Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 2, Episode 13 - Double Down - full transcript
Charlie and the team investigate a murder at a casino.
♪
I'm feeling lucky tonight.
Change in $5,000. This
is change for $5,000.
Now there's a man
with confidence.
Yeah, I'd love to
join you, partner,
but I got two ex-wives
counting on me.
How about you? I think I'll
stick with my 3-iron off the tee.
Straight and safe, huh?
Split them, would you,
ma'am? Where you from, kid?
Moscow.
But my dad's business
brings me to LA a lot.
Your daddy's business
must be good, huh?
Whoa. You are lucky, son.
Dealer busts.
Looks like everybody's
pretty lucky here tonight.
Sit in, find out for yourself.
I lost too much already.
Maybe next time.
Okay.
You leaving?
Just, uh, need
a little fresh air.
In LA? Good luck.
I need my car.
Sorry, man, we're
shorthanded. It's gonna be a wait.
If you want to get it yourself,
I can tell you where to go.
All right.
You want my money?
Task force got the
call about an hour ago.
Gunshot was
reported at 10:10 p.m.
Any witnesses?
Not so far.
That makes four
robberies at this location
in the past six months.
First homicide, though.
Manager says they installed
the camera after the last robbery.
Might get a look off that.
Also found this in the truck.
That's a lot of notebooks. Yeah.
It's all numbers, equations.
Lucky for us, we know a guy.
We do know a guy.
Wallet was tossed. Cash
and credit cards are missing.
Yuri Chernov.
Born '86.
Nineteen.
Kind of young for a high roller.
Yeah, a Huntington
Tech undergrad.
Picked the wrong night
to take a study break.
Yep.
We all use math every day.
To predict
weather, to tell time,
to handle money.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's logic.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's rationality.
It's using your mind to solve
the biggest mysteries we know.
Well, I've heard about this,
but never actually
seen it demonstrated.
Are you sure this is gonna work?
Oh, absolutely.
Hey, Charlie, I've
been looking for you.
Hey, hey, hey. Come
on, come over here, man.
Um, so this is for a lecture I'm
preparing, "Math and Molecules:
"An Introduction
to Fluid Dynamics."
It looks like mints
and soda to me.
Well, two words,
surface tension.
The stuff that gives soda its
fizz is a gas, carbon dioxide.
What holds the gas inside
the liquid is surface tension.
And we all know the importance
of surface tension
in fluid dynamics.
We do?
Bubbles of gas in the soda
experience viscous drag force
from the surrounding liquids.
The mints hyperexcite the
thermodynamic equilibrium
of the supersaturated CO2,
weakening the surface tension,
causing the gases
to escape rapidly.
Very rapidly.
And you guys actually
get paid for this?
You know, despite your
brother's adolescent grin,
this is actually very
sophisticated math here.
I don't know about you
guys, but I'm ready to do this.
- Are you guys ready?
- Step back.
Sure you don't need a
permit or something for this?
Okay.
Yeah!
That's awesome.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
So, uh, who cleans
all this up now?
I am gonna clean
it. Probably... Later.
Uh, I'm assuming you're
not here for the show.
Um, yeah. This is Yuri Chernov
who was actually a math
student at Huntington Tech.
Oh, they've got a brilliant
undergrad program there. Mmm-hmm.
Well, he was murdered last night
and we found this in his car.
Thought maybe you could
figure out what it means.
Those are probability
calculations.
I-I-I-If I could, these...
these equations,
they just seem a
little familiar to me.
Have you worked
with these equations?
I... I don't know.
If I could just examine
them more closely.
All right, let me...
Let me just, uh,
make a copy in your office?
Hey, Larry?
I'll bring it right back. I'm just
gonna make a copy, all right?
Yuri's parents
are flying in today.
I don't know what
I'm gonna tell them.
Well, I can talk
to them for you,
if that would
make things easier.
No, I... I should be
the one to tell them.
They always liked me.
Really? How long
did you two date for?
About a year.
We broke up a couple months ago.
May I ask why?
The gambling.
At first, it was just sort of
a weekend thing for fun.
Then it got to be it's all he
would talk about, all he'd do.
He'd play all day, all weekend.
And did he start
getting into debt?
It was the opposite.
He just kept winning.
And the more he won...
Yuri got into this
whole player vibe,
dressing differently,
acting differently.
And that's why
you guys broke up?
Crazy thing is,
a couple of days ago, I thought
we might get back together.
He called and apologized.
Said he was gonna quit.
Did he tell you why?
He said he made a mistake.
A big one,
but that things were
gonna be okay now.
Excuse me, do you mind
stopping just for a second?
Thanks.
So Yuri Chernov is shot at
close range with a nine millimeter?
Right, a nine mil. I mean,
there should be some casings.
Yeah, but none were found.
You know, the witness from
the last robbery at the casino
described a .38 caliber.
Right. I mean, the whole thing
feels like a different guy to me,
so different gun.
Yeah.
What's up, boys?
What's goin' on? Check this out.
We found these in Yuri
Chernov's dorm room.
Ah, driver's licenses, fake IDs.
He had different
wardrobes in his closet,
hair dyes in his bathroom.
Yeah, look at this.
He's got a different
look in each one of these.
Checked his transcripts.
Straight A student,
total math geek.
Well, none of this
fits that profile, right?
No, but the ex told me that
he was playing the player role,
and that he wanted out of it.
Did we get anything
from these security cams?
Nothin'. They're blind spots.
Should we check inside?
Club's Eye In The Sky, right?
Yeah, maybe we can find
someone shadowing the kid.
Something wrong, Charlie?
I'm thinking about this...
This lecture I gave
on applied probability.
What, the famous casino night?
Oh, yes, "Applying Probability
to Games of Chance."
An Eppes classic.
Turning the class
into a mini-casino
and applying probability theory
to roulette, poker, blackjack.
Gets kids hooked.
I gave that lecture
as my guest lecture
at Huntington Tech last year.
Wait, you're not seriously
proposing a causal connection
between this student's
death and your lecture?
Students gamble, Charlie.
Remember those MIT students?
They took the
casinos for millions.
How about the book that just
came out on blackjack strategy?
What was it, Busting Vegas?
Okay, maybe this
student read that book.
Look, if anything,
I think I'm the one to
proffer a mea culpa here.
The moment Don showed
me these equations,
I recognized them
immediately. What?
These are calculations
for card counting,
blackjack, to be precise.
Wait, you're a blackjack stud?
Was a blackjack stud, okay?
And in the unfinished
biography of my life,
that is very much
a closed chapter.
Outside of bulk calculations,
what's involved
in card counting?
You said you
attended my lecture.
I had to duck
out after roulette.
I was prepping
for my orals, sorry.
Yeah, yeah, so much
for an Eppes classic.
Well, blackjack
is all about math.
The point is to hit
21 without going over.
The game is ruled by
conditional probabilities.
What you see affects
what you're going to see.
If an ace is dealt, then there's
one less ace in the remaining cards.
And knowing how the
cards are likely to be dealt
works to the card
counter's advantage,
because players can ask
for a card whenever they want,
but a dealer must take a
card when the total is below 17
and can't take a card when
the total is between 17 and 21.
So lower value
cards favor the dealer,
because there's less
likely chance that he'll bust.
21.
The opposite is
true for picture cards.
Each of them are worth ten.
They favor the player, because the
more of them that are left in the deck,
the more chances
for the dealer to bust.
24, dealer busts.
Now, keeping
exact track isn't easy,
but card counters use
certain techniques, like, uh...
Well, it's like assigning
general values.
Uh, plus one for
cards two through six,
minus one for picture
cards, aces, tens,
zeros for seven, eight, nine.
Okay.
Larry. Uh...
Well, I'm sure you'll
correct me if I'm wrong,
but doesn't that allow the
card counter to keep a tally?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. High
number count favors a player,
they make their
bets accordingly.
Doesn't that attract attention?
Yeah, of course it does.
Sometimes with
grave consequences.
You got caught.
Eyes In The Sky has
Yuri Chernov gambling
for seven hours that day,
starting at 3:00.
He made 20 grand.
All right, so high
roller, a lot of cash,
same as the other robberies...
Except none of the other
robberies escalated to violence.
That's what I was gonna
say. Let alone homicide.
And I don't see Chernov
challenging a guy with a gun.
Well, so then we're
talking murder.
Yeah, and then you throw in
the fake IDs and the disguises,
and I just think there's
something more here
than a robbery gone wrong.
I see what you're
saying, I agree.
Hi, guys. Hey.
Hi. CHARLIE: Larry has something
he'd like to say to you all.
Yeah. Um, Don, I
owe you an apology.
I withheld, uh, my insights
due to personal
discomfort with, uh...
past nonscientific exploits...
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
I don't know. What
are you talking about?
