Smart Money

[Jimmy K]

Just started reading this book, pretty cool so far. It is the sports betting version of Bringing Down the House. Anyone else read this yet?

[sachsich]

never heard of it. need to check it out.

[E_Wrecked]

Have not, I read bringing down the house straight through in one sitting only time I've ever done that. Sounds like it would be a good read

[The Judge]

I read The Smart Money a few months ago and thought that it was OK but very repetative. Here is a review from a poster at Amazon.com which I completely agree with.


Michael Konik's book, "The Smart Money" should be an exciting page-turner of a book. Surprisingly, the book is rather boring considering the topic. In his book, Michael becomes a runner for a orgainization known as "The Brain Trust". "The Brain Trust" is run by a gentleman named Rick "Big Daddy" Matthews. For the record, Rick "Big Daddy" Matthews is really golf course developer Billy Walters. Billy Walters is a very rich man who owns several golf courses in Nevada. He is also the most feared sports gambler in the world. Michael's job is to bet tens of thousands of dollars on football and basketball games. The arrangement between Michael and Billy Walters is that Michael will keep 10% of the profits. The most interesting part of the book is the constant butting of heads between Michael and the managers of the the various sportbooks. It seems that sportsbooks, including Ceasar's Palace and The Las Vegas Hilton are more than happy to take Michael's money. However, when Billy Walters starts winning outrageous amounts of money, and the sports books figure out that Michael is placing bets for Billy Walters, the sports books start lowering their limits, and in a few cases, actually bar Michael from placing bets at their casinos. This drives Billy Walters to start placing bets at offshore casinos. This creates new problems for Billy and Michael. This book is 360 pages long. However, it would have been just as good at 260 pages. By the way Michael, on page 10, you write about your girlfriend Vivian, "She's a vagen, a voracious reader of philosophy and science, and an omnisexual hedonist." On the same page you write, "We gamble and flirt and go to underground adult sex clubs to play." And on page 33 you write, "We cap off the evening at a private party for Oscar (De La Hoya) at the execrable Planet Hollywood, where, to Vivian's delight, we meet a couple of naughty girls. One of them, a slender brunnette with pouty lips and a pierced tongue, seems to be a good candidate to join us in our room, but turns out to be a flirtatious bust. Instead, Viv ends up buying us a hooker-on my credit card." Seriously, are these passages necessary in this book?




In my opinion, the best part of the book is how every bookie in the world is scared shitless of Billy Walters. That take is absolutely true.

[crowe-bar]

Yeah I read it, it was okay. I like Konik and think he is great on the FSN poker shows.