INTERVIEW WITH A GAMBLER

As I stood at the entrance at the Mirage I couldn't help but think I was being screwed with. This interview was set up second hand and when I was promised an interview with a "professional" gambler I expected anything from some scumbag in a 72 Chevy Vega with a 2 day old cigar and even older body odor; all set to show me his secret how he gets free cocktails at Circus Circus by playing a quarter at a time when the cocktail girl comes by; maybe how he scams a free shrimp cocktail when the bartenders change shift and where all the good penny slot machines still are. Maybe a little old lady who would show me how to tap the glass on a nickel Keno machine with a rubber troll doll's male extremity to get it to pay off (of course, at their age, it's only good once a day anyway), or maybe I'd just stand here and wait while my future ex-friend sat at home laughing his ass off thinking about me standing in front of the Mirage, OF COURSE! That's why he told me the Mirage, the whole thing WAS a Mirage. But what did show up was nothing what I expected.

A jet black 1998 Lincoln Continental pulled up, the tinted passenger window slowly came down and the man inside said "you gotta be Ken, everyone else looks like tourists, get in" the button popped up and I stepped into the car. This car had everything, I mean, even a navagation system with GPS (global positioning system) I asked him why he had that since Las Vegas wasn't so big and his answer "cause I can afford it" told me I was in for one hell of a ride.

We headed for the valet at Bellagio, now for various different reasons, mostly the IRS, we'll call him Mark, since that's how he saw all casinos and how they see him. Either they were his mark, or he was their's, depending on who came out ahead that day. The valet ran up like a Heismann trophy winner, grabbed the door and practically prostrated at Mark's feet, he handed him a $20 then told me "in 15 years I never had a scratch, that twenty's just insurance, it's the only time I ever take insurance at a casino." We worked our way to the sportsbook and I noticed a leather satchel under his arm that looked like a comfortable briefcase. He took copies of the days basketball games and point spreads and told me we could do the interview after he did his work. He removed a stack of papers from the satchel and a calculator and started to crunch numbers "this is my favorite part, I used to be an accountant so this came as a natural, it's all about numbers, numbers don't lie, there's stats for everything and they all mean something, you just have to be willing to do the homework, the problem with most people is they're naturally lazy, they don't want to be bothered with all these numbers, they just want to place a bet, win and take home the money. If they loose, they don't learn anything. They just come back and try again.

Me, I just do this as a job and as you can see by my car, I'm sucessful more often than not." The list of eight basketball games was whittled down to two, he pulled out a wad of money, peeled off 30 hundred dollar bills, walked to the window and made his bets. He took a slip of paper along with his betting tickets and said "lunch is on them and we're eating good" the coffee shop at the Bellagio is better than alot of gourmet restaurants in most towns. I ordered the junior fillet mignon and we started.

KP: How long have you been doing this?

Mark: I've been gambling for 20 years, but quit my job 7 years ago and haven't missed it at all.

KP: What do you play?

Mk: Mostly sports, some blackjack, but that's only to pass time while the games are on.

KP: Why sports? Why not the other games?

Mk: Sportsbetting is a business, the guys playing are in it to win, not push, not grind out a few bucks over the long haul, they can't pretend they're for real and fake it, the slots are faking it, they make you believe something fantastic will happen without having to work for it or even thinking, just stick in a few bucks and you'll never have to work, never have to think for yourself ever again. With sportsbetting, it's your expertise against the pointmaker's expertise and their knowledge is no more or less than yours. Now with the internet every piece of information that they have is at your fingertips so their advantage is shrinking, as opposed to the slots where their advantage is increasing depending on which chip they decide to put in or the tables where their advantage is built into the odds. Look at roulette, there's 38 numbers but they pay 35 to 1. In the long run, the longer you play roulette, the more things stay the same, they'll always have the edge, but in sports betting, the more your knowledge increases, the more your chances of winning increases.

KP: Are you saying anyone can make a living if they just do the homework?

Mk: No, there's more to it than that. You have to have money behind you, real money, you gotta have the balls to bet, it's hard not to get emotionally involved, when the Lakers were on that 16 game winning streak, I was betting them just because they won me over as a fan, a big mistake I'll never make again, because although they covered most spreads, when they started to stumble last week, I still bet them because they were "my team" well "my team" cost me over $12 thousand in the last week alone.