The notebooks that you
found in Yuri Chernov's car,
they're filled with card
counting equations.
Larry thinks that Yuri was card
counting at blackjack at the club.
Yeah? How do you know that?
Are you saying that you
were a card counter, Larry?
The salient point here
is that casinos and clubs,
even other players, they
regard card counting as cheating,
and its practice has led to certain
acts of violence on occasion.
But the only
thing is, Professor,
and I don't mean
to diss your theory,
but we've been
looking at this tape,
and this kid, he's
been drinking,
and throwin' money
around haphazardly.
I mean, it doesn't
really look like a system.
It looks kind of like dumb luck.
And the sum total
of said dumb luck?
20 grand.
To beat the house, there's
more than one way to skin a cat.
C-Can we somehow
just roll back to the point
where Yuri Chernov
first begins to play?
Okay, now, the card counter
faces one major
obstacle to success.
Transparent betting patterns.
In order to make money,
a card counter has to raise
or lower his bets
based on... on the count.
That's right. And that's
where the team comes in.
A... A team uses
a spotter to count.
Now the spotter will bet small.
He stays inconspicuous.
But that spotter will
signal the big player
when the count is high.
There you go,
right there, that's it.
Okay, so you're saying
the guy in the purple,
the preppy guy, is our spotter?
Well, I mean, unless
he just has an itchy ear.
Wait a minute.
The guy that just walked
in, in the yellow and green,
we've seen him before, right?
Yeah, actually, he
was playin' earlier,
and he was throwing money
around the same way Chernov was.
Was this guy playing
with our spotter,
the preppy guy?
Yeah.
They were at the same table.
Well, there you go.
And then there were three.
So, we're looking at a
team of card counters. Right.
Yeah, well, look, if that's
what got Chernov killed,
we better find those
partners, 'cause they're next.
All the kids are in disguises.
It might take some
time to find them.
Well, Chernov was a student.
Maybe the other two are, also.
You know where to go.
Huntington Tech.
All right, see you later.
Larry said these card
rings often have a backer
who puts up money
at the beginning,
and then takes a
percentage of the split.
Maybe the guy
got tired of the split.
All right, so the backer's a
suspect, but I don't wanna rule out
that club yet, either, you know?
Yeah.
So, you had a gambling problem.
It only makes you that much
more colorful, you know, Larry?
Just... Just so you realize,
you know, this
wasn't some hobby.
This was a calling.
This was our way of
d-demonstrating to the world
the power of mathematics.
So winning money had
nothing to do with it?
Not at all. No.
Not... Not initially. But,
uh, listen, remember
that a mathematician
named Ed Thorpe
had already created a sensation
back in the '60s when
he wrote this book
called Beat the Dealer.
Now, in response to that book,
casinos introduced
the card shoe.
Actually, they were
called "professor stoppers."
And a few of the
mathematicians like myself,
I mean, we saw it as a
challenge. David versus Goliath.
Uh, wits and nerves versus
cameras and high-tech thuggery.
What do you mean "thuggery"?
Oh, listen to this.
I was playing at this private
card club in Atlantic City.
I was up $20,000. $20,000?
Yeah, yeah.
And the manager
and two pit bosses,
they took me into the back room
where they were
cracking nuts with pliers,
and they told me
that mine were next.
I mean it. But they
didn't... I mean, you're still...
No, I remain whole,
but I had friends
whose fingers were broken,
who had kneecaps reconfigured.
I mean, they said
we were cheaters.
No, we were playing smart.
Smarter than these kids today.
We weren't losing our lives.
What've you got,
face recognition?
Yeah. Our high rollers versus the
Huntington Tech online face book.
I'm still trying to
get used to the idea
of Larry Fleinhardt, the player.
Well, I say Einstein was
a chick magnet, right?
Yeah.
All right, that's our
spotter right there.
Jason Brewer, 19,
second year math
major. Local boy, West LA.
And our rich South
American, Ignacio Nadal.
I wonder if these two
kids have any idea
how much trouble they're in.
I've given you statements,
handed over tapes.
We wanna help.
These robberies aren't
good for business.
Actually, we're not sure that
the shooting was a robbery.
There are indications
that the victim
was part of a card
counting scheme.
I can't really say
you look surprised.
Surprised people cheat? No.
What happens when
they get caught?
We walk 'em out the door.
That's it?
You think we shoot him?
Maybe one of your employees
got a little overzealous?
Guy wins five grand, I'm not
risking 20 to life goin' after him.
That's just Economics 101.
Did you know there was a card
counting ring working your club?
If I knew, they
wouldn't be here.
I still think I'm
gonna need to see
a list of employees
over the past six months,
particularly the ones
working security.
'Cause that's just
Law Enforcement 101.
When was the last time
you saw your son, Mrs. Brewer?
About a week ago.
My husband and I have
been out of town. Paris.
Have you spoken to him
since you've been back?
We got in late last night,
and when we got up this morning,
it looked like Jason
was already gone.
Should I call my
husband at work?
I mean, is my son
Jason in trouble?
We hope not, ma'am.
It just seems that a
couple of his college friends
may have gotten
themselves into a bit of a jam.
Oh, you're talking
about Ignacio and Yuri.
You know them?
Jason and the boys have been
hanging out together quite a bit.
We try to give Jason his space.
That was the whole idea of
his taking over the guest house.
We keep this for emergencies.
Were you aware of this, ma'am?
No. As I said, we...
Try to give your son his space.
The kids are running a
little casino out of here.
Probably use it to practice.
Practice? Practice what?
Your son plays an awful
lot of blackjack, ma'am.
What are you talking about?
Yuri Chernov
was shot last night.
He's dead.
No.
Please let us do
our jobs, ma'am.
I'm going to go call my husband.
I think that's a good idea.
Take a look at this.
Looks like Yuri Chernov
wasn't the only one
using fake IDs and disguises.
Wait a minute.
Check this out.
Well, it looks like they were
keeping pretty careful records.
Yeah. Any luck, it might
lead us to their backer.
Yeah.
Now, if I can
take this data here
and isolate the students'
gambling history,
maybe I can analyze the
money flow, maybe find a pattern.
You could use multivariate
time series analysis
to break the money down
by specific days, even hours.
That's a really good idea. Wow.
Oh, once again, my living room
has become a CalSci annex, huh?
Y-Your living room.
My garage is full.
All of my cognitive
theory work, so...
Why am I not surprised?
What is this? AMITA: Well,
the student who was murdered,
he and his two friends were
members of a card counting team.
Don asked Charlie to
have us look at this data
to see if we could discover
who was bankrolling them.
Card counting. Isn't
that called cheating?
Card counting is not cheating.
It is the application of
probability theory to a game.
Yeah, well, all those schmucks
who play the game for
fun, they think it's cheating.
Well, those are
the same schmucks
that should stick
to slot machines.
Well, you see, that's
why I like playing poker.
'Cause I can handle the
ones that try to take advantage.
Poker, I mean, you gotta
have a mind, a pair of eyes.
These probability grids,
they go way beyond
simple high-low counting.
These were math students, Larry.
Oh, oh. This... This is
not undergraduate work.
You're saying
someone helped them?
You know, this is
reminding me of someone.
There was this guy, Leonard,
and he and I were in
graduate school together.
You know, when the casinos
opened in Atlantic City,
we were there
the very first day.
We were using counting systems,
probability grids like this,
though these are at
a much higher level.
Leonard Philbrick.
Well, why haven't we heard
this name before, Larry?
I don't... It's just not
a... a part of my life that
I'm particularly proud of.
I mean, I've moved
on from my obsession.
But not so with Leonard.
He lost his wife,
he lost his career,
and he was a man
of great promise.
I'll tell you something.
Whoever did this
was a mathematician.
You can bet on that.
We were able to reach
Ignacio Nadal's mom in Detroit.
Single parent. Says he
missed his weekly call home.
She seems worried.
All right, well, that's two
kids no one's heard from.
The fake IDs and
disguises in Brewer's place,
we gotta assume Nadal's
working the same angle, right?
Anything in the dorm?
No, looks like he cleared
out of there in a hurry.
So both of these
kids are on the run.
Hey. Hey, I was just
looking for you guys.
Larry came up with a name.
The probability grids and algorithms
found in Jason Brewer's place,
he thinks there's a chance they
may belong to Leonard Philbrick.
He says he could be our backer.
Well, why don't you
guys just run it down,
see if you can find
out where the guy is.
You don't have to. I Googled
Philbrick's name on the way here.
He's living in Long Beach. He
teaches high school math there.
Well, that puts
him right next door
to the Huntington Tech campus.
Yeah, Eppes.
All right, we're
on our way. Yeah.
LAPD just found Jason Brewer.
Let's go.
