I'd like to announce the availability of "The Hot Shoe" on DVD. This is the movie about card counting I've been working on for over five years. Some of you may have already heard about it -- I attended a Green Chip party some time back and shot a round table discussion with Stanford Wong, David Mathews, The Turtle, MathProf and several other Green Chippers.
It has been a long and tough process to get this movie finished and available to the public, but I'm very proud of it and I think most of you here will enjoy it. We shot interviews with Wong, Ed Thorp, Ian Andersen, Arnold Snyder, Tommy Hyland, Peter Griffin (just days before he passed away), Nelson Rose, Bill Zender, and many others.
We shot tape of several members of the MIT team putting down plays in casinos (with hidden cameras) and discussing strategy in hotel rooms. I got to follow a Griffin Investigations agent around for an afternoon, and there is a case study where I play in Las Vegas for ten days with $5000 so folks can see what happens when an ordinary person (read: not a math guy) gives it a serious whirl.
The history of how card counting was developed is told, along with some of the social and political aspects of the culture, including tales of how counters have been mistreated by casino interests over the years.
Some of you will know about the mathematical and technical aspects of counting already, but those issues are covered very carefully, too. We tried to explain in detail all the elements that make up a winning blackjack game, and not just show how to count.
When I first got interested in card counting, I was very frustrated that there was a lot of bad information about it in the popular media. I think I would have been very excited to come across this movie then, and I really hope that's how you all will feel about it.
Anyway, you can go to www.thehotshoemovie.com to get more information and you can order it there, too. It's $30; you can get it from us or you'll be able to order it here fairly soon. Our site is not completely finished, so bear with me. I'll add some downloadable clips as soon as I can get to it.
The movie will be shown at several film festivals and there will be special screenings in select cities next year, so I'll keep you all posted about that stuff, too.
