Jeffrey Ma, the real-life inspiration for Ben Mezrich’s bestselling novel Bringing Down the House and for the 2008 movie 21, was part of the MIT Blackjack team when he studied there for his undergraduate degree in the 1990s.

The team went to Las Vegas on consecutive weekends and brought back millions of dollars. The team beat the house in blackjack using a method known as card counting, accompanied by a set of secret symbols and code words to alert team members to a “hot deck.”

Ma recently released his own novel, The House Advantage, where he applies his blackjack statistics knowledge to the business and sports world. The book, released in July, also includes a number of anecdotes from his experiences in Vegas as an MIT student. Below is the transcript from the Winged Post’s interview with Jeffrey Ma, now a San Francisco resident.

The Winged Post: What inspired you to write The House Advantage after the book and movie were so successful?

Jeffrey Ma: I’ve been a page corporate speaker for the past five years. A lot of it has been focused on the business lessons as my days as a car counter, so I realized that there are a lot of interesting things that weren’t ever in Bringing Down the House or the movie. I wanted a chance to get that out to everyone, so could see that there is a lot of what they could learn from what they did at the casino.

WP: When did you get interested in the psychology behind gambling?

JM: I started to get interested in it when I realized how terrible the odds are and how most gamblers don’t pay attention to any of the odds.

WP: Once Bringing Down the House and 21 were released, how did it feel to read and watch your own life in a book and on the screen?

JM: It was kind of unbelievable that that would be my life. [With] the kind of experiences we’ve had […] it was pretty crazy.

WP: In addition to your cameo in the movie as a card dealer, in what ways did you contribute to the film?

JM: I felt like a real actor – they treated me like a real actor. It was fun to be on set and to have a dressing room. In addition, I helped out with the script a little bit and the most fun part was doing the PR for the movie. I traveled around with the studio. They flew us around on a private jet, and it was amazing. We went to about seven different cities, did interviews, and just the way they treated us with the resources we had available was a lot of fun.

WP: How did you feel about Sturgess playing your character? Does it bother you that your race is changed in 21?

JM: I didn’t have a lot of say in the decision of who played me. I helped out some with the script, and when I met Jim Sturgess who played me, he spent a lot of time trying to get to know me and trying to know what I was like. We’ve had a really similar upbringing in family and friends even though racially we were not the same. I was really happy with their decision to play Jim because he’s a great guy and actor.

WP:  For students our age, what one piece of information or advice would you want us to take from The House Advantage?

JM: I think from my story would be a lot of ways you want to find our career or profession. There isn’t just one way. My biggest claim to fame would be. In terms of the house advantage, young people are starting to understand how important math is and how important technology and computers have made math even more important. You don’t have to necessarily love math, it’s about understand and appreciate the power that math can you to help you make better decisions and make more money.