Time of death was 8:00 a.m.,
and the commuters
heard the shots,
but by the time
they found the body,
it was too late to
lock up the building.
SID said it's a nine millimeter.
Same kind that killed
Chernov, huh? Yeah.
Single shot to the head.
No casings were found.
We did find his backpack
in the trash, though.
Phone numbers,
addresses, and this.
Yeah? What's this?
Wow, look at this. J, K, Q, A...
Jack, King, Queen, Ace.
Some kind of card sequence list.
Ticket agent remembers sellin'
Brewer a one-way bus fare to Vancouver.
Stuck out because Brewer
didn't have the money.
Older guy paid for
the ticket with cash.
You get a description?
Actually, better than that. They just
ID'd the older guy that was with Brewer.
Leonard Philbrick?
Same guy Charlie
and Larry pegged
as a possible financial
backer for these kids.
All right, well, looks
like they might be right.
Jason dead?
That's just horrible.
His mother collapsed
when we told her about him.
I can only imagine.
I doubt that.
You don't think I had
anything to do with it?
Well, he was shot in
the head at a bus station
within 30 minutes of
you buying him a ticket.
As far as we know, you were
the last person to see him alive.
I think, uh...
I think I better talk to my
lawyer before we continue this.
Yeah? Why don't you ask 'em
in there what they're gonna think
about you recruiting their
kids to hustle cards, Leonard?
We know all about
you, Professor.
About your dreams of
putting your crew together,
about your past gambling debts.
I don't know what
you're talking about.
No? Well, why do phone
records put you in touch
with Brewer, Chernov, and
Nadal within the last six months?
You finally put together a team,
and now two of them are dead.
I didn't hurt Jason or Yuri.
I could never do
something like that.
Where is Ignacio Nadal?
I don't know.
Is he on the run from somebody?
Look, these kids,
they came to me.
They'd found
articles I'd written.
A system I developed.
What, you taught 'em, and
you bankrolled 'em, right?
Until last month, yes.
Why? What happened then?
They told me they
found some new backer.
Somebody with
substantially more money.
And you just
took that in stride?
I didn't kill Jason Brewer.
All right, Leonard,
why don't you tell us
what you were doin'
in the bus station then?
He needed help.
He was on the run, and
his parents are out of town.
He had nobody
that he could turn to.
I would never do
anything to hurt these kids.
I was their teacher.
We need to find Ignacio Nadal.
We put a trace on
his mom's phone.
We're monitoring
his cell provider.
He makes one phone
call, we're on him.
What about friends
or classmates?
Aside from Chernov and Brewer,
this guy's pretty much a loner.
Colby? Hey, guys.
I think I got somethin'.
Remember that girl the other night
who was with Ignacio on the tape?
Mmm-hmm. Brandi?
With an "I." Yeah.
And check this out. She
was not just with Ignacio.
She was there other nights.
She was with all three guys?
Yeah, all of them.
So, I went through Jason
Brewer's address book.
I found her number. At least
her work number, anyway.
The Bareback Club?
She's the main attraction.
So, who do we think
should do that interview?
♪
Check out the midday crowd.
Looks like a bunch of
dads who got separated
from their families on
the bus to Disneyland.
I'm sensing premeditation.
We're looking for Brandi,
and don't start pourin'.
Get ready, guys. Coming
to the main stage, Brandi.
I'll tell the DJ
to cut the music.
Whoa, hold on a minute.
One song's not
gonna kill anybody.
Just relax, have
yourself a soda.
Let the Disneyland
dads have one last look.
Mmm, nice tie.
Yeah, I was there that night
with Ignacio, but I left early.
So you knew him? I
know a lot of people.
How about people
who get murdered?
Ignacio's dead?
Not yet.
I don't understand.
We saw the surveillance tapes.
You were there with two
other guys beside Ignacio.
Ignacio's friends.
They're dead.
Oh, my God.
We're trying to make sure
that doesn't happen to Ignacio.
Have you seen him?
Has he tried to call you?
Why'd you leave
early that night?
I had another date.
Yeah? Date have a name?
He's married.
We'll be discreet.
And Ignacio, was he a date also?
Not exactly.
Well, then be exact.
I provide a service.
Not that service.
So what were you,
their math tutor?
They needed me
to pull off their act.
With me on their arm, it
gave 'em some credibility.
So you knew they
were counting cards?
Nobody's that lucky.
So, what did you
get out of the deal?
Money.
A lot of money.
Did you notice
anybody following them?
Anybody watching them?
You're up five, ten grand,
people are watching.
I told Ignacio someday
they'd get made.
So you think that's
what happened to 'em?
Nobody likes to lose money.
Guys, put your hands
together for Sapphire.
Office getting cramped?
Uh, it's being cleaned.
After months battling the maintenance
department, you know, I gave in.
How's it going?
Uh, I'm having trouble
isolating the students' gambling
histories, as... as we discussed.
To find a pattern that'll yield
the identity of the backer.
Maybe the killer.
No luck so far. You know, I... I
could really use your help, Larry.
Lawrence.
Hey, did you two know
that Yuri Chernov
was a Tasker Scholar?
He was the first member
of his family to go to college.
Jason Brewer, his
IQ is off the charts.
Ignacio Nadal may be the most,
I don't know, gifted of them all.
Well, don't you take solace
in knowing that clearly,
you're not the
only brilliant thinker
to fall under the
allure of gambling?
I need your brilliant
thinking right now.
I just can't make
sense of these figures.
If I could be as vague
and opaque as Larry,
I'd say if the new backer
is behind these killings,
then maybe you need to
look behind these numbers.
Yeah, she's right, Charlie.
It's like... It's like
money moves.
Like planets, it's very
movement reveals truths.
Do you really think these
kids are laundering money?
On a pretty big scale.
So they take money they
couldn't account for legally,
and use gambling
to legitimize it?
They use the card club
as their washing machine.
Look. Look how the money
flow altered a month ago,
when I believe a new
backer came onto the scene.
These kids changed the
way they purchased chips.
And in any 24-hour period,
they never exceeded $10,000.
Right, 'cause they stay
below the IRS reporting limit.
So there's no record of
the cash they started with,
and a few thousand winnings
doesn't really seem like a big scam.
That's where they were smart.
We have three students.
Right. With multiple IDs.
Which they used to create three
separate card club player accounts.
So, we have three students
with three separate
player accounts
cashing out $9,900 a night.
That's $89,100 per visit.
Playing six or seven
days a week for a month.
So, that's gotta
be at least, what,
I mean, it's over
two million, right?
To be precise, in one
month, that's $2,138,000.
Where's all that money
go, back to the backer?
They wired their money from the player
account to an offshore account where...
Right, it disappeared.
Unfortunately.
So we can't trace
it to the backer.
And this kid I-Ignacio is the only
one who can tell us where it is.
Which I'm sure the
backer knows, as well.
♪
You ever been to one of these?
A few times. My dad's
dragged me. He's into it.
My mom always takes away
his credit cards before we come.
Table six just went
to a plus 18 count.
Is that good? Oh, yeah.
I've gotta tell you, I'm feeling
so uncomfortable about this.
Larry, all you've been
telling me is that the only way
to understand this game is to sit at
the blackjack table and play the game.
Charlie's right, Larry.
The students were doing
very complicated equations
in a high-stress environment.
You know, I need
to feel how they felt.
I need to play how they played.
I... I need you to teach me.
I don't think you understand just
how truly narcotic this is for me.
Can't you just see
this as... as field work?
Unfortunately, it
is a poppy field.
I'm warning you both, we're
standing at the precipice.
This is the event
horizon of a black hole.
♪ There's just
one place for me ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ Yeah, just one place to be ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ I'm so happy to be here ♪
♪ When I look
around, it's clear ♪
♪ Yes, it's perfectly
plain to see ♪
♪ There's the
cream of the crop ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ On my list at the top ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ Couldn't ask
for nothing more ♪
♪ Like a hope that I adore ♪
♪ If there's one place I fit ♪
♪ This is it ♪
Well, nothing like the
sting of over-oxygenated air
and endless pecuniary promise.
You know, this used to be about
demonstrating the
power of mathematics.
Okay, well, there is that, too.
I think we should
call it a night.
What? Yeah, let's
get out of here.
How about field research?
Come on, we got
table four over there
just ripe for the picking.
What is he doing
with those cards?
Some clubs
introduce a fresh deck
at the dealer shift change.
Just prevents players
from marking the cards.
People actually do that?
I know players who can
cut a multi-deck stack
at exactly 52 cards.
Some players, uh, do other
feats, like shuffle-tracking.
Shuffle-tracking?
Yeah, well, no shuffle by
human hand is exactly perfect.
Some cards remain together.
And the players who
memorize the order
look for those same
groupings in the next shuffle.
