As part of the notorious MIT Team depicted in Ben Mezrich’s now classic
Bringing Down the House, Jeff Ma used math and statistics to master the game of blackjack
and reap handsome rewards at casinos. Years later, Ma has inspired not only a bestselling
novel and hit movie, but has also started three different companies—the latest of which,
Citizen Sports, is an innovative marriage of sports, betting, and digital technology—and
launched a successful corporate speaking career.
The House Advantage reveals Ma’s cutting-edge mathematical insights into
the world of statistics and makes them applicable to a wide business audience. He argues
that numbers are the key to analyzing nearly everything in the world of business, from how
to spot and profit from global market inefficiencies to having multiple backup plans in
anticipation of every probability.
Ma’s stories and business lessons are as intriguing as they are universally
applicable.
Jeffrey Ma was a member of the MIT blackjack team, which utilized
sophisticated card-counting strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide in the
mid-1990s, and was the basis for the main character of the book Bringing Down the House
and the film 21. He has been the technology lead for two internet startups and was an
options trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. He co-founded PROTRADE, a sports
stock market website, and consults for professional sports teams including the Portland
Trail Blazers and the San Francisco 49ers. He lives in San Francisco, CA.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword Ben Mezrich Mezrich, Ben
1 The Religion of Statistics 1
2 Why the Past Matters 23
3 Think Like a Scientist 43
4 The Importance of Asking Questions 63
5 The Impractical Search for Perfection 81
6 Using Numbers to Tell a Story 99
7 Never Fear 119
8 Making the Right Decision 137
9 When I Won, We All Won 159
10 Why People Hate Math and What to Do with Them 173
11 The Brain Cells in Your Stomach 191
Epilogue 211
Appendix: Basic Strategy Chart 227
Notes 229
Index 235
272 pages, hardcover