21 Page #3

- Thanks.

- Yes. Thank you.

- Thanks.

Hey.

Hey.

- Could you help me?

- Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure.

I'm looking for a tie.

Oh, well, we're having a 15/ sale

on the ties.

And if you want,

I could probably get you an additional 10/

with my employee discount.

- This one's nice.

- Yeah. Oh, yeah.

This one has actually been treated with

our patented Nano-Tex fabric protection,

you know, to repel liquids and stains.

- Well, that's really functional.

- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty functional.

Face me. Stay still.

Despite being tempted

by the Nano-Tex repellant,

I'm actually not here for a tie, Ben.

I came to see you.

You did?

Blackjack's a great game.

No, look, it's easy to learn

and there's really not as much strategy to it

as people think.

I grew up on it, actually.

- You grew up on it?

- Yeah.

Every night after dinner,

my father and I would play.

I knew basic strategy

before I was, like, nine years old.

If I won, he'd take me out for ice cream.

And what if he won?

He'd still take me out for ice cream.

Oh, yeah. Sure, yeah, he's your dad.

Ben, you should feel the thrill

of winning more money

than you can possibly imagine.

I think you should come to Vegas.

'Cause I'm guessing that you could

probably use a break from this place.

I can't.

I'm sorry.

I just can't.

Okay. If you change your mind,

you know where we meet.

Yeah.

You're welcome any time.

You know,

I think the best thing about Vegas

is you can become anyone you want.

- What's the count?

- Plus 9.

- No.

- Plus 11.

No.

- Dude, I lost count 20 cards ago.

- Don't call me "dude."

- Plus 9?

- You're just following Jill.

People, please. We had a total of 76 cards

that came out of the deck.

Twenty-three were high cards

with a value of minus one.

Seventeen were neutral with no value at all,

and the rest were low cards

with a value of plus one.

- How could you lose the count?

- Plus 13.

The count. It's plus 13.

Yes.

Pull up a chair.

Stop.

- What is it?

- Plus 12. Eggs.

Twelve eggs in a carton.

- Now what?

- Plus 9.

Cats have nine lives.

Cat.

Sweet 16.

Every card had a value.

A high card, minus one.

A low card, plus one.

The rest, zero.

Plus 13. Plus 8. Plus 9. Plus 12.

I was studying all day, every day.

But it wasn't physics, chemistry

and engineering. I was back to simple math,

used in ways I could never have imagined.

The team had a system.

And to go unnoticed,

we created a whole new language.

Words were numbers,

and numbers were words.

- Plus 17.

- Magazine.

- Plus 6.

- Gun.

- Plus 15.

- Paycheck.

Plus 12.

Is this chemistry review?

- Plus 14.

- Ring.

- Plus 16.

- Sweet.

Use it in a sentence.

Man, that sugar's sweet.

Because I knew the count,

I knew which cards were left in the deck.

That's how I knew what to bet.

You're doing great.

Micky, I just want to let you know

that I'm only doing this for medical school,

which is $300,000.

I mean, if I can get anything close to that,

then I'm done.

Well, in the first place, Ben,

it's not "if," it's "when."

And second of all,

I get it. I completely understand.

- You do?

- Yeah. It's a means to an end.

Look, they've got this new computer

software that reads people's faces,

so who knows how long this gig's

gonna last for any of us?

What if we get caught?

Our system keeps us under the radar,

you'll see.

Anyway, counting cards isn't illegal.

- So, there's no danger in it at all?

- No, Ben, it's safe. Very safe.

You think you can beat the system?

This is the system, beating you back.

You wanna count cards,

you do it in Atlantic City.

- Get him up.

- Come on, kid.

Count to five.

- Count to five!

- What?

Count to five so I know you don't have

brain damage, you can go home.

Start with one.

One, two, three, four, five.

Good. Now, stop counting.

Let's go.

You're crazy,

everybody knows to split eights.

My grandmother splits eights.

Not against a 10. It's a sucker play.

Look, you're choosing to play two hands

against the highest up card

a dealer can have, right?

Against a five or a six, it'd be fine.

Against a 10 or an ace, it's a sucker play.

Yeah, Kianna, save it, all right?

Jill's right. All right?

Choi, why don't you explain to Ben

how we do?

Oh, all right.

So, our team is divided

into two kinds of players,

spotters and big players, right?

So if you think that this table

is the casino floor,

then salt and pepper shakers

are your spotters.

Spotters are just sitting

at the various blackjack tables

and they're betting the table minimum.

They never fluctuate their bet.

That's right. Spotters never raise the bet

or play any kind of progressive system.

That's how we stay under the radar,

and that's why we never get caught.

Exactly. Okay, they're just sitting

at the table, betting the table min,

and they're keeping the count

waiting for one of these decks to get hot.

Right. And then when one of the decks

gets hot,

the spotter at that table signals

in the big player.

This... Mustard.

Give me the mustard, honey. Please.

Well, I'm always the mustard, so...

When I get the signal for the hot deck,

I stumble over like some drunk rich kid,

or some zoned out dot-com millionaire,

and I throw down big money.

So the big player bets big

and still keeps the count.

When the deck cools, he cashes in.

It's not as easy as it sounds.

Oh, yeah, it's not, you know,

because if Grey Poupon over here

ever loses the count,

it's up to his table's spotter

to give him the signal to get out.

- And you know the signals, right?

- Yeah.

Show us.

Okay, what's this?

- The deck's hot.

- Right.

We need to talk.

The deck's cooling.

And get out. Get out now.

Good. I think he's gonna be ready

for our little trial run tomorrow.

There's a trial run?

- Where?

- You'll find out.

Hey.

- You Ben?

- Yeah.

Follow me.

This way.

Go, go. You go.

No more bet. No more bet.

Come on, money.

Today, 14.

Whose side are you on?

Sixteen.

Thank you. Sorry, gentlemen.

So, Henry, did I tell you I read

about this place in a magazine?

- You wanna put that money down?

- Yeah. $300.

$300.

$300.

You bet, sir?

Thanks.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner." All right.

Nice.

Can I get another drink, please?

Thank you.

What the hell are you doing?

What are you doing?

I haven't done anything! Get off me!

Get off, I haven't done anything!

Please. Please let go.

- What's the count?

- Please don't hurt me.

- I said, what's the count?

- Look, I haven't even done anything!

What's the count?

Plus 18.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding.

Congratulations, Ben.

Sorry, we had to make sure

you'd keep the count under pressure.

Welcome to the team.

We didn't mean it.

It's okay, Campbell, I cried inside that bag.

Fisher and Jimmy

have always been the big players.

I want you to take Jimmy's place.

I've never done this.

I know that and I understand.

But I don't trust the girls,

and Choi is, well, Choi.

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