Gambling With an Edge - guest Russell Fox

This week we talk with tax professional Russell Fox. Russell is based in Las Vegas and handles many professional gamblers. We get some year end tax advice, and ask him questions like: Can I form an LLC? Can a professional gambler carry losses forward? Can I choose not to file as a professional, and is there a benefit to that?

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Gambling With an Edge - guest advantage player - Chairman

Our guest this week is named Jacob, but on the internet he's known as Chairman. We talk about sports betting, and a very interesting story of him being arrested in AZ for using this nefarious cheating device.

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Gambling With an Edge - Round table discussion on big stories of 2015

This week we are joined by Jeffrey Compton, and Ken Adams, of CDC Gaming Reports, and Howard Stutz who contributes to CDC, but also covers gaming for the Las Vegas Review Journal. We have a round table discussion of the big gaming stories of 2015, and a few peeks ahead at what 2016 brings.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Card Counter Mike

Our guest this week is a card counter named Mike. We discuss different approaches to card counting including "Big Player Call in," "Gorilla BPs," and the difference between the "Hit & Run" approach versus "camping."

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Philip Reed, author of Wild Cards

Our guest this week is Philip Reed, author of Wild Cards.  Phil set out to write a book about a professional card counter, and ended up learning to count cards himself.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Willy Allison #2

This week's guest is Willy Allison, casino game protection consultant, trainer, and adviser. He is also the founder of the world Game Protection Conference. We talk to Willy about surveillance's role in protecting the casinos, and where the biggest threats lie.

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Gambling With an Edge - guests Dennis Krum & Jeffrey Compton

We have two guests this week is Dennis Krum. Dennis Krum is a management consultant and trouble shooter with many years experience in the casino industry. But first we speak to Jeffrey Compton about some of this week's top stories.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Dewey Tomko

Our guest this week is Dewey Tomko. Dewey has been a high stakes gambler for over 40 years. He holds the record for most consecutive years playing in the main event of the WSOP, and has finished second twice. He is one of the biggest gambler in the world at golf, and has won over a million dollars in a day several times.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Zach Elwood #2

The guest this week is Zach Elwood. Zach is the author of Verbal Poker Tells which we discuss. You can find his website at readingpokertells.com. He also hosts a forum on tells over at 2+2 which you can find here. 2+2 Forum.

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Gambling With an Edge - no guest #4

We have no guest this week. Bob and I answer listener questions, and discuss moving to Vegas to try to make it as an advantage player.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Zach Elwood

The guest this week is Zach Elwood. Zach is the author of Reading Poker Tells which we discuss. You can find his website at readingpokertells.com. He also hosts a forum on tells over at 2+2 which you can find here. 2+2 Forum.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Jon Finkel

The guest this week is Jon Finkel. Jon is the former world champion of Magic the Gathering. He took that skill and turned it toward poker, blackjack, and now running a hedge fund. He is the subject of the book, Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids. Please be aware we had some phone connection problems. I apologize for the technical difficulties.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Max Rubin on G2E

The guest this week is Max Rubin. We discuss last week's G2E, Global Gaming Expo and what we can expect to see hitting casino floors in the upcoming year. We also discuss Daily Fantasy Sports and casino security abuse cases.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Darryl McEwen

Our guest today is Darryl McEwen, publisher of the Seven Stars Insider, which
tells about all things related to the Total Rewards program for Caesars Entertainment.

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Gambling With an Edge - Alan Boston

This week's guest is sports bettor, and poker pro Alan Boston.

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Gambling With an Edge - No Guest #3

We have no guest this week. Bob and I answer questions from the mail bag..

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Steve Fezzik #3

Football season is here so time to talk once again with expert handicapper Steve Fezzik.

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Gambling With an Edge - guests Jeffrey Compton & Jimmy Vaccaro

This week we have two guests. First up is Jeffrey Compton to talk about current trends in Las Vegas. Then we we talk with legendary Vegas bookmaker, Jimmy Vaccaro about the upcoming football season.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Cartwright #3

This week's guest is Cartwright. We talk about advantage travel. How to get free flights and hotel deals from manipulating credit card offers and hotel clubs. We also talk about advice to advantage table games players.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Cartwright #2

This week's guest is Cartwright. We talk about advantage travel. How to get free flights and hotel deals from manipulating credit card offers and hotel clubs.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Jimmy Jazz 3

The guest on the show this week is Jimmy Jazz. Jimmy talks about lessons learned from his years of play, and tells some amazing stories of his gambling exploits.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Ed Miller #9 on DFS

This week's guest is Ed Miller, poker author and player. His new book is called The Course, but today our discussion is on Daily Fantasy Sports. DFS is legal sports betting, and is rife with opportunities for the advantage gambler.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Michael Bluejay

Our guest today is Michael Bluejay. Michael Bluejay  was an employee of Michael Shackleford at  wizardofodds.com, and shares many tips for the low rolling player, as well as some of his crazy stories from his playing days.