KP: How do you feel when you loose that kind of money?

Mk: It's all relative, I made $8 thousand back on the Portland game and I hate Scottie Pippen, but so what. My home team is the team I bet to cover the spread.

KP: What's the most you bet and won or lost?

Mk: On last years Superbowl I had over $30 thousand bet in various books on Atlanta along with 2 other guys and three days later signed the papers for the Lincoln. Paid cash and no questions asked. On the other hand, we lost $17 thousand between the Final Four last March and a bad putt on the 18th hole at the Desert Inn.

KP: So you do alot of gambling outside the casino's?

Mk: No, not really. I want to gamble against people who HAVE to pay, I've had too many people stiff me outside the casinos. I spent a few years playing private poker games only to try to track deadbeats down for the money. No, I like the Gaming Commission on my side, whether they like it or not. They're my private police department if I need them, but the casinos don't flinch when it's time to pay, although they do like to send their hosts around to shmooze you to get you to stay so they can get even, that's when I got them. These guys can be real leeches when you beat the casino, but it's good to be nice to them in case you do need a room or dinner, that's the power of money in this town, it speaks louder than anything, it knows no religion, color, gender, it's just money. It drives this town, it's the universal language and without it the town will just return to the desert.

KP: Is that what you see for LasVegas?

Mk: What happened here on New Year's Eve was a possible peek at the future of Las Vegas. When it came time for the casinos to perform, they totally fell apart, not because they weren't ready, or because they didn't know what to do. They're so self indulged in their profit margin, they forgot that people are human, when you mistreat them, when you try to scam them and gouge them, they will fight back, they're not stupid. How did the casinos think people would feel and react to $2,000 a night rooms, higher priced food and drinks and entertainment? Because they figured they would get it without much grumbling, but what they got was the exact opposite. People stayed away in droves, the big spenders got their comps, the $20 players will always show up but they're not spending two grand on a room or playing $1,000 a hand blackjack so they stayed home and thanks to the police department spreading all over the newspapers about buying 300 new gas masks and bullet-proof vests, they stayed home and thanks to the small crowds the casinos decided not to waste their fireworks so the players they did have wouldn't leave the tables. Due to the corporate bottom liners, even the high roller list has shrunk to less than half of what it was just 10 years ago. Not that those people don't play here anymore, but they don't play at the big strip casinos like they once did. The limits on the lists have gone up, where a $100-$500 a hand bettor was once a good player, now the good players are expected to play a minimum of $500-$1,000 a hand and if they quit before 6 hours they'll pay for the trip. I can't tell you exactly where they went, but they're not in Vegas. The really big players are never really seen anyway. They're brought in by limo, brought in through side doors brought to the rooms by private elevators, gamble in private rooms, they have everything they need brought to them. The other whales people don't know anyways, a multi millionaire could be the President of some internet company and who would know him anyway?

KP: So where do you fit in?

Mk: I'm in the middle, but only in the limits I play, see, I live here so they can't give me rooms and I'll take their food comps but that don't make me loyal to no one. Whoever has the best line that day gets my money, but most people don't fly to Vegas to sit in a sportsbook and the speed and flash and action of the tables are too much to pass on, it's so damn addicting. When I win, I didn't bet enough and when I lose I always bet too much and always could have won if I would have done something different, or someone comes along and screws it up for me, there's alot of them around.

KP: Which happens more?

Mk: Mostly it's my mistake, except in blackjack, I hate when someone walks in during a deck. There's so many bad players nowdays that don't care about their money, they don't know the value of how hard it is to make it and hold onto it. You gotta remember I make a living at this, but I put in five to eight hours a day checking out all the college and pro games, basketball, football, hockey, baseball and with the college and pros, there's more information than I can keep up with in an eight hour day. So I work for my money, I pay all my expenses, insurance, I have a retirement plan and a wife and a 19 year old who's at UNLV and it ain't cheap.

KP: What about the days you lose, how do you overcome the losses?

