I grew up uh well, really, I just wanted to come here to Harvard Med. He applies for a scholarship that will cover all expenses, but they tell him only one out of 76 applicants will receive it. Ben says he’s a pro in the field of robotics, trying to impress the director, but it’s not enough. He needs to write an essay that will blow him away. Last year, it went to an immigrant from Korea without a leg.

Ben, last year the Robinson went to Hum Jay Wuk, a Korean immigrant who has only one leg. Well, I I have both my legs. Well, have you considered cutting one of them off? Ben works at a men’s clothing store with his best friend, Miles and gets promoted to assistant manager, earning a whole $8 an hour.

In the store’s storage room, he tells Miles about the essay and that he has no idea what to write about because he hasn’t done anything outstanding. Ben is upset because despite passing exams, attending extracurricular activities, and giving up everything, the only thing stopping him from getting into Harvard is money. Miles supports him, but Ben doesn’t listen.

That evening, the guys meet at a bar with another friend, Cam, to celebrate Ben’s birthday. They constantly discuss their project as they’re trying to win a science competition by building a self-driving car. They’re sacrificing everything to win this competition. Back at MIT, Professor Mickey Rosa gives a lecture on nonlinear equations. He asks the class to explain Newton’s method.

Ben mentions that Newton actually stole the method from Joseph Rafson, who published the same method 50 years earlier. The professor is impressed and gives him a chance to earn extra credit. So, he challenges Ben with the Monty Hall problem, which he quickly solves verbally. When class ends, the professor checks Ben’s latest test score to see 97%. He’s impressed. Later during gym class, Ben sees a girl he really likes.

He waves at her and she waves back. [music] Miles insists that Ben should hit on her. That same day, when Ben is alone in the study hall, a classmate approaches him and asks him to follow. He’s a bit confused, but does it. He’s brought to a room where he sees his professor and several students sitting at a blackjack table.

Among them, he sees the girl Jill that he likes. The professor tells Ben to call him Mickey and invites him to join the MIT Blackjack team. After all, Ben has a very high IQ, which will allow him to calculate all combinations during the game. Ben is introduced to the team consisting of Kiana, Fiser, Choi, and Jill.

They explain that blackjack can be won using mathematics and that they go to Las Vegas every weekend in holiday and report that a spot opened up on their team because the previous participant got a job at Google. Ben hesitates because he’s afraid to leave his comfort zone, Jill says. So, I’m sorry. Come on, Ben. It’ll be fun. Yeah, Ben, it’ll be fun. They go back and forth.

Ben comes up with excuses for why he can’t do it, and Mickey tries to convince him, but Ben ultimately refuses, saying he’s dedicated himself to his studies. And besides, he got a good promotion at work and now earns $8 an hour. Ben, I hope this little conversation we just had will remain private. No, of course. No, you’re one of my favorite new students, and I’d hate to lose you, if you know what I mean. The next day, Jill comes to him at work and says she’s looking for a tie.

Ben tries to help her choose something, but she’s actually here to try to convince him further, saying he needs to experience more in life. Please me, stay still. Despite being tempted by the nanoteex repellent, Ben gives in to Jill’s charms, and he finally shows up at the blackjack club and starts learning the system. High cards have a value of minus1. Neutral cards have no value. And low cards equal plus one.

He practices counting cards and memorizing words the team assigned to each high count. Later at a bar, they explain the roles of each team member. Kiana, Choi, and Jill are spotters. They sit at different blackjack tables, making only minimum bets at the table and keeping count.

When one of the tables reaches a hot count, the player has an advantage over the dealer, and the player wins. So they signal Ben and Fischer, who are the big players, who then stumble up to the table like some drunk rich kid and make big bets. When the deck cools down, the big player leaves the table. That evening, Ben appears in a winding alley for a test run. He enters an underground casino where his spotters are already sitting at tables. Choice signals him that the deck is hot.

Ben sits at the table. Then Choy uses the word magazine in a sentence to tell Ben the count is plus 17. And he starts making big bets. First 300s, then more and more. Because of Ben’s winnings, a crowd gathers around the table, amazed at Ben’s luck. Winner winner chicken dinner. Winner winner chicken dinner. And then suddenly a bag is thrown over his head and he’s dragged to a back room. A deep voice keeps asking him what’s the count.