That's why they're
using machines now.
How do those machines work?
Auto-shufflers? They use
random number generation
to create a random
distribution of cards.
Interesting. Because what do we
know about random distribution?
It's impossible for machines to
create truly random sequences.
These kids cracked the code
for how an auto-shuffler shuffles.
The sequences found in
Jason Brewer's notebook
were in fact
card-counting cheat sheets,
exploiting a weakness in
the random number generator
found inside this box.
That's the
auto-shuffler we found
in Jason Brewer's apartment.
The students used it
to adapt a card skill
called shuffle-tracking.
Yeah, when dealers shuffle, there are
little runs of cards that stay together.
So the players will look
for them to reappear.
And clubs try to prevent this
by using the auto-shuffler.
But, as we all know,
machines aren't perfect.
And the kids took advantage.
Right, and how'd they do that?
First, they must have
analyzed this mechanism.
So an auto-shuffler shuffles
using a system
of multiple shelves,
depositing the cards on shelves
in a seemingly random order.
But the shuffles
aren't really random,
because the random
number generator
controlling the auto-shuffler
is governed by
a fixed algorithm.
And these kids
figured all that out?
That's not all they figured out.
This specific card
club had a policy.
On dealer shift changes, they
would introduce new decks,
sealed, straight
from the factory.
Now, these cards
are in a preset order.
Now, knowing
this starting order,
as well as the algorithm
enabled these students...
To know the cards that were
coming before they were even dealt.
That kind of math problem is
way beyond our three students.
Their teacher was Leonard
Philbrick. He had to have helped them.
Oh, he did more than that.
I just got off the phone with
the auto-shuffler company.
Guess who they hired
as their math consultant.
What, Philbrick?
He created the
auto-shuffler's algorithm?
Yeah, which he
could have then given
to Ignacio and
the students, right?
Which means that he could
have easily designed an algorithm
that had a much
shorter period to follow.
Thousands of steps,
instead of billions.
Okay, so they were cheating,
which gives the card club
motivation to go after 'em.
Yeah, but let's not
forget about Philbrick.
All of that "I was their teacher"
stuff goes out the window,
if the students stole
his scam and ran with it.
What was I supposed to do,
admit I stole a trade secret?
Used it to cheat a card
club out of thousands?
It would have been a start.
You could have used it as
mitigation at your murder trial.
I told you, I didn't
murder anyone.
Yeah, well, Leonard, I'm
guessing you know who did.
One way or another,
you're involved in this,
and you're not telling us, okay?
So I'm telling you, anything
happens to that kid Nadal,
that's three murders I'm connecting
you to. Do you understand that?
Look, the kids got caught
with the auto-shuffler, all right?
By who?
Marius. The club manager.
Next thing I know,
he's at my door.
Oh, so the kids gave you up.
I warned them not to get greedy.
Knowing that shuffle,
you can make returns
at 200, even 300
percent every few hours.
Yeah, but not without
someone noticing.
Marius caught them, day one.
And that's how the
dirty money came in.
He's got connections with drug
distributors on the east coast.
So you made a deal. Your asses
for the money-laundering scam.
What else could we do?
All right. So what went wrong?
Well, the kids got cold feet.
They wanted to come forward,
admit to the gambling
fraud, the money laundering.
What happened then?
Marius found out?
The recent high roller robberies
presented a perfect opportunity,
a cover for Yuri's murder.
As for Jason, well, Marius
must have followed him
when he came to see me.
That's got to mean
Ignacio is next.
Right, 'cause he doesn't
wanna leave any witnesses.
Hey, FBI. Where's
Marius, the manager?
You smell that?
The shots fired.
Yeah, here we go. I
got a dead body here.
Lock this place down.
All right, so Marius
isn't the killer.
So we have to figure out
who would want Marius dead.
Well, how about the people
he was laundering for?
These East Coast drug dealers.
I mean, if you think about it,
Marius got a bunch of college
kids involved in money laundering,
only he loses control of them.
So what, he killed
them all to keep it quiet?
Only obviously he didn't
keep it quiet enough.
Well, we know he's
going after Ignacio next.
Yeah, 'cause he's
the one last witness.
And you? Why are
you so quiet over there?
It's the statement
Marius gave to the LAPD.
The night Yuri
Chernov was murdered,
he says he started
work at 7:00 p.m.
So?
What are all these calls coming out
of his office first thing in the morning?
Maybe somebody else
was using his office.
Maybe he was just lyin'.
Yeah, but why would
he lie about that?
Maybe he didn't want anyone to know
he was at the club when Yuri arrived.
What? Constrained dynamics.
Chernov's car was parked in a... in
a security camera blind spot, right?
Yeah, the whole
corner was obscured.
All right. Do you
have an overview
of the card club parking lot?
Yeah, that's it, right there.
Chernov arrived late afternoon,
well before the evening
crowds showed up.
Why the hell would he park his car
this far away from the club's entrance?
That doesn't add up.
More than that, it defies
mathematical principles.
Constrained dynamics
is used to analyze
everything from traffic flow
in supermarkets and malls
to the mechanics
of granular matter...
Meanwhile, back
in the parking lot?
Applying constrained dynamics,
the parking lot
should have filled up
in a predictable pattern,
starting with the spaces
closest to the entrance
and fanning out like a
wave, like... like... like a wave.
Given the time
that Yuri arrived,
I see no reason why he
parked his car this far away.
Unless he wasn't
the one who parked it.
All I did was park his car.
Right. in the back
of an empty lot.
Hey, Willie, you wanna be
charged as an accessory here, huh?
Look, the man paid me 500 bucks
to park the dude's
car by the fence.
What man? Marius?
Another guy.
But I saw him talking
with Marius that morning.
Before that, he was with
the dude who got whacked.
You're saying the guy that
paid you knew the victim?
Yeah. A Latino dude, young guy.
Came to the club all
the time with two friends.
That day he was
wearin' a soccer jersey...
And a lot of jewelry.
So Ignacio.
He played both of his friends
and Philbrick and Marius?
And if he's killing witnesses...
He's got one left.
Philbrick's heading
toward his car.
I've got Philbrick.
Suspect's acquired.
He's movin' in.
Where is he?
He's on the other side of the
cars. He's tracking Philbrick.
I got him.
Mr. Philbrick?
If you have a second,
can I talk to you
about my calculus grade?
This is not a good time, Karen.
But I really need... Karen,
please walk away now!
You guys, move, move!
Keep your hands
where I can see 'em.
Make a move for that
gun and you're dead.
You set me up.
Yeah, just like you
set up your friends.
And then you
were gonna kill him.
Up to your knees. Put your
hands behind your head, slow.
Why?
Why? Why not?
You told us the money
was there, remember?
All we had to do was take it.
If Yuri and Jason
hadn't punked on me,
it would have worked out, too.
It looks like you
gambled and lost, pal.
Well, I see once again you've
escaped all responsibility
for your actions.
Oh, Leonard,
you must be very
proud of yourself.
Larry Fleinhardt.
Well, what's it been, 25 years?
22, Leonard.
I see your name in journals.
Academic life has
treated you well.
Well enough.
What are you doing here?
I'm just waiting on you.
How could you do it?
You know what
the game did to us.
How could you visit such a
fate upon young gifted minds?
Those kids came to me.
And instead of
sharing your wisdom,
two are dead and
another's going to prison.
These kids were a
second chance for me.
Come on.
Don't tell me you don't
remember what it felt like
to beat the house
at their own game.
You were the best I
ever saw, Fleinhardt,
and you just walked away.
That's right. And I
never looked back.
When the numbers
are running you,
instead of you
running the numbers,
it's time to take your
money off the table, Leonard.
Men make choices
they have to live with.
Well, you know, I know two
who will never get that chance.
So Philbrick cut a deal.
Two years probation.
He got lucky. Yeah.
Oh, yeah, if you
wanna call it that.
Again, I apologize for
not coming forward sooner.
Ah, it's all right.
No, I was... I was
tormented. I was mortified.
Look, you stepped up ultimately.
Larry, do... do you realize
that without your help,
we would have never figured out
those students were money laundering.
Yeah, not to mention giving Charlie,
uh, a taste of real action at the tables.
Hey, what are we talking
about blackjack for?
Let's play a real game.
A real game? ALAN: Poker!
Where all the math
in the world is useless
against a good
read, steady nerves.
You know what? I have had
enough action to last a lifetime.
Besides, poker is for
professional card players
and underemployed celebrities.
Yeah. I'm out, too, actually.
The last time I played with you,
I ended up eating mac
and cheese for a week.
Come on. We'll go sit outside,
you can tell me about
the gambling days.
Yeah. Yeah.
I guess it's you and me.
Texas Hold'em, no limit.
What do you say
we bet the house?
You're not... You're not
serious about betting the house.