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The Tragedy of the Commons

A couple things happened this week that finally forced me to put my butt in the chair and spit out a post. The first was an article zooming around the Internets, about a math teacher who gave the following extra credit assignment.

You can either have 2 points extra credit or 6. Choose one.

___ 2 points

___ 6 points

However, if over 10% of the class chooses 6, then everyone will get zero.

This problem is often looked at in game theory classes, and is known as the "Tragedy of the Commons." It teaches us that over 10% of the people are selfish dickheads. Rarely does a class ever get the extra credit. You can see real life examples of this in areas that get over-fished to the point that no one can fish there anymore, or a great blackjack game that gets burned out because too many people exploit it too much. Because we are APs it is easy for us to say, "I better burn this BJ game now because if I don't someone else will." Yet we look at the fishermen and say, "Come on guys. Soon we won't be able to eat Tuna."

The second thing that happened was a conversation I was having with some friends about another AP. One friend said about this other person, "He won't share anything with anyone. He feels that anything he tells someone else costs him ev." My bet is he would opt for the 6 points. This reminded me of an incident from one of my first blackjack teams. I had discovered a promotion, and ran off to play it. I called some of the other members of the team and told them to go. (This was before cell phones and it was much harder to get ahold of everyone back then.) Anyway, some of us played it, and we did quite well. Later at a team meeting one of the guys who had not played the promo started arguing that the people who played it should not be given any hours for the play. The players earned based on hours played, so he was arguing that we shouldn't be compensated at all for having played this promo, which was clearly worth more per hour than our card counting. The counters I played with were very smart guys, and new how to build a persuasive argument. It shocked, and appalled me when I realized that all he really was arguing for was for him to make more money personally when the bankroll broke. I knew we were struggling to get an edge over the casinos, but I didn't think we were trying to do it to each other. It was like learning there is no Santa Claus.

My point in all this is not to point out that some people will act in their own self interest. What is important is that you understand yourself. When I saw the first question I answered 2 points without a moment of hesitation, because I have learned over the years that I am much happier being part of a group than I am on my own. I would much rather earn $200 and hour playing with one or more partners, than $400 an hour playing alone. As I have repeatedly told my kids, my goal in life is not to die with the most money. My goal is to be happy. And it is HUGE positive ev to figure out what it is that makes you happy. Once I learned it, it made me.... happier! #Winning!

But I also have to say that I could not disagree more with the people who think that sharing costs them ev. I believe the opposite is true. I can not believe I would have earned what I have if people had not shared information with me. And the reason they share with me is I share with them.  That doesn't mean I share everything with everybody, but there are more games available to play than any one person has time for. Currently I don't count cards. So if I find a really good count game why wouldn't I give it to someone who I know will appreciate it?

I also have an extra credit assignment for the class. Can money buy happiness? If your answer is "No" then you're doing it wrong. Watch this TED TALK and find out.

Gambling With an Edge - guest Bob Nersesian #13

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. 

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Charlie Davis

Our guest this week is Charlie Davis. Charlie makes his living betting horses. How can you beat horses when the track is taking over 20% out of the pools?

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Jake Jacobs #4

Our guest this week is Jake Jacobs, a blackjack, and backgammon professional. We talk to Jake about some of his many gambling exploits.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Bob Loeb #3

Our guest on the show this week is attorney Bob Loeb.  Bob is based in Chicago, and is the coauthor of Blackjack and the Law.  

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Gambling With an Edge - guest card counter SmallCap

Our guest on the show this week is a very successful card counter we call SmallCap. SmallCap started counting cards seriously about 2 1/2 years ago, and has built a bankroll to mid 6-figures as a solo card counter. His "balls to the wall" approach should enlighten any who try to make money counting cards.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Anthony Curtis #7

Our guest this week is Anthony Curtis, owner of The Las Vegas Advisor and Huntington Press publishing.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest bookmaker Jimmy Vaccaro

This week's guest is legendary Vegas bookmaker, Jimmy Vaccaro.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest poker pro Limon

This week's guest is Limon. He is a Los Angeles based poker pro and one of the hosts of Live at The Bike. You can find that show at liveatthebike.com

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Jake Jacobs #3

Our guest this week is a blackjack, and backgammon professional and author of The Battered Butterfly. We talked to Jake about his many gambling exploits.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Ed Miller #8 on DFS

This week's guest is Ed Miller, poker author and player. His new book is called The Course, but today our discussion is on Daily Fantasy Sports. DFS is legal sports betting, and is rife with opportunities for the advantage gambler.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Ed Miller #7

This week's guest is Ed Miller, poker author and player. His new book is called The Course.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Bob Loeb

Our guest on the show this week is attorney Bob Loeb.  Bob is based in Chicago, and is the coauthor of Blackjack and the Law.  On this show we talk about a case of some players who beat a Keno machine to the tune of $1,200,000, and then had 80 felony charges brought against them. We also discuss an Illinois case where they are trying to prosecute some hole card players for cheating.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest I. Nelson Rose #4

The guest this week is professor I. Nelson Rose, author of, Gaming Law in a Nutshell, and Blackjack and the Law.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Jeff Hwang #2

This week's guest is Jeff Hwang, author of Pot Limit Omaha Poker.  We discuss Limit Omaha Hi Lo as well as developing new casino games.