He acts ignorant but eventually gives in and tells them it’s now plus 18. It turns out this was a test to see if he could keep count under pressure and whether he’d be officially accepted onto the team. Congratulations, [snorts] Ben. Sorry we had to make sure you keep the count under pressure. Welcome to the team. A we didn’t [music] mean it.

It’s okay. After the test, the professor explains to Ben that they don’t get carried away and play strictly by the system, otherwise they’ll be caught. He also reports that Ben got automatic credit in many subjects. The next day, they fly to Las Vegas. One of the scheme participants hands Ben a large stack of cash and tells him to put it in his underwear.

That way, the scanner won’t detect them. He’s very nervous, but manages the task. Sir. They enter a luxurious hotel room where Mickey gives each participant a new identity in disguise. Mickey explains that Ben must definitely drink to avoid suspicion. They come to the Red Rock Casino where Kiana signals Ben. He looks right and sees Fisher and Choy at a neighboring table.

He sits down and exchanges $10,000 for chips. And taking a sip of his drink, Kiana exclaims, “Sweet, too sweet.” Which indicates the count is plus 16. Ben doubles down on eights in his first hand. The dealer goes over 21 and Ben wins, making his first profit, already $4,000. In the next hand, he gets blackjack and wins another $3,000. He continues playing at the casino at different tables, stacking chips along the way.

Monkey, come on. Give the monkey. [music] Seeing Ben winning so much, Fischer looks at him with distrust. The next day, Jill wakes Ben up and tosses him his share. They’re called to a team meeting. Fischer shows up drunk. It’s obvious he doesn’t like Ben since he’ll soon replace him.

Mickey is furious because on three occasions, Fischer played a cold deck, even when the spotters made it clear to him. But Mickey tells Ben he did well and should keep it up. He won a very good profit. And Ben, good work. You came out of that shoot like a pro. Keep it up. Beginner’s luck. That evening, they play again, and this time, security notices them, but for now, they’re just watching. Later, they return home. Ben returned to the dorm and hides his share in a ceiling tile.

He earned $16,700 in just 2 days. Next, we see Ben and Jill riding on a train. He asks her if she came to the store to ask him to join the team because Mickey asked her to. She doesn’t admit it and says she noticed him back in college. He’s the smartest guy she knows and that’s why he’s on the team. Oh, no. Not not so much. Oh god, I’m so so sorry.

He tries to kiss her, but she pulls away. He’s embarrassed and starts apologizing, but she tells him not to worry about it and that she just doesn’t want to complicate things because they work together and you can’t mix work with relationships. The following weekend, the team flies to Las Vegas again.

During another game, head of security Cole Williams sits down at a neighboring table and begins watching the team. He focuses on Ben, suspecting he may be counting cards. And the tonic with lime that Ben orders looks too suspicious. When other employees ask how Cole knows Ben is counting, he answers that he counts cards, too.

Bring up a frame of that for me on the printer. When the team returns home, Ben’s college friends are very concerned about his behavior and think he’s on drugs. And Ben leaves without letting them finish. The hardest thing for him is that he can’t tell anyone anything.

For the first time, life became easy for Ben. Nothing costs too much and nothing was out of reach. $210,000. [music] This the team spends money in expensive stores without looking at prices. In the evening at the club, Jill finally kisses Ben. Due to Ben’s sudden success, Fiser becomes extremely jealous of him.

and one day being drunk sits at the table and starts ruining the whole scheme and also hints that they know each other. Meanwhile, Williams watches them from the other side of the screen and notices that Kiana only makes minimum bets at the table and that Ben appears only after she signals him. Fischer starts insulting Ben in front of everyone and accidentally spills a drink on a girl.

You know what, sir? He caused a commotion and at that moment Cole comes toward them, but they leave before he can reach them. His luck will run out eventually. Always does. At the bar, Mickey removes Fischer from the team and gives him a plane ticket. He tells the rest that the casino changes their chips in 24 hours, which means they need to exchange them for cash, which they can’t do because of Fischer’s exit. Ben suggests they use dancers to exchange chips through them.

Mickey calls him a genius. It’s really a good idea. Thanks. [music] Anytime. Thank you, baby. Later that day, Jill invites Ben to her room and they spend a romantic night and make love. Ben arrives at his dorm in a luxurious limousine in new beautiful clothes. He puts his weekend earnings back in his hiding place, which is already full.