I'm always serious.
I'm feeling lucky tonight.
Change in $5,000. This
is change for $5,000.
Now there's a man
with confidence.
Yeah, I'd love to
join you, partner,
but I got two ex-wives
counting on me.
How about you? I think I'll
stick with my 3-iron off the tee.
Straight and safe, huh?
Split them, would you,
ma'am? Where you from, kid?
Moscow.
But my dad's business
brings me to LA a lot.
Your daddy's business
must be good, huh?
Whoa. You are lucky, son.
Dealer busts.
Looks like everybody's
pretty lucky here tonight.
Sit in, find out for yourself.
I lost too much already.
Maybe next time.
Okay.
You leaving?
Just, uh, need
a little fresh air.
In LA? Good luck.
I need my car.
Sorry, man, we're
shorthanded. It's gonna be a wait.
If you want to get it yourself,
I can tell you where to go.
All right.
You want my money?
Task force got the
call about an hour ago.
Gunshot was
reported at 10:10 p.m.
Any witnesses?
Not so far.
That makes four
robberies at this location
in the past six months.
First homicide, though.
Manager says they installed
the camera after the last robbery.
Might get a look off that.
Also found this in the truck.
That's a lot of notebooks. Yeah.
It's all numbers, equations.
Lucky for us, we know a guy.
We do know a guy.
Wallet was tossed. Cash
and credit cards are missing.
Yuri Chernov.
Born '86.
Nineteen.
Kind of young for a high roller.
Yeah, a Huntington
Tech undergrad.
Picked the wrong night
to take a study break.
Yep.
We all use math every day.
To predict
weather, to tell time,
to handle money.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's logic.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's rationality.
It's using your mind to solve
the biggest mysteries we know.
Well, I've heard about this,
but never actually
seen it demonstrated.
Are you sure this is gonna work?
Oh, absolutely.
Hey, Charlie, I've
been looking for you.
Hey, hey, hey. Come
on, come over here, man.
Um, so this is for a lecture I'm
preparing, "Math and Molecules:
"An Introduction
to Fluid Dynamics."
It looks like mints
and soda to me.
Well, two words,
surface tension.
The stuff that gives soda its
fizz is a gas, carbon dioxide.
What holds the gas inside
the liquid is surface tension.
And we all know the importance
of surface tension
in fluid dynamics.
We do?
Bubbles of gas in the soda
experience viscous drag force
from the surrounding liquids.
The mints hyperexcite the
thermodynamic equilibrium
of the supersaturated CO2,
weakening the surface tension,
causing the gases
to escape rapidly.
Very rapidly.
And you guys actually
get paid for this?
You know, despite your
brother's adolescent grin,
this is actually very
sophisticated math here.
I don't know about you
guys, but I'm ready to do this.
- Are you guys ready?
- Step back.
Sure you don't need a
permit or something for this?
Okay.
Yeah!
That's awesome.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
So, uh, who cleans
all this up now?
I am gonna clean
it. Probably... Later.
Uh, I'm assuming you're
not here for the show.
Um, yeah. This is Yuri Chernov
who was actually a math
student at Huntington Tech.
Oh, they've got a brilliant
undergrad program there. Mmm-hmm.
Well, he was murdered last night
and we found this in his car.
Thought maybe you could
figure out what it means.
Those are probability
calculations.
I-I-I-If I could, these...
these equations,
they just seem a
little familiar to me.
Have you worked
with these equations?
I... I don't know.
If I could just examine
them more closely.
All right, let me...
Let me just, uh,
make a copy in your office?
Hey, Larry?
I'll bring it right back. I'm just
gonna make a copy, all right?
Yuri's parents
are flying in today.
I don't know what
I'm gonna tell them.
Well, I can talk
to them for you,
if that would
make things easier.
No, I... I should be
the one to tell them.
They always liked me.
Really? How long
did you two date for?
About a year.
We broke up a couple months ago.
May I ask why?
The gambling.
At first, it was just sort of
a weekend thing for fun.
Then it got to be it's all he
would talk about, all he'd do.
He'd play all day, all weekend.
And did he start
getting into debt?
It was the opposite.
He just kept winning.
And the more he won...
Yuri got into this
whole player vibe,
dressing differently,
acting differently.
And that's why
you guys broke up?
Crazy thing is,
a couple of days ago, I thought
we might get back together.
He called and apologized.
Said he was gonna quit.
Did he tell you why?
He said he made a mistake.
A big one,
but that things were
gonna be okay now.
Excuse me, do you mind
stopping just for a second?
Thanks.
So Yuri Chernov is shot at
close range with a nine millimeter?
Right, a nine mil. I mean,
there should be some casings.
Yeah, but none were found.
You know, the witness from
the last robbery at the casino
described a .38 caliber.
Right. I mean, the whole thing
feels like a different guy to me,
so different gun.
Yeah.
What's up, boys?
What's goin' on? Check this out.
We found these in Yuri
Chernov's dorm room.
Ah, driver's licenses, fake IDs.
He had different
wardrobes in his closet,
hair dyes in his bathroom.
Yeah, look at this.
He's got a different
look in each one of these.
Checked his transcripts.
Straight A student,
total math geek.
Well, none of this
fits that profile, right?
No, but the ex told me that
he was playing the player role,
and that he wanted out of it.
Did we get anything
from these security cams?
Nothin'. They're blind spots.
Should we check inside?
Club's Eye In The Sky, right?
Yeah, maybe we can find
someone shadowing the kid.
Something wrong, Charlie?
I'm thinking about this...
This lecture I gave
on applied probability.
What, the famous casino night?
Oh, yes, "Applying Probability
to Games of Chance."
An Eppes classic.
Turning the class
into a mini-casino
and applying probability theory
to roulette, poker, blackjack.
Gets kids hooked.
I gave that lecture
as my guest lecture
at Huntington Tech last year.
Wait, you're not seriously
proposing a causal connection
between this student's
death and your lecture?
Students gamble, Charlie.
Remember those MIT students?
They took the
casinos for millions.
How about the book that just
came out on blackjack strategy?
What was it, Busting Vegas?
Okay, maybe this
student read that book.
Look, if anything,
I think I'm the one to
proffer a mea culpa here.
The moment Don showed
me these equations,
I recognized them
immediately. What?
These are calculations
for card counting,
blackjack, to be precise.
Wait, you're a blackjack stud?
Was a blackjack stud, okay?
And in the unfinished
biography of my life,
that is very much
a closed chapter.
Outside of bulk calculations,
what's involved
in card counting?
You said you
attended my lecture.
I had to duck
out after roulette.
I was prepping
for my orals, sorry.
Yeah, yeah, so much
for an Eppes classic.
Well, blackjack
is all about math.
The point is to hit
21 without going over.
The game is ruled by
conditional probabilities.
What you see affects
what you're going to see.
If an ace is dealt, then there's
one less ace in the remaining cards.
And knowing how the
cards are likely to be dealt
works to the card
counter's advantage,
because players can ask
for a card whenever they want,
but a dealer must take a
card when the total is below 17
and can't take a card when
the total is between 17 and 21.
So lower value
cards favor the dealer,
because there's less
likely chance that he'll bust.
21.
The opposite is
true for picture cards.
Each of them are worth ten.
They favor the player, because the
more of them that are left in the deck,
the more chances
for the dealer to bust.
24, dealer busts.
Now, keeping
exact track isn't easy,
but card counters use
certain techniques, like, uh...
Well, it's like assigning
general values.
Uh, plus one for
cards two through six,
minus one for picture
cards, aces, tens,
zeros for seven, eight, nine.
Okay.
Larry. Uh...
Well, I'm sure you'll
correct me if I'm wrong,
but doesn't that allow the
card counter to keep a tally?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. High
number count favors a player,
they make their
bets accordingly.
Doesn't that attract attention?
Yeah, of course it does.
Sometimes with
grave consequences.
You got caught.
Eyes In The Sky has
Yuri Chernov gambling
for seven hours that day,
starting at 3:00.
He made 20 grand.
All right, so high
roller, a lot of cash,
same as the other robberies...
Except none of the other
robberies escalated to violence.
That's what I was gonna
say. Let alone homicide.
And I don't see Chernov
challenging a guy with a gun.
Well, so then we're
talking murder.
Yeah, and then you throw in
the fake IDs and the disguises,
and I just think there's
something more here
than a robbery gone wrong.
I see what you're
saying, I agree.
Hi, guys. Hey.
Hi. CHARLIE: Larry has something
he'd like to say to you all.
Yeah. Um, Don, I
owe you an apology.
I withheld, uh, my insights
due to personal
discomfort with, uh...
past nonscientific exploits...
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
I don't know. What
are you talking about?
The notebooks that you
found in Yuri Chernov's car,
they're filled with card
counting equations.
