Mezrich, a 1991 Harvard graduate, was so intrigued, he convinced his buddy to let him not only watch the team in action but also take part in some of their team card-counting forays -- that is, until the casinos got wise and banned them. The experience formed the basis of Mezrich's 2002 best seller, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. We talked to Mezrich just before the scheduled March 28 release of 21, the feature film based on his book and starring Kevin Spacey.

How did you get the story?I knew the main characters, and I knew they had tons of money. Once they told me about the MIT blackjack team, I convinced them to let me go with them, watch them, and write about them.

So you were along for the whole ride?No, I met them after they were already together and having success, and the book starts a few years before that, in the early '90s. But I basically joined the team, and then, once they'd dissolved because they were being kicked out of casinos, I spent six months in Vegas writing the book.

Were you putting down $10,000 bets too?No, I wasn't a guy making big bets. I was a "gorilla" player, just doing whatever I was told to do, making small bets and gathering information so the big players could make their big bets. I'm good at math, but I'm not great at math.