given the nickname of MIT Mike. He had been a member of the renowned MIT Blackjack team and had been a professional player even outside the team. Mike Aponte had been one of the leaders of an MIT team. MIT at that point of time, at the peak of success had several small teams of card counters.

Book and Movie Hero

Mike had been a leader of one such team that had gone to win millions of dollars at casinos in the US and even in other countries. Mike Aponte had been made more famous with the book Bringing Down the House, by Ben Mezrich and soon became a best seller. The main character of the book had been based on Mike Aponte. The book had later been made into a movie, 21, which had been immensely successful and had made card counting popular all over again.

Life

Mike, a son of an Army man, travelled a lot during his school years. He had never really been interested in card games while he grew up. In 1988, Mike attended MIT where he studied economics. During his years in MIT he had heard about the team at MIT, which used mathematical techniques to win at the games.

When he attended his first meeting he was lured by the lifestyle and the big profits. He was soon hooked on and worked hard to learn the technique and to develop his skills. His first session at the casino had been in 1992. He had passed the Big Player test of the team and became the main member of his team.

Every team had spotters who used to identify a table where there were favorable counts. After a spotter signals the Big Player, he then had to play at the table and win large profits by putting in large bets. Mike had been one of the most successful Big Players of the MIT teams.

He later went on to become a manager of the team who was responsible for getting new players and training them. He also arranged for the weekend trips for his team. Till 2000, Mike Aponte and his team had enjoyed great success. They had travelled to various casinos in the US and even in other countries.

Life after MIT

Mike had won millions of dollars along with his team and for a few years during the peak of his career had lived a lavish lifestyle, living in the luxurious hotels and meeting with the wealthiest people in the world.

After retiring from the MIT Blackjack team, Mike still had a keen interest in the game and continued to play blackjack. He won the World Series of Blackjack in 2004 and started his own company that gave services and advice to people on winning at blackjack.