Larry thinks that Yuri was card
counting at blackjack at the club.
Yeah? How do you know that?
Are you saying that you
were a card counter, Larry?
The salient point here
is that casinos and clubs,
even other players, they
regard card counting as cheating,
and its practice has led to certain
acts of violence on occasion.
But the only
thing is, Professor,
and I don't mean
to diss your theory,
but we've been
looking at this tape,
and this kid, he's
been drinking,
and throwin' money
around haphazardly.
I mean, it doesn't
really look like a system.
It looks kind of like dumb luck.
And the sum total
of said dumb luck?
20 grand.
To beat the house, there's
more than one way to skin a cat.
C-Can we somehow
just roll back to the point
where Yuri Chernov
first begins to play?
Okay, now, the card counter
faces one major
obstacle to success.
Transparent betting patterns.
In order to make money,
a card counter has to raise
or lower his bets
based on... on the count.
That's right. And that's
where the team comes in.
A... A team uses
a spotter to count.
Now the spotter will bet small.
He stays inconspicuous.
But that spotter will
signal the big player
when the count is high.
There you go,
right there, that's it.
Okay, so you're saying
the guy in the purple,
the preppy guy, is our spotter?
Well, I mean, unless
he just has an itchy ear.
Wait a minute.
The guy that just walked
in, in the yellow and green,
we've seen him before, right?
Yeah, actually, he
was playin' earlier,
and he was throwing money
around the same way Chernov was.
Was this guy playing
with our spotter,
the preppy guy?
Yeah.
They were at the same table.
Well, there you go.
And then there were three.
So, we're looking at a
team of card counters. Right.
Yeah, well, look, if that's
what got Chernov killed,
we better find those
partners, 'cause they're next.
All the kids are in disguises.
It might take some
time to find them.
Well, Chernov was a student.
Maybe the other two are, also.
You know where to go.
Huntington Tech.
All right, see you later.
Larry said these card
rings often have a backer
who puts up money
at the beginning,
and then takes a
percentage of the split.
Maybe the guy
got tired of the split.
All right, so the backer's a
suspect, but I don't wanna rule out
that club yet, either, you know?
Yeah.
So, you had a gambling problem.
It only makes you that much
more colorful, you know, Larry?
Just... Just so you realize,
you know, this
wasn't some hobby.
This was a calling.
This was our way of
d-demonstrating to the world
the power of mathematics.
So winning money had
nothing to do with it?
Not at all. No.
Not... Not initially. But,
uh, listen, remember
that a mathematician
named Ed Thorpe
had already created a sensation
back in the '60s when
he wrote this book
called Beat the Dealer.
Now, in response to that book,
casinos introduced
the card shoe.
Actually, they were
called "professor stoppers."
And a few of the
mathematicians like myself,
I mean, we saw it as a
challenge. David versus Goliath.
Uh, wits and nerves versus
cameras and high-tech thuggery.
What do you mean "thuggery"?
Oh, listen to this.
I was playing at this private
card club in Atlantic City.
I was up $20,000. $20,000?
Yeah, yeah.
And the manager
and two pit bosses,
they took me into the back room
where they were
cracking nuts with pliers,
and they told me
that mine were next.
I mean it. But they
didn't... I mean, you're still...
No, I remain whole,
but I had friends
whose fingers were broken,
who had kneecaps reconfigured.
I mean, they said
we were cheaters.
No, we were playing smart.
Smarter than these kids today.
We weren't losing our lives.
What've you got,
face recognition?
Yeah. Our high rollers versus the
Huntington Tech online face book.
I'm still trying to
get used to the idea
of Larry Fleinhardt, the player.
Well, I say Einstein was
a chick magnet, right?
Yeah.
All right, that's our
spotter right there.
Jason Brewer, 19,
second year math
major. Local boy, West LA.
And our rich South
American, Ignacio Nadal.
I wonder if these two
kids have any idea
how much trouble they're in.
I've given you statements,
handed over tapes.
We wanna help.
These robberies aren't
good for business.
Actually, we're not sure that
the shooting was a robbery.
There are indications
that the victim
was part of a card
counting scheme.
I can't really say
you look surprised.
Surprised people cheat? No.
What happens when
they get caught?
We walk 'em out the door.
That's it?
You think we shoot him?
Maybe one of your employees
got a little overzealous?
Guy wins five grand, I'm not
risking 20 to life goin' after him.
That's just Economics 101.
Did you know there was a card
counting ring working your club?
If I knew, they
wouldn't be here.
I still think I'm
gonna need to see
a list of employees
over the past six months,
particularly the ones
working security.
'Cause that's just
Law Enforcement 101.
When was the last time
you saw your son, Mrs. Brewer?
About a week ago.
My husband and I have
been out of town. Paris.
Have you spoken to him
since you've been back?
We got in late last night,
and when we got up this morning,
it looked like Jason
was already gone.
Should I call my
husband at work?
I mean, is my son
Jason in trouble?
We hope not, ma'am.
It just seems that a
couple of his college friends
may have gotten
themselves into a bit of a jam.
Oh, you're talking
about Ignacio and Yuri.
You know them?
Jason and the boys have been
hanging out together quite a bit.
We try to give Jason his space.
That was the whole idea of
his taking over the guest house.
We keep this for emergencies.
Were you aware of this, ma'am?
No. As I said, we...
Try to give your son his space.
The kids are running a
little casino out of here.
Probably use it to practice.
Practice? Practice what?
Your son plays an awful
lot of blackjack, ma'am.
What are you talking about?
Yuri Chernov
was shot last night.
He's dead.
No.
Please let us do
our jobs, ma'am.
I'm going to go call my husband.
I think that's a good idea.
Take a look at this.
Looks like Yuri Chernov
wasn't the only one
using fake IDs and disguises.
Wait a minute.
Check this out.
Well, it looks like they were
keeping pretty careful records.
Yeah. Any luck, it might
lead us to their backer.
Yeah.
Now, if I can
take this data here
and isolate the students'
gambling history,
maybe I can analyze the
money flow, maybe find a pattern.
You could use multivariate
time series analysis
to break the money down
by specific days, even hours.
That's a really good idea. Wow.
Oh, once again, my living room
has become a CalSci annex, huh?
Y-Your living room.
My garage is full.
All of my cognitive
theory work, so...
Why am I not surprised?
What is this? AMITA: Well,
the student who was murdered,
he and his two friends were
members of a card counting team.
Don asked Charlie to
have us look at this data
to see if we could discover
who was bankrolling them.
Card counting. Isn't
that called cheating?
Card counting is not cheating.
It is the application of
probability theory to a game.
Yeah, well, all those schmucks
who play the game for
fun, they think it's cheating.
Well, those are
the same schmucks
that should stick
to slot machines.
Well, you see, that's
why I like playing poker.
'Cause I can handle the
ones that try to take advantage.
Poker, I mean, you gotta
have a mind, a pair of eyes.
These probability grids,
they go way beyond
simple high-low counting.
These were math students, Larry.
Oh, oh. This... This is
not undergraduate work.
You're saying
someone helped them?
You know, this is
reminding me of someone.
There was this guy, Leonard,
and he and I were in
graduate school together.
You know, when the casinos
opened in Atlantic City,
we were there
the very first day.
We were using counting systems,
probability grids like this,
though these are at
a much higher level.
Leonard Philbrick.
Well, why haven't we heard
this name before, Larry?
I don't... It's just not
a... a part of my life that
I'm particularly proud of.
I mean, I've moved
on from my obsession.
But not so with Leonard.
He lost his wife,
he lost his career,
and he was a man
of great promise.
I'll tell you something.
Whoever did this
was a mathematician.
You can bet on that.
We were able to reach
Ignacio Nadal's mom in Detroit.
Single parent. Says he
missed his weekly call home.
She seems worried.
All right, well, that's two
kids no one's heard from.
The fake IDs and
disguises in Brewer's place,
we gotta assume Nadal's
working the same angle, right?
Anything in the dorm?
No, looks like he cleared
out of there in a hurry.
So both of these
kids are on the run.
Hey. Hey, I was just
looking for you guys.
Larry came up with a name.
The probability grids and algorithms
found in Jason Brewer's place,
he thinks there's a chance they
may belong to Leonard Philbrick.
He says he could be our backer.
Well, why don't you
guys just run it down,
see if you can find
out where the guy is.
You don't have to. I Googled
Philbrick's name on the way here.
He's living in Long Beach. He
teaches high school math there.
Well, that puts
him right next door
to the Huntington Tech campus.
Yeah, Eppes.
All right, we're
on our way. Yeah.
LAPD just found Jason Brewer.
Let's go.
Time of death was 8:00 a.m.,
and the commuters
heard the shots,
but by the time
they found the body,
it was too late to
lock up the building.
