Man With the $100,000 Breasts

by Michael Konik

A fearless gambler who got breast implants to win a $100,000 bet. A hard-core dice shooter who turned a borrowed stake of $10,000 into $17 million. A marketing genius who created a “900” line for selecting winners of NFL football games—and had his four-year-old son make the picks. These are some of the characters who populate Michael Konik’s The Man With the $100,000 Breasts and Other Gambling Stories , a collection of the renowned gambling writer’s best magazine pieces.

Written in a literary style that’s both informative and entertaining, Konik gives rare behind-the-scenes glimpses of a subculture rarely seen by the vast majority of readers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Games

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Based in Southern California, Michael Konik is a writer, composer, record producer, artist, improviser, former television personality, unusually articulate stoner, burgeoning thought leader and generally decent person.

Reviews

[Santiago Mansilla]

Very interesting, real and funny stories from the gambling and poker world.

The poker fans will read about the life of Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed, two champions of the WSOP Main Event.

If you want to read about prop bets in this book you can read about the most bizarre one: Brian Zembic his $100.000 breasts.

[Jan Var]

Kniha The Man With the $100,000 Breasts* od Michaela Konika je zbierka fascinujúcich príbehov zo sveta hazardu. Autor v nej rozpráva o výstredných postavách a ponúka pohľad do života pokrových šampiónov, športových stávkarov a profesionálnych gamblerov, všetko v pútavom štýle. Konik opisuje, ako tieto charizmatické postavy prijímajú riziko a prekonávajú šance, čo robí z knihy atraktívne a pútavé čítanie pre fanúšikov hazardu.

[Bob E]

Honestly not the biggest fan of gambling & games (which already biases me against this book— I’m sorry!), but this was a really fun and insightful read, albeit a bit dragging at some points. I enjoyed how short each chapter was, and my favorite has to be the last one in the author’s POV.

[Ann]

Fun and informative.

[MÉYO]

🤔

[Leslie Holland]

So fun! Published ages ago, but timeless.

[Nathan Woll]

It's a bunch of stories about gambling.

[Oban]

Good book for getting a look into the world of gambling. Strong start to the book.

[Eddie]

Fun book on the people in the gambling community (mostly Vegas). The subculture of gambling attracts different types of people ranging from the math whizzes to the down and out regular guy all looking for a path to money in an unconventional way. Book discusses poker, sports betting, etc and the culture of the participants.

[Sheehan]

This books is a pretty interesting assemblage of gambling journalism across the various genres, covering themes like Vegas (the space), Sports betting, proposition bets, poker, and the titled, just plain crazy bets like a man getting breast-implants for a year for $100,000...

From the title, the book sounds trite and ridiculous, but I'll give the author credit for really examining the motivations behind the anecdotes and agents. I really learned a lot and enjoyed the chapter on the oddsmaker who began the business which insures corporate "crazy" bets like half-court 3 pointers and field goal promotions; how he evaluated the props and priced them, taking "action" for just about any wild contest people came up with including largest pumpkins, paper airplane flights, and PGA tour titles with specific products. I had no idea such an industry existed (although it makes sense it would) to offset/amortize the cost to businesses for these gambling promotions.

If you like gambling and hearing stories about it, you really can't go wrong with this book.

[Carrie]

The book is about gambling, gaming and cons of different types. It covers your odds of winning, the best ways to win at different games and some great stories about people who make these games their lives. The title comes from a story about one man who just makes bets with rich people, like "Do you bet me $1,000 I can live in this bathroom for a month?" He gets breast implants on a bet for $100,000 and discovers that he likes them and his sex life does NOT suffer as he feared it might, so he keeps them even longer than the required time. A must-read if you're planning a casino trip.

[Denise]

Picked up in the Vegas airport, fittingly enough. This is a collection of anecdotes about gamblers and gambling -- more about gamblers, really, and some of the funny and sometimes heartbreaking things they get up to. The writing style's very clear and breezy, and the stories are entertaining.

[Phil Simon]

Great gambling book. I thought that I had a problem until I read this colorful collection of vignettes.

[Sonya Carlson]

A random mix of gambling stories that often repeat details yet leave out descriptions for the non-gambler to grasp the story

[Amar Pai]

Eh. Reads like the overlong Maxim magazine article that it essentially is.

[Pete Johnson]

Pretty outdated, but I love books about Gambling so it was definitely entertaining!