BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-athlete and coach Jeff Ma‘s life could be a movie – and in fact part of it was.
Ma is arguably best known for being the inspiration for the book Bringing Down the House as well as for the movie 21, about his time on the unofficial MIT blackjack team. He and his teammates used math to dominate Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos, making approximately five million dollars.
What many people don’t know about Jeff Ma is that before he was a blackjack champion, he was a member of MIT’s water polo team, and then coaching staff. A 1994 graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he coached both the men’s varsity and women’s collegiate club teams at the institution for seven years. He was also honored by the CWPA as the 2003 Division III Coach of the Year.
Since leaving MIT he’s started several companies, including GlofSpan.com (sold to Demand Media), Circle Lending (sold to Virgin), Citizen Sports (sold to Yahoo!) and most recently, tenXer, an analytics tool designed to optimize employee performance, progress and productivity, which was acquired by Twitter.
He’s also worked for ESPN in they analytics department, and most recently works with the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Francisco 49ers. He’s also written his one best-selling book “The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business”. He is also regularly booked for speaking arrangements.
Ma is also a fan of fantasy sports, and plays fantasy football and baseball regularly. An analytics guru, Ma has also partnered with Jerry West in an attempt to help the Los Angeles Lakers recover their winning ways.
