Richard W. Munchkin

If you have never heard This American Life you are missing one of the best shows on radio. Fortunately the show has reached the modern era, and can be heard on the internet or as a podcast. A recent episode was about blackjack, and has prompted a lot of discussion. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/466/blackjack. Usually when I see someone is doing a show on blackjack, or casinos in general I know it is going to suck. It doesn't matter if it is 60 Minutes or The History channel, invariably they get it wrong. I'm happy to report, that this episode does not suck. They got Andy Bloch for the first segment. (You can hear my podcast with him here.) And they have member of the Holy Rollers team for segment 2.

I was talking with a close friend, a high level professional player who has been playing on again off again for 35 years. He told me that he was listening to the show, and at one point his body convulsed into a massive sob. Something in the show struck him so strongly that he had an immediate physical reaction. I knew exactly what moment he was talking about. In the segment on the Holy Rollers they are talking to a player named Mike. Mike said that he would have an enormous suite on the Las Vegas strip. Everything is comped so he can eat in the finest restaurants, drink the best champagne, see any show. But he would go up to his massive suite, order a club sandwich, sit looking out over the Las Vegas strip, and think about how lonely he was. Wow. That is a moment of absolute truth, and I think every professional blackjack player has experienced it. I think this is one of the major reasons that people stop playing professionally.

I have a son who turned 18 this year. He is interested in playing, and asked me, "Why aren't X and Y out playing?" There are players that would give up their left testicle for the opportunity X and Y had. They both had been trained by some of the best advantage players alive. They never had to count cards, they went right to the good stuff. And both of them are now working at straight jobs. My son asked, "Wouldn't they make more money working as APs?" I would have to think they would, even though I wouldn't bet that either of them could ace a basic strategy test. So why aren't they doing it?

As a parent we try to pass along some bit of wisdom to our kids, and we always hear that you have to "find your passion." Clearly X and Y did not have a passion for beating casinos. I also told my son that you have to find the things in life that make you happy. For me, I realized long ago that I am much happier working with people than working alone. That is why I will always be happier as a director, than a writer, happier eating with friends, than fine dining alone, and playing blackjack with a partner, rather than by myself. Right now there is a game I should be playing. It's worth between $500 and $1,000 per hour, and I can't get myself to go. I tell myself it is because it is hard to get to, lots of travel, maybe it's burned already, yada yada yada. But I know the real reason I'm not going is because my current partner has heat in that casino, and I would have to go alone. I would rather go to a worse game with a partner, than a better game alone. Oh well, I may not maximize my earnings, but at least I know what makes me happy. And if my son ends up learning that about himself, that will make me happy too.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Gambling Wizards makes it to Kindle

Wow, finally the Kindle edition of Gambling Wizards is available. It only took 10 years but hey, better late than never. And at $5.95 you can't go wrong. check it out.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Stephen How

This week's guest is Stephen How, webmaster for www.discountgambling.net.

Podcast

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Arnold Snyder part 2

The guest this week is Arnold Snyder, noted blackjack author, but this week he is talking poker. More specifically his second poker book, The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies.

Arnold Snyder podcast

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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Arnold Snyder

The guest this wek is Arnold Snyder, noted blackjack author, but this week he is talking poker. More specifically his book, Poker Tournament Formula.

Arnold Snyder podcast

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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Jason Been

The guest this week is handicapper Jason Been, on to discuss advantage sports betting.

Jason Been podcast

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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Frank Kneeland

This week's guest will be Frank Kneeland, former co-host of the radio show, and author of The Secret World Of Poker Progressives , and soon-to-be co-host of a brand new radio show.

Frank Kneeland podcast

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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Geoff Hall

The guest this week is Geoff Hall, inventor of Blackjack Switch and other table games.
Michael Shackleford discusses the process of obtaining a patent on a table game invention.

Geoff Hall podcast

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - Guest Roger Snow

This week's guest is Roger Snow, Executive Vice President of Shuffle Master, Inc. Roger is in charge of table games. Bob and Mike talk to Roger about designing these games and how inventors can get their games
considered.

Roger Snow podcast

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Friday, May 11, 2012

Amarillo Slim

Amarillo Slim died on April 29, 2012. Slim won the World Series of Poker in 1972, but he wasn't the best poker player around by a long shot; but he was the best at manipulating the media. Wherever there was a camera, a microphone, or a reporter with a notepad, Slim was there with some crazy story of winning thousands of dollars playing ping pong with frying pans, or golf with a hammer. As a teenager obsessed with gambling I couldn't get enough. He showed up in magazines, on Johnny Carson, and in Robert Altman's classic gambling film, California Split.