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An AP play worth 6 figures

Since I am only 29 I don't worry much about social security. But I have a lot of friends who are around 60, and they will be facing choices on when to start taking their social security benefits. Turns out that just like any game, the people who really understand how to play are going to make WAY more money than those who don't.  I recently picked up Get What's Yours by Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Soloman. Think of it as the Beat the Dealer of how to play the social security game.

There are several different ways you can get benefits, and different times when you can start collecting. In a nutshell, you can start getting money at 62, or you can wait until "Full Retirement Age" which is 66 (plus some months depending what year you were born) or you can wait until 70. The longer you wait, the more money you get every month. About 40% of the people start taking it at 62, and 1% wait until 70. That alone should tell you what the right play is. For the vast majority of people it is right to wait until 70. And they polled social security workers on the advice they give people. As you can imagine it is the equivalent of getting advice from a dealer on how to play blackjack... hopeless.

I can't boil down the whole book in one blog post - but here is one tip which alone is worth more than the cost of this book, and can easilly be worth 50k. Say you are married, and both you and your wife work. Let's say your incomes are about equal, and you are the same age. (although this works even better if there is an age difference.) When you hit 66 you "file and suspend". Basically the idea is you turn on your benefits, but then suspend them until 70. But now your wife can take spousal benefits for 4 years, and then when she hits 70 she can file her own. Basically you get an extra 4 years of payments for her at no cost. When you both turn 70 you get paid at a much higher rate.

If you are close to 60 this book is a must read. I give it... 4 aces.

Gambling With an Edge - guest Jeff Hwang on Pot Limit Omaha

This week's guest is Jeff Hwang, author of Pot Limit Omaha Poker. 

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Mohan Srivastava #2

This week's guest is Mohan Srivastava. Mohan cracked the code on several scratch off lottery games. We talk about beating the lottery. You can read about some of his exploits in this Wired magazine article. - Wired. Here is a link to the first time Mohan was on the show. Mohan #1

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Bradley Davis

Our guest this week is Bradley Davis. We discuss his case with the IRS after they took issue with his filing as a part time professional gambler.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest H. Lee Barnes

Our guest this week is H Lee Barnes, author of Cold Deck. Lee was a casino dealer, a Griffin Agent, and now a writer who teaches creative writing at College of S. Nevada.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Eric Strasser

Our guest this week is Eric Strasser, author of “Baseball Betting  for Profit.”

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Bob Nersesian #12

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. 

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Michael Craig

Our guest this week is Michael Craig, author of The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King. This is a fascinating book about a billionaire who came to Vegas, and played poker with the best players in the world for the highest stakes anyone has ever played for.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Michael Gaughan

The guest on the show this week is Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point Casino in Las Vegas. We talk with Mr. Gaughan about his father Jackie Gaughan who owned the El Cortez casino in downtown Las Vegas, as well as pieces of many other casinos.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Tysen Streib

Our guest this week is Tysen Streib, one of the authors of Flop Turn River.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Don Schlesinger

The guest this week is Don Schlesinger, author of Blackjack Attack, and the latest member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.

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Gambling With an Edge - guests Rick Blaine & Max Rubin

The guests this week are Rick Blaine & Max Rubin. They are on to discuss this year's Blackjack Ball. The Ball is a party held in Las Vegas once a year hosted by Max Rubin. Some of the greatest gamblers in the world attend this party, and compete in a skills competition for the Grosjean Cup. Rick Blaine was this year's winner.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Mike Shackleford

The guest this week is Mike Shackleford . This week we discuss the upcoming Super Bowl and the many prop bets available.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest poker legend Billy Baxter

Our guest this week is 7 time WSOP bracelet winner Billy Baxter. Billy is one of the old time players kicking around Vegas for 40 years. We talk poker, sports betting, golf, pool hustling, a little bit of everything. A fascinating guest who we will try desperately to get back.

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Gambling With an Edge - guest Anthony Curtis 6

Our guest this week is Anthony Curtis, owner of The Las Vegas Advisor and Huntington Press publishing.  We discuss the new poker book Flop Turn, River, as well as the new coupon book from Las Vegas Advisor. Flop, Turn, River: A Hand-By-Hand Analysis of No-Limit Hold 'Em Tournament Poker Strategies

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Gambling With an Edge - APs Andrew and Brad

Our guests this week are advantage players Andrew and Brad.Andrew and Brad set out to scout casinos in Oklahoma. Being avid listeners to our show they had heard the horror stories of people having their money confiscated by police in Interstate 40. Sure enough they were pulled over on I-40 and the police found their $40,000. Tune in to hear their story.

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