THE DEADBOLT: So, you did read the script early. Were you closely involved in the production?

JEFF: I wouldn't necessarily say “closely involved" but I was involved. They did try and include me in on decisions they were making along the way, but in more of a non-evasive way than anything else. It was just kind of a matter of them wanting some kind of input from me when they could, but again I'm not trying to make it in Hollywood. And, at the end of the day, people are like, ‘Don't you want to be a big consultant?’ And I'm like, ‘I don't really know a lot about making a movie.’ I know what the story was like and how accurate things should be. They nailed a lot of the accuracy of things I would help with. There are some little things here and there that don't quite make sense to the card-counting community, but that's probably going to turn off about 5,000 people in the entire world, so I don't think that's a big concern.

THE DEADBOLT: What feels the most like ‘Oh my God, that's exactly what it was like’?

JEFF: A lot of stuff in the movie. There's a bunch of things. The transformation that happens to Jim's character, Ben, where he goes from this nerdy kid to the kid that can land Kate Bosworth. There's also just the first time he flies into Vegas and he sees the Strip. It captures those moments. It captures moments for me but it captures moments for a lot of people's Vegas. Where it departs is the fact that we left Vegas winners and Ben leaves this movie, more or less, as a winner. I don't want to give anything away.

THE DEADBOLT: So, you consulted a little on the screenplay and then you went to Vegas with Jim and did some practical stuff?

JEFF: Yeah, we went to Vegas and spent some time together. I think Jim is an amazing guy and an amazing actor. I think he's incredibly talented to be able to do the things he can do - sing and everything else. He's great. I didn't know who he was before this happened and I remember thinking, ‘This kind of sucks.’ That it's not a big name. Then I met him and I started to think about it more and I realized I kind of like that he's not a big name. Then he'll become a big name, which I think he will after this, it's gonna be because of this movie. So, we'll always be kind of linked that way. That means a lot to me versus having this be another notch in somebody's belt.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you regret any of your card-counting?

JEFF: There's nothing to regret. The only thing I regret is that I didn't take a step back and enjoy it more, enjoy the moment. We were very focused on trying to win as much money as we could.

THE DEADBOLT: You weren't having fun?

JEFF: No, we were. But we worked really hard. We did and we spent a lot of time planning and writing it out. It was a grind. So, yes, we worked really hard.

THE DEADBOLT: What's the most you made in one trip?

JEFF: We won about $450,000 in a weekend. That was the biggest. I think I may have won $100,000 in a night.

THE DEADBOLT: Where was that?

JEFF: I don't remember. MGM maybe, The Mirage, we didn't just focus on one casino. It was a lot of the big ones.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you still gamble?

JEFF: I don't play blackjack. I'll go the casino and play craps and stuff. I don't play blackjack.

THE DEADBOLT: They let you play? They don't have a big picture of you up at security?

JEFF: They do but that picture says ‘Don't let this guy play blackjack.’ It doesn't say, ‘Don't let this guy play other dumb games that he'll probably lose at.’

THE DEADBOLT: What are you up to now?

JEFF: I've started a companies that are like a sports media business. One of the properties is called Protrade, where we allow people to buy and sell athletes like they're stocks. Another is called DoublePlayTV.com, where we have video produced for the web that's themed on sports and gambling. And one of the episodes we have up right is now ‘Jeff Ma's Wild Word of Gambling’ where we're actually teaching people to count cards.

21 opens in theaters on March 28th.