5 of the best movies about card counting | Entertainment – Yurika.R

When players sit down at a table in a casino, they know that “the house always wins.” In other words, even if you hit a lucky streak, in the long run, the casino owners are invariably going to come out on top.

But in the late 1950s, four engineers—Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel, and James McDermott—designed a mathematical system to help flip a blackjack player’s odds. Known mythically as the “Four Horsemen,” they used desk calculators and their mental acuity to devise the concept of card counting to help players win more at the popular game Twenty-One.

Several years later, mathematician Ed Thorp legitimized their findings in a book called “Beat the Dealer,” using computers to prove players could gain an edge over casinos with the group’s method. How does it work? There are different variations, but generally, players designate each card a number value that they add up during each hand and keep a running tally.

Low cards are worth a negative point, while 10s and face cards earn a positive point, a predictive categorization that doesn’t rely on genius so much as having good memory and accurate math skills.

In the decades since Thorp’s book was published, card counting has never been deemed illegal within the United States, but the tactic has remained a persistent subject of controversy. As one character in “The Hangover” goofily declares, the practice is “frowned upon,” mostly because casinos find it a threat to their profits. The contentious dynamic has made it ripe for Hollywood treatment. After all, who doesn’t love seeing a savant underdog outwitting the house? Blackjack movies underline that relationship, turning gambler and dealer against each other in electric, thrilling, and often exaggerated ways.

To get a better sense of its portrayal in Hollywood, Gamesville compiled a list of five of the best movies about card counting. Read below to see which ones made the cut.