Why would the MIT professor be so cruel and mean and cold, to the point that he had to call the casino security which results in the beating of one of his 'brilliant' students who had made him tons of money. It felt nice to have to use your brain a little to figure something out, but as I was reading other posts (comments) I learned that what I had figured out on my own was very primitive and much more elaboration would have made things clearer and given the movie a little more edge - although its pretty round edged to me. I had to figure out what the count of cards was on my own. What the screenwriters may have not kept in mind is that many of the viewers, those who would actually go and see the movie, may not have read the book or know of all the juicy details that have been left out of the movie. The movie was below the passing line and I would not watch it again on my deathbed if it meant it would keep me alive.