The MIT Blackjack Team was composed of 13 students who participated in a research study in 2006. The students were chosen from a pool of 60 applicants, and each was paid $1,000 to participate in the study.
The students were divided into two groUPS: the first group played against a computer while the second group played against a live opponent. The team’s goal was to improve their blackjack skills and strategies.
The team’s overall win rate against the computer was 54 percent, but their win rate against the live opponent was 82 percent. Their average hand size was 21.5 cards, and they averaged 2.9 hands per hour.
They also averaged 0.5 hours per day playing blackjack.
The team’s leader was Rajesh Arora, who is now a software engineer at Google. Other members of the team include Brian Curtin, Vineet Gupta, Rajesh Jhaveri, Rishabh Jain, Katherine Kleinman, Sai Kishore Mahajan, and Manish Mehta.