SID said it's a nine millimeter.
Same kind that killed
Chernov, huh? Yeah.
Single shot to the head.
No casings were found.
We did find his backpack
in the trash, though.
Phone numbers,
addresses, and this.
Yeah? What's this?
Wow, look at this. J, K, Q, A...
Jack, King, Queen, Ace.
Some kind of card sequence list.
Ticket agent remembers sellin'
Brewer a one-way bus fare to Vancouver.
Stuck out because Brewer
didn't have the money.
Older guy paid for
the ticket with cash.
You get a description?
Actually, better than that. They just
ID'd the older guy that was with Brewer.
Leonard Philbrick?
Same guy Charlie
and Larry pegged
as a possible financial
backer for these kids.
All right, well, looks
like they might be right.
Jason dead?
That's just horrible.
His mother collapsed
when we told her about him.
I can only imagine.
I doubt that.
You don't think I had
anything to do with it?
Well, he was shot in
the head at a bus station
within 30 minutes of
you buying him a ticket.
As far as we know, you were
the last person to see him alive.
I think, uh...
I think I better talk to my
lawyer before we continue this.
Yeah? Why don't you ask 'em
in there what they're gonna think
about you recruiting their
kids to hustle cards, Leonard?
We know all about
you, Professor.
About your dreams of
putting your crew together,
about your past gambling debts.
I don't know what
you're talking about.
No? Well, why do phone
records put you in touch
with Brewer, Chernov, and
Nadal within the last six months?
You finally put together a team,
and now two of them are dead.
I didn't hurt Jason or Yuri.
I could never do
something like that.
Where is Ignacio Nadal?
I don't know.
Is he on the run from somebody?
Look, these kids,
they came to me.
They'd found
articles I'd written.
A system I developed.
What, you taught 'em, and
you bankrolled 'em, right?
Until last month, yes.
Why? What happened then?
They told me they
found some new backer.
Somebody with
substantially more money.
And you just
took that in stride?
I didn't kill Jason Brewer.
All right, Leonard,
why don't you tell us
what you were doin'
in the bus station then?
He needed help.
He was on the run, and
his parents are out of town.
He had nobody
that he could turn to.
I would never do
anything to hurt these kids.
I was their teacher.
We need to find Ignacio Nadal.
We put a trace on
his mom's phone.
We're monitoring
his cell provider.
He makes one phone
call, we're on him.
What about friends
or classmates?
Aside from Chernov and Brewer,
this guy's pretty much a loner.
Colby? Hey, guys.
I think I got somethin'.
Remember that girl the other night
who was with Ignacio on the tape?
Mmm-hmm. Brandi?
With an "I." Yeah.
And check this out. She
was not just with Ignacio.
She was there other nights.
She was with all three guys?
Yeah, all of them.
So, I went through Jason
Brewer's address book.
I found her number. At least
her work number, anyway.
The Bareback Club?
She's the main attraction.
So, who do we think
should do that interview?
♪
Check out the midday crowd.
Looks like a bunch of
dads who got separated
from their families on
the bus to Disneyland.
I'm sensing premeditation.
We're looking for Brandi,
and don't start pourin'.
Get ready, guys. Coming
to the main stage, Brandi.
I'll tell the DJ
to cut the music.
Whoa, hold on a minute.
One song's not
gonna kill anybody.
Just relax, have
yourself a soda.
Let the Disneyland
dads have one last look.
Mmm, nice tie.
Yeah, I was there that night
with Ignacio, but I left early.
So you knew him? I
know a lot of people.
How about people
who get murdered?
Ignacio's dead?
Not yet.
I don't understand.
We saw the surveillance tapes.
You were there with two
other guys beside Ignacio.
Ignacio's friends.
They're dead.
Oh, my God.
We're trying to make sure
that doesn't happen to Ignacio.
Have you seen him?
Has he tried to call you?
Why'd you leave
early that night?
I had another date.
Yeah? Date have a name?
He's married.
We'll be discreet.
And Ignacio, was he a date also?
Not exactly.
Well, then be exact.
I provide a service.
Not that service.
So what were you,
their math tutor?
They needed me
to pull off their act.
With me on their arm, it
gave 'em some credibility.
So you knew they
were counting cards?
Nobody's that lucky.
So, what did you
get out of the deal?
Money.
A lot of money.
Did you notice
anybody following them?
Anybody watching them?
You're up five, ten grand,
people are watching.
I told Ignacio someday
they'd get made.
So you think that's
what happened to 'em?
Nobody likes to lose money.
Guys, put your hands
together for Sapphire.
Office getting cramped?
Uh, it's being cleaned.
After months battling the maintenance
department, you know, I gave in.
How's it going?
Uh, I'm having trouble
isolating the students' gambling
histories, as... as we discussed.
To find a pattern that'll yield
the identity of the backer.
Maybe the killer.
No luck so far. You know, I... I
could really use your help, Larry.
Lawrence.
Hey, did you two know
that Yuri Chernov
was a Tasker Scholar?
He was the first member
of his family to go to college.
Jason Brewer, his
IQ is off the charts.
Ignacio Nadal may be the most,
I don't know, gifted of them all.
Well, don't you take solace
in knowing that clearly,
you're not the
only brilliant thinker
to fall under the
allure of gambling?
I need your brilliant
thinking right now.
I just can't make
sense of these figures.
If I could be as vague
and opaque as Larry,
I'd say if the new backer
is behind these killings,
then maybe you need to
look behind these numbers.
Yeah, she's right, Charlie.
It's like... It's like
money moves.
Like planets, it's very
movement reveals truths.
Do you really think these
kids are laundering money?
On a pretty big scale.
So they take money they
couldn't account for legally,
and use gambling
to legitimize it?
They use the card club
as their washing machine.
Look. Look how the money
flow altered a month ago,
when I believe a new
backer came onto the scene.
These kids changed the
way they purchased chips.
And in any 24-hour period,
they never exceeded $10,000.
Right, 'cause they stay
below the IRS reporting limit.
So there's no record of
the cash they started with,
and a few thousand winnings
doesn't really seem like a big scam.
That's where they were smart.
We have three students.
Right. With multiple IDs.
Which they used to create three
separate card club player accounts.
So, we have three students
with three separate
player accounts
cashing out $9,900 a night.
That's $89,100 per visit.
Playing six or seven
days a week for a month.
So, that's gotta
be at least, what,
I mean, it's over
two million, right?
To be precise, in one
month, that's $2,138,000.
Where's all that money
go, back to the backer?
They wired their money from the player
account to an offshore account where...
Right, it disappeared.
Unfortunately.
So we can't trace
it to the backer.
And this kid I-Ignacio is the only
one who can tell us where it is.
Which I'm sure the
backer knows, as well.
♪
You ever been to one of these?
A few times. My dad's
dragged me. He's into it.
My mom always takes away
his credit cards before we come.
Table six just went
to a plus 18 count.
Is that good? Oh, yeah.
I've gotta tell you, I'm feeling
so uncomfortable about this.
Larry, all you've been
telling me is that the only way
to understand this game is to sit at
the blackjack table and play the game.
Charlie's right, Larry.
The students were doing
very complicated equations
in a high-stress environment.
You know, I need
to feel how they felt.
I need to play how they played.
I... I need you to teach me.
I don't think you understand just
how truly narcotic this is for me.
Can't you just see
this as... as field work?
Unfortunately, it
is a poppy field.
I'm warning you both, we're
standing at the precipice.
This is the event
horizon of a black hole.
♪ There's just
one place for me ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ Yeah, just one place to be ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ I'm so happy to be here ♪
♪ When I look
around, it's clear ♪
♪ Yes, it's perfectly
plain to see ♪
♪ There's the
cream of the crop ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ On my list at the top ♪
♪ This is it ♪
♪ Couldn't ask
for nothing more ♪
♪ Like a hope that I adore ♪
♪ If there's one place I fit ♪
♪ This is it ♪
Well, nothing like the
sting of over-oxygenated air
and endless pecuniary promise.
You know, this used to be about
demonstrating the
power of mathematics.
Okay, well, there is that, too.
I think we should
call it a night.
What? Yeah, let's
get out of here.
How about field research?
Come on, we got
table four over there
just ripe for the picking.
What is he doing
with those cards?
Some clubs
introduce a fresh deck
at the dealer shift change.
Just prevents players
from marking the cards.
People actually do that?
I know players who can
cut a multi-deck stack
at exactly 52 cards.
Some players, uh, do other
feats, like shuffle-tracking.
Shuffle-tracking?
Yeah, well, no shuffle by
human hand is exactly perfect.
Some cards remain together.
And the players who
memorize the order
look for those same
groupings in the next shuffle.
That's why they're
using machines now.
How do those machines work?
