Tilton was introduced to card counting by reading the books Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich, which later served as the inspiration for the movie 21.
[2] In 2005, Tilton enrolled in a private instructional program offered by Semyon Dukach, the former MIT Blackjack team manager who was featured in Busting Vegas.
Mike Aponte, winner of the World Series of Blackjack, further groomed the pair into world-class players.
The meticulous training process included requiring them to pass the MIT Blackjack team's rigorous Big Player test (the "BP Checkout").
[14] Tilton grew up in Kennebunk, Maine and later attended the University of New Hampshire, where he graduated in 1994 with a degree in Sport Management.