Busting Vegas A True Story Of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, And Beating The Odds

The exclusive, pulse-pounding follow-up to Bringing Down the House-where the stakes are higher, the players bolder, and the scheme more high-risk. For nearly five years, Semyon Dukach was known as The Darling Of Las Vegas-the biggest high roller to hit sin city in decades, a hotshot kid with a seemingly unlimitted bankroll and an even more unlimited lust for big money action. He'd hit the city every weekend, a string of beautiful women at his side-throwing cash at the blackjack tables in increasingly enormous amounts. Some believed he was a Russian arms dealer, others believed he was a pop star from Eastern Europe. But the truth was even more fantastic: He was a twenty one year old grad student who spoke five languages, an expert in computers and mathematics. He had a plan that would one day make him richer than anyone could possibly imagine. He used his genius to create a dangerous money-making scheme called "Busting the Dealer"-a scheme only a mathematics genius could have created. More dangerous than the simpler card counting he had been practicing with other pals-bolder, badder, more risky-"Busting the Dealer" was easier for the dealer to tell when one was practicing it. With "Busting the Dealer," The Darling of Las Vegas quickly became a legend in the world of cards and casinos; the chronicle of his exploits are a Hollywood movie come to life. He became the only person banned from the island of Aruba. He was held, at gunpoint, in a cave in Monte Carlo and told by liaisons of the royal family that if he ever returned, he'd be murdered. After a death-defying plane crash, he crawled into a burning Cessna-on two broken feet-to rescue four hundred thousand dollars won from anAtlantic City casino. He hit cruise ships, charity balls, wherever there was a game worth beating, anywhere in the world. Along the way, he fell in love with his best friend's girlfriend, was betrayed by his own teammates-and nearly lost his life. This is the startling true story of another group of MIT friends who changed the course of Vegas history-and this time, the stakes have been raised to epic proportions. A tale of monumental excess, sex, love, violence, and statistics,Mezrich, Ben is the author of 'Busting Vegas A True Story Of Monumental Excess, Sex, Love, Violence, And Beating The Odds' with ISBN 9780060575120 and ISBN 0060575123.