Mk: Money management is the only way. Anyone can place a bet, but what happens after the outcome of that bet tells the real character of a person. Some people can handle it calmly whether they win or lose, some want retalliation against a dealer or a team themselves for screwing up. Either way they want justice and there is no justice in a casino, when I win I feel like I'm getting over on them because for that moment I'm smarter than they are, when I lose it's because I let my guard down and they snuck in a punch. But one punch will never knock me out, I never bet more than I plan for that day, that's the money management. You don't relate the winning or losing to your bankroll. The bankroll is a business not a weapon, you don't get emotional about it, so you don't seek justice when you lose by using your money like a weapon that's going to hurt the casino when you beat them back, they don't even notice you, so they sure don't feel like they need to get even with you when they lose, but they do it as a business, to the casinos getting even is a business. They do it with a smile and a free room and free booze and food until they get a shot back at their money. If you beat them, they get your name and the game's on, that's when you can call the shots and play the game back at them. If they offer you a room, tell them you need a suite, if they offer you a food comp, tell them you want the gourmet room, when they want to buy you a drink, don't order a god damn beer, order Chevas, even if you don't drink it, give it to someone at the table. When I lived back east, they'd offer to fly me in and I'd have them hooked. It was first class if they wanted me to come out..DONE.. they're gonna put me up in a room, I told them I needed a private jacuzzi to be really comfortable because I had one at home and I couldn't leave home without it, they fell for it and put me up in the only rooms that offer a jacuzzi which was on the top floor, which of course came with a 24 hr. butler service. Since I had the full f & b comp (food and beverage) I ordered only the best and they had no choice but to deliver and to boot I was beating the crap out of them. Man they were hurting!

KP: Who were "they" can we say?

Mk: Well it's not the same owners and I don't play there anymore, so yah, Caesar's.

KP: How often and how much were you playing?

Mk: I developed a direct feed nozzel for a supercharger for racing engines that added 30 horsepower, in racing terms, it turned a 3rd or 4th place into a 1st place. It was worth alot of money and I wasn't afraid to spend it. Usually twice a month at first. I'd usually play blackjack for $300-$1,000 and if I was ahead I'd get up to $5,000 plus.

KP: How did you do?

Mk: In 1988 I beat Caesar's for $685,000 by March '89. I was stuck close to half a million, I sold the business patents and all, paid off my debts and moved to Vegas.

KP: So how did you start sports betting?

Mk: I loved Michael Jordan and hated Karl Malone. in '92 when the Jazz played the Bulls in the playoffs I started betting, by the last game I had $40,000 on that last game spread out in 6 different books and thanks to MJ's last second shot from the perimeter I haven't looked back since.I wish I could meet him to tell him that, but he'd probably ask for his cut.

KP: I have alot more questions which I'll save for another interview, but just two more. What's the biggest bet you've seen and what was the greatest play?

Mk: There was this Asian guy, played $100,000 a hand. He started one spot and got it up to 5 spots, that was at Caesars in the private room up the spiral stairs next to the Bacchinal Room. He had them stuck for $8 million in a few hours and could do no wrong, the host brought a bottle of Champagne to the table. I was playing roulette and couldn't see what it was, but it had to be special because he hadn't touched a drink except for tea and the guy and his lady polished off the bottle, but he was already cashed out. I was in awe of this guy, he had no respect for that money at all, that's why he won so much, then he walked into the bathroom and I walked in after him and there he was throwing up like a kid. He looked so helpless, even after winning $8 million he was sweating and I helped him to the lounge in the room and he slept for an hour, when he got up he took a marker for $100,000 and I left. When I left the hotel the next morning he was stuck with $3 million, the shmuck lost $11 million back to them over one (deleted) bottle of champagne, that was an $11 milion dollar bottle. That's when I decided to move here, quit drinking and playing blackjack for real and spend my time in the sportsbooks sucking on their Chevas and eating their Filet Mignons and still making money on the Bulls.

KP: Thanks Mark for your insight, is there anything you'd say to sum up your philosophy on gambling?

Mk: Yah, Money doesn't care who owns it. There's no such thing as a sure thing. Never double up after a loosing bet. Don't bet the favorite in the Kentucky Derby. Always bet the favorite in boxing and the Indy 500. See Radio Days by Woody Allen. Read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Never betray a trust. Because you have two ears and one mouth, you should listen twice as much as you speak. Toke the dealers (sorry that's mine) Never bet the hard ways in craps. Fair is fair and just is just. It's hard to explain but easy to recognize. Learn from your mistakes . And above all remember, gambling doesn't build character, it reveals it.

---Ken Pearlman