I wondered, when a guy like Amarillo Slim shows up and wants to bet $50,000 that he can hit a golf ball a mile, why would anyone bet with him? (He stole this proposition bet from Titanic Thompson, and hit the golf ball on a frozen lake.) You see I had grown up reading the stories of Damon Runyon, and one of my favorites was,The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown. In this story (which was the basis for the musical Guys and Dolls) a gambler, Nathan Detroit offers to bet Sky Masterson that Lindy's restaurant sells more strudel than cheesecake. Sky tells him the following story.

"Let me tell you a story. When I was a young man about to go out into the world, my father says to me a very valuable thing. 'Son,' the old guy says, 'I'm sorry that I am not able to bankroll you a very large start. But not having any potatoes to give you, I am going to give you some very valuable advice. One of these days in your travels, you are going to come across a guy with a nice brand new deck of cards, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not take this bet, for if you do, as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an ear full of cider.' "

In 1977 I moved to Las Vegas and got a job as a blackjack dealer at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. I was in awe of the place. At that time it had the most popular poker room in Las Vegas, the World Series of poker was right across the street at the Horseshoe, and I would regularly see Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, and Puggy Pearson in the casino. Steve Wynn would wander through the pit in blue jeans and a sweat shirt, Kenny Rogers was the entertainment director, and Willy Nelson would play in the lounge for as long as people set tequila shots on the front of the stage.

I heard that a lot of the big poker players had taken up backgammon, and were playing it for very high stakes. My dream was to try to get into a backgammon game with one of these guys because at the time I considered my self quite a good player, and I knew that at this time none of them were playing at a high level. One day I get off my blackjack game for a 20 minute break, and walking down the hall toward me is Amarillo Slim. I stopped him, and told him how much I enjoyed reading about him, and that I had read his book on poker. He thanked me, and then I hit him with, "I hear you're quite a backgammon player. I'd love to play some time." Slim was about a foot taller than me, he looked down at me and started chuckling. I don't remember exactly what he said, but the idea was, Kid, I could smell cider about the time you entered the state of Nevada. I was young, and as green as they come, but I realized my chances of taking any money off one of these life-long gamblers were slim and none, and Slim was out.

Slim wrote a poker book back in the early 70s called Amarillo Slim's Play Poker to Win. The poker advice was not very good, but there are some great stories about proposition bets he made with people. In 2003 he wrote Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People: The Memoirs of the Greatest Gambler Who Ever Lived and this is quite an entertaining book.

I have one more story that doesn't have to do with Slim, but happened about the same time at the Golden Nugget. I was dealing one night to a very nice looking woman, and we started talking. It turned out she was Kenny Roger's wife. He was the entertainment director at the Nugget and he would soon leave because Lucille was exploding on the charts. She mentioned that she and Kenny loved to play backgammon. (Backgammon was very popular in the 70s.) I told her how much I liked to play, and she mentioned that she would have to introduce me to her husband some time, and we continued on having a nice conversation until I went on break. Later that night I had my lunch break, and the dealers ate at the counter in the coffee shop. As I was leaving I saw her, Kenny, and the assistant shift boss sitting in a booth. I stopped by the table, and she introduced me to Kenny, and I mentioned that I loved backgammon and if he was ever interested in playing I was always up for a game. I went back to the pit, and about 20 minutes later I was standing on a dead blackjack table. All of a sudden I felt someone grab a fist full of hair on the back of my head and jerk me back from the table. It was the assistant shift boss, his face red, and he says, "What the fuck do you think you are doing?" I said, "what?" He said, "You want to hustle Kenny Rogers at backgammon?" (And I thought I was so subtle.) I said, "I wasn't trying to hustle him, I was just trying to..." and he says, "I know exactly what you were trying to do. Just keep your head down and deal the fucking cards."

I have fond memories of those days at the Golden Nugget. It was the beginning of my education. I learned that those famous gamblers were not the men I thought they were. I learned that people were usually streetwise enough to sense when they were about to get an ear full of cider. We used to joke that in Las Vegas the streets were paved with gold. I learned that they are, but it takes a pick, and a shovel, and a lot of hard work to dig out those nuggets.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Gambling With an Edge - guest Bob Nersesian #3

The guest this week is Bob Nersesian. Bob is a frequent guest to the show, and always entertaining. Bob is the lawyer who advocates for the players against the casinos, and has successfully sued many Vegas casinos on the behalf of players. He is also the author of Beat the Players.

Bob Nersesian podcast

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