Ben’s new secret life causes him to neglect his role in the science competition, which distances him from his friends. He’s late to meet them and gives them the wrong part for their project. They’re disappointed and tell him he’s not as dedicated to the project as before and decide to continue without him. Honestly, I don’t even care. You know why? Cuz no one in the real world gives a [ __ ] about the 209 competition.

During the next trip to Las Vegas, Ben is greeted at the entrance like a millionaire. They shake his hand and serve him with the highest class, but he’s emotionally distracted. He gets an unlucky outcome on a big hand, and he lets his emotions get the better of him and can’t walk away from the table when Kiana signals him. Jill intervenes and tries to pull him away, but fails. He sends her to the room. In the end, he loses a whole $200,000.

Mickey is furious. And even when Ben apologizes, saying it’s his first mistake, others try to support him. Mickey leaves the team and says Ben will have to pay back the $200,000 he lost. And Ben, you’re going to pay me that money, every penny, one way or the other, and you damn well know it. Ben and the remaining team decide they’ll continue playing blackjack without Mickey. Reasoning they don’t even need him.

He was taking 50% and didn’t even play. They return to the tables and win, but Mickey hides in the shadows and deliberately warns security, saying Ben is counting. Williams approaches the table where Ben is sitting. Jill immediately leaves and Ben is taken to a service room and beaten, explaining that soon facial recognition software will appear in all casinos, so his days are numbered anyway.

Ben is also told that Williams and Mickey have known each other for a long time. He used to chase and beat him, too, which is why Mickey doesn’t play anymore. Ben returns to MIT and reads a letter stating he’s not eligible for graduation because one of his courses taught by Mickey’s colleague is marked as incomplete. Of course, Mickey facilitated this.

He goes inside and discovers his dorm room has been trashed. The money he was hiding is gone. He’s lost everything. Ben comes to Mickey’s lecture and says he just used the whole team, but Mickey ignores him and tells Ben to see a doctor. After college, he visits Jill and says he lost everything. Mickey took it all from him and he doesn’t want to lose her and apologizes for his actions in Vegas. She was very worried about him when they took him away in Vegas.

Yeah, I think we have a serious problem over there. [ __ ] Okay, let’s go. I’m out. Thank you. Let’s go. Let’s go. I think we need to call the curious. Um, yeah, I don’t think they’re going to help. Let’s go. Come on. At this time, Miles managed to win the robotics competition even without Ben, who just stood in the hall and watched.

Later, he finally tells Miles what he was doing, that he was winning huge money in Vegas. He apologizes to him for letting him down, and they make up. Ben comes to the graduation ball, which he missed because of Mickey, to convince him to make one last trip to Vegas before the casinos install biometric software. Mickey agrees, but the winnings must be huge so they never return to the casino.

But this time, they’ll all use disguises, and Mickey will become the second big player who will get big income. They arrive in Vegas and discuss the plan in the hotel room. They disguise themselves so well, they’re simply unrecognizable. I’m having one of those days. You know what I mean, Jim? They play big, make bets, and win big money.

They manage to make a profit of $640,000 before Williams appears. Jill manages to signal them. They jump up, throw the chips in a bag, and just run. A chase begins after them. They run around slot machines and enter a staff area where Mickey convinces Ben to throw him the chips and says they should split up. Mickey manages to get out and jump into a limousine.

He’s thrilled, thinking he got away with all the money, but opening the bag realizes the chips are fake, and the passenger in the limousine was from security. In reality, Ben switched the real chips for fake ones while they were working. It turns out Williams always held a grudge against Mickey because the last time he saw him, he got away with a big profit. So, he made a deal with Ben to lure Mickey back to Vegas and catch him. In turn, Ben would be allowed to keep everything they earned that day.

But when Ben and Jill leave the casino, Williams approaches and explains he needs the money for retirement. And Ben is smart enough to achieve everything without this dirty money. So he hands over the bag at gunpoint. The limousine Mickey got into was prepared by Williams, and he was delivered to the same room where Ben recently was.

But then I remembered what my nonlinear equations professor once told me. Always account for variable [music] change. This is exactly the story he told the Harvard professor who was simply shocked.