The phrase “Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” has been ingrained in our heads and usually eludes more to sex then gambling. Nonetheless, Ben Mezrich, author of “Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos To Their Knees,” lays the card players’ adventure out on the green felt of the blackjack tables.

Mezrich makes good use of the gaudy, glamorous and glitzy detail when describing Sin City’s heavily perfumed and cigar-scented velvet décor. Meanwhile, the story possesses enough excitement and dramatic content to create a naughty blend of the movie “Rounders” and the TV show “Las Vegas.”

“Busting Vegas” is a true account of legendary 21-year-old high roller, Semyon Dukach, and his team who used a system never seen by casinos and never revealed until now.

Eight players mastered techniques went beyond card counting and became more like a “manipulation of the elements that made the game work.” Every suspense-filled detail of Dukach’s blackjack game stirs up this money-hungry curiosity to see how it all went down.

They were not only threatened at gunpoint but also dragged to the casino's notorious back rooms where they were often beaten and harassed. Somehow the crew of MIT masterminds played through the fear and intimidation to successfully work the system to their advantage.

Visual scenes like stern pit bosses milling about the casino floor, or how curious security personnel always watched through inescapable hidden cameras, provided challenging twists and deadly scenarios, making the team lucky if they came out alive. It's real-life predicaments like this, which make it easy to devour chapter after chapter.

The book may give you the confidence to buy a one-way ticket to Vegas and try these big money-making techniques on your own. But then you realize you aren’t a mathematical genius and just shuffling cards is a challenging enough feat in itself.