Auto-shufflers? They use
random number generation
to create a random
distribution of cards.
Interesting. Because what do we
know about random distribution?
It's impossible for machines to
create truly random sequences.
These kids cracked the code
for how an auto-shuffler shuffles.
The sequences found in
Jason Brewer's notebook
were in fact
card-counting cheat sheets,
exploiting a weakness in
the random number generator
found inside this box.
That's the
auto-shuffler we found
in Jason Brewer's apartment.
The students used it
to adapt a card skill
called shuffle-tracking.
Yeah, when dealers shuffle, there are
little runs of cards that stay together.
So the players will look
for them to reappear.
And clubs try to prevent this
by using the auto-shuffler.
But, as we all know,
machines aren't perfect.
And the kids took advantage.
Right, and how'd they do that?
First, they must have
analyzed this mechanism.
So an auto-shuffler shuffles
using a system
of multiple shelves,
depositing the cards on shelves
in a seemingly random order.
But the shuffles
aren't really random,
because the random
number generator
controlling the auto-shuffler
is governed by
a fixed algorithm.
And these kids
figured all that out?
That's not all they figured out.
This specific card
club had a policy.
On dealer shift changes, they
would introduce new decks,
sealed, straight
from the factory.
Now, these cards
are in a preset order.
Now, knowing
this starting order,
as well as the algorithm
enabled these students...
To know the cards that were
coming before they were even dealt.
That kind of math problem is
way beyond our three students.
Their teacher was Leonard
Philbrick. He had to have helped them.
Oh, he did more than that.
I just got off the phone with
the auto-shuffler company.
Guess who they hired
as their math consultant.
What, Philbrick?
He created the
auto-shuffler's algorithm?
Yeah, which he
could have then given
to Ignacio and
the students, right?
Which means that he could
have easily designed an algorithm
that had a much
shorter period to follow.
Thousands of steps,
instead of billions.
Okay, so they were cheating,
which gives the card club
motivation to go after 'em.
Yeah, but let's not
forget about Philbrick.
All of that "I was their teacher"
stuff goes out the window,
if the students stole
his scam and ran with it.
What was I supposed to do,
admit I stole a trade secret?
Used it to cheat a card
club out of thousands?
It would have been a start.
You could have used it as
mitigation at your murder trial.
I told you, I didn't
murder anyone.
Yeah, well, Leonard, I'm
guessing you know who did.
One way or another,
you're involved in this,
and you're not telling us, okay?
So I'm telling you, anything
happens to that kid Nadal,
that's three murders I'm connecting
you to. Do you understand that?
Look, the kids got caught
with the auto-shuffler, all right?
By who?
Marius. The club manager.
Next thing I know,
he's at my door.
Oh, so the kids gave you up.
I warned them not to get greedy.
Knowing that shuffle,
you can make returns
at 200, even 300
percent every few hours.
Yeah, but not without
someone noticing.
Marius caught them, day one.
And that's how the
dirty money came in.
He's got connections with drug
distributors on the east coast.
So you made a deal. Your asses
for the money-laundering scam.
What else could we do?
All right. So what went wrong?
Well, the kids got cold feet.
They wanted to come forward,
admit to the gambling
fraud, the money laundering.
What happened then?
Marius found out?
The recent high roller robberies
presented a perfect opportunity,
a cover for Yuri's murder.
As for Jason, well, Marius
must have followed him
when he came to see me.
That's got to mean
Ignacio is next.
Right, 'cause he doesn't
wanna leave any witnesses.
Hey, FBI. Where's
Marius, the manager?
You smell that?
The shots fired.
Yeah, here we go. I
got a dead body here.
Lock this place down.
All right, so Marius
isn't the killer.
So we have to figure out
who would want Marius dead.
Well, how about the people
he was laundering for?
These East Coast drug dealers.
I mean, if you think about it,
Marius got a bunch of college
kids involved in money laundering,
only he loses control of them.
So what, he killed
them all to keep it quiet?
Only obviously he didn't
keep it quiet enough.
Well, we know he's
going after Ignacio next.
Yeah, 'cause he's
the one last witness.
And you? Why are
you so quiet over there?
It's the statement
Marius gave to the LAPD.
The night Yuri
Chernov was murdered,
he says he started
work at 7:00 p.m.
So?
What are all these calls coming out
of his office first thing in the morning?
Maybe somebody else
was using his office.
Maybe he was just lyin'.
Yeah, but why would
he lie about that?
Maybe he didn't want anyone to know
he was at the club when Yuri arrived.
What? Constrained dynamics.
Chernov's car was parked in a... in
a security camera blind spot, right?
Yeah, the whole
corner was obscured.
All right. Do you
have an overview
of the card club parking lot?
Yeah, that's it, right there.
Chernov arrived late afternoon,
well before the evening
crowds showed up.
Why the hell would he park his car
this far away from the club's entrance?
That doesn't add up.
More than that, it defies
mathematical principles.
Constrained dynamics
is used to analyze
everything from traffic flow
in supermarkets and malls
to the mechanics
of granular matter...
Meanwhile, back
in the parking lot?
Applying constrained dynamics,
the parking lot
should have filled up
in a predictable pattern,
starting with the spaces
closest to the entrance
and fanning out like a
wave, like... like... like a wave.
Given the time
that Yuri arrived,
I see no reason why he
parked his car this far away.
Unless he wasn't
the one who parked it.
All I did was park his car.
Right. in the back
of an empty lot.
Hey, Willie, you wanna be
charged as an accessory here, huh?
Look, the man paid me 500 bucks
to park the dude's
car by the fence.
What man? Marius?
Another guy.
But I saw him talking
with Marius that morning.
Before that, he was with
the dude who got whacked.
You're saying the guy that
paid you knew the victim?
Yeah. A Latino dude, young guy.
Came to the club all
the time with two friends.
That day he was
wearin' a soccer jersey...
And a lot of jewelry.
So Ignacio.
He played both of his friends
and Philbrick and Marius?
And if he's killing witnesses...
He's got one left.
Philbrick's heading
toward his car.
I've got Philbrick.
Suspect's acquired.
He's movin' in.
Where is he?
He's on the other side of the
cars. He's tracking Philbrick.
I got him.
Mr. Philbrick?
If you have a second,
can I talk to you
about my calculus grade?
This is not a good time, Karen.
But I really need... Karen,
please walk away now!
You guys, move, move!
Keep your hands
where I can see 'em.
Make a move for that
gun and you're dead.
You set me up.
Yeah, just like you
set up your friends.
And then you
were gonna kill him.
Up to your knees. Put your
hands behind your head, slow.
Why?
Why? Why not?
You told us the money
was there, remember?
All we had to do was take it.
If Yuri and Jason
hadn't punked on me,
it would have worked out, too.
It looks like you
gambled and lost, pal.
Well, I see once again you've
escaped all responsibility
for your actions.
Oh, Leonard,
you must be very
proud of yourself.
Larry Fleinhardt.
Well, what's it been, 25 years?
22, Leonard.
I see your name in journals.
Academic life has
treated you well.
Well enough.
What are you doing here?
I'm just waiting on you.
How could you do it?
You know what
the game did to us.
How could you visit such a
fate upon young gifted minds?
Those kids came to me.
And instead of
sharing your wisdom,
two are dead and
another's going to prison.
These kids were a
second chance for me.
Come on.
Don't tell me you don't
remember what it felt like
to beat the house
at their own game.
You were the best I
ever saw, Fleinhardt,
and you just walked away.
That's right. And I
never looked back.
When the numbers
are running you,
instead of you
running the numbers,
it's time to take your
money off the table, Leonard.
Men make choices
they have to live with.
Well, you know, I know two
who will never get that chance.
So Philbrick cut a deal.
Two years probation.
He got lucky. Yeah.
Oh, yeah, if you
wanna call it that.
Again, I apologize for
not coming forward sooner.
Ah, it's all right.
No, I was... I was
tormented. I was mortified.
Look, you stepped up ultimately.
Larry, do... do you realize
that without your help,
we would have never figured out
those students were money laundering.
Yeah, not to mention giving Charlie,
uh, a taste of real action at the tables.
Hey, what are we talking
about blackjack for?
Let's play a real game.
A real game? ALAN: Poker!
Where all the math
in the world is useless
against a good
read, steady nerves.
You know what? I have had
enough action to last a lifetime.
Besides, poker is for
professional card players
and underemployed celebrities.
Yeah. I'm out, too, actually.
The last time I played with you,
I ended up eating mac
and cheese for a week.
Come on. We'll go sit outside,
you can tell me about
the gambling days.
Yeah. Yeah.
I guess it's you and me.
Texas Hold'em, no limit.
What do you say
we bet the house?
You're not... You're not
serious about betting the house.
I'm always serious.