New Sports Betting Book

[garyoz]

Not directly related to race handicapping--but may be relevant. Amazon emailed me about this new book. Anyone know about it? I ordered it--

The Smart Money: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions

[kingfin66]

I am currently reading this book. It won't teach anything about handicapping, but it is one great read. It's really hard to put down. The book is a story about the author's association with the most successful sports bettor in the world, Rick Mathews. It details how he got to know him, and how he was invited into the Brain Trust as an associate. There is a big cat and mouse game between the big time, successful, sports bettors, and the Vegas casinos. Apperently, the casinos don't like losing to these guys, so they don't want their action. This book explains the cat and mouse game. Although, I haven't finished the book quite yet, I highly recommend it. If anybody has read the book by Ben Mizrach, Bringing Down the House, they will also enjoy this book.

[befuddlem]

Sounds great, I think I'll order it.

[PriceAnProbability]

Not directly related to race handicapping--but may be relevant. Amazon emailed me about this new book. Anyone know about it? I ordered it--

The Smart Money: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions

I used to trade information with those guys: my power ratings for their games. The syndicates build their strength by trading games for information and outs (guys who can get down on games for them). One guy I worked with and I agreed six times on a best bet. Those games were 6-0 against the number and none were ever close. Lost the contact shortly after that when they went offshore.

They're a very well-known syndicate and a lot of those guys were involved in setting up Pinnacle, if I recall correctly. Most of them got sick of being persecuted and prosecuted in the US so they just left the country and bet legally from the other side of the window, getting the juice instead of laying it.

Some of their beards have also set up gambling information websites and made a lot of money because they used this syndicate's picks to draw traffic.

[bigmack]

Most of them got sick of being persecuted and prosecuted in the US so they just left the country and bet legally from the other side of the window, getting the juice instead of laying it.

Some of their beards have also set up gambling information websites and made a lot of money because they used this syndicate's picks to draw traffic.
Hep Me, Hep Me I'm being persecuted - Somebody get me a beard, is a chart bustin' hit that is sweeping Top 10 radio - Small world huh P&P?

[PriceAnProbability]

I am currently reading this book. It won't teach anything about handicapping, but it is one great read. It's really hard to put down. The book is a story about the author's association with the most successful sports bettor in the world, Rick Mathews. It details how he got to know him, and how he was invited into the Brain Trust as an associate. There is a big cat and mouse game between the big time, successful, sports bettors, and the Vegas casinos. Apperently, the casinos don't like losing to these guys, so they don't want their action. This book explains the cat and mouse game. Although, I haven't finished the book quite yet, I highly recommend it. If anybody has read the book by Ben Mizrach, Bringing Down the House, they will also enjoy this book.

Actually, the bookies do want their action, since they use it to adjust their lines. This is why line movements are good predictors. They just limit it to two dimes a game or so.

"Rick Matthews" is not the guy's real name by the way (it's Billy Walters). He, and a few others like him, had betting syndicates that shared information and games, and would usually hit very good percentages (like well over 60 percent). They also had the power to move the line, and would sometimes move a game the other way before hammering it back the way they liked it, getting a few extra points for the price of the juice on the first bet.

It's been rumored that the last few years, the oddsmakers in Vegas were lowballing the lines in order to crush the offshore bookies, while Vegas did finally begin limiting bets to the point where it didn't pay for the pros to stay there. This was not the case until around 2000, however.

[spilparc]

These "syndicates" used to have guys with concealed ear peices who camped out in the casinos. They had runners all over town. I got to know one of the guys, who was parked out in the Horseshoe every day.

"Who are you running for," I asked him one day.

"You know who they are, " he said.

A few days later they busted him for wearing a listening device. A big no-no.

Their whole thing was to get the bet down before the other syndicates or the offshore/foreign money got their bets down. So as soon as he got the info over his ear piece he would run to the window-bet--then run to the phone to relay the information back to the earpiece. He had a very small window of opportunity to get the bet down.

"Who are you trying to beat," I asked him one day.

"The phones. Hear them ringing?"

If they didn't get the bet down quickly the phones would beat them to the punch and move the line. His job was to move the line first.

This was during baseball season and they were getting absolutely kiled.

[PriceAnProbability]

This was during baseball season and they were getting absolutely kiled.

You believe that?

Here's how they make money in baseball: they set guys up with "sheets" at each other's offices, where the guy in the office who has the sheet gets a cut of whatever the sheet loses, usually 25 percent or something like that.

When they get two different lines on a game and can "scalp" it (say -145 and +145), they make equal sized bets at two shops, and no matter who wins, the "sheet" guys get their cut of the losing side. This can also be done with one of the two sides in the event a casino is the other.

Sometimes they did lose at baseball, but that was also their weakest sport.

I knew some guys who used to get their games before most of the world did.

[LARRY GEORGE]

billy walters was using numbers put out by michael kent in the 1980's
they did alot damage to the sports book in vegas. michael has a company
called mjm ventures he still might be supplying numbers to billy walters