Gambler Quotes

“His personal philosophy could be summarized like this: “In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“I’ve been around gamblers since I was six years old. I’ve seen it all: smart money, stupid money, sharps, half-sharps, suckers, and squares. I’ve run into every sort of hustler, scuffler, con man, and bullshit artist you can imagine. I’ve dealt with killers, drug dealers, celebrities, billionaires, and a thug-fest of would-be tough guys. For the longest time, I could not resist that sweet voice called Action whispering in my ear, drawing me in, pulling me down. For years, I lived what gamblers in the South like to call a “chicken or feathers” existence; flush one day, dead broke the next. I’ve lost cars, houses, businesses, and marriages. I gambled until I had all your money, or you had all of mine.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“What if I had to choose between helping gain the freedom of a good friend or refusing to answer questions in court? Would I have abandoned that friend in his ultimate hour of need?”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“I encountered disabled people, but never really saw them. I was too obsessed with making money and being successful. The disabled were just not part of my world, and I was unaware of the full range of their challenges.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“For me, the key was balancing patience against greed, gaining control over my ego and emotions, and knowing when to”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“If I win this money back, if I get to even, I’m going to quit. But I didn’t know when or how to quit. Instead, I became the poster child for the old gambler’s lament: “The biggest thrill you can have in gambling is making a huge bet and winning. The second-biggest thrill is making a huge bet and losing.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“I never wavered from the mission: getting the best possible number and price on every game. And no matter the obstacles, via trial and error, I became the best in the world at finding that number and concealing the source. The business of sports betting might seem like quantum physics to the general public. At the highest level, it is closer to psychological warfare between bettor and bookmaker—cat and mouse, hunter and prey. The posted line is just a way to trigger the game. Some cynics assume that my goal was to put every bookie out of business—but nothing could be further from the truth. Bookmakers strive for balance. They never want to tilt too far on one side of the action. Bookies breathe easiest in the middle, taking equal money and profiting off the 10 percent juice. If a bookie was destroyed, it meant he either closed his shop or reduced his limits. Neither scenario did me any good. My goal was to keep the bookmakers in business and expand their limits. This served to increase the size of the market, which meant more potential profit for me. The smartest bookies had solved this riddle and wanted to do business with me directly. They wanted to know straight from the horse’s mouth what games I liked. If they were smart, they took my information and profited by shading their line and forcing customers to the other side, extending limits. A smart bookmaker knows there will be winners and losers. They also understand that there is no business if there are no winners. Translated: the smartest bookmakers are open to all comers—just like baccarat, blackjack, and craps. The brightest bookmakers know they can use smart money for their own benefit. Early in my career, the major-league bookmakers were Bob Martin, Johnny Quinn, Gene Maday, and Scotty Schettler. Following in their footsteps are Nick Bogdanovich, Jimmy Vaccaro, Richie Baccellieri, Matt Metcalf, and Chris Andrews. They are grand masters of the art. They know how to book. How smart are they? Well, Nick ran the William Hill U.S. sportsbook operation and then oversaw Caesars Sports trading for nearly a decade before being hired as sportsbook manager at Circa. Jimmy is the senior linemaker at the sports-betting network VSiN and vice president of sports marketing at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa. Richie B., who ran the counter at the MGM, Caesars, and the Palms, now works as the director of product development at Circa alongside Nick. Chris Andrews, legendary oddsmaker Jack “Pittsburgh Jack” Franzi’s nephew, is the sportsbook director and Jimmy’s sidekick at the South Point, owned and operated by Michael Gaughan, another Las Vegas legend. In 1992, Jack Binion was Nick Bogdanovich’s boss at the Horseshoe. I could bet $25,000 on a game of college football at eight o’clock Monday morning, and $50,000 on a pro football game.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Early in my career, the major-league bookmakers were Bob Martin, Johnny Quinn, Gene Maday, and Scotty Schettler. Following in their footsteps are Nick Bogdanovich, Jimmy Vaccaro, Richie Baccellieri, Matt Metcalf, and Chris Andrews. They are grand masters of the art. They know how to book. How smart are they? Well, Nick ran the William Hill U.S. sportsbook operation and then oversaw Caesars Sports trading for nearly a decade before being hired as sportsbook manager at Circa. Jimmy is the senior linemaker at the sports-betting network VSiN and vice president of sports marketing at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa. Richie B., who ran the counter at the MGM, Caesars, and the Palms, now works as the director of product development at Circa alongside Nick. Chris Andrews, legendary oddsmaker Jack “Pittsburgh Jack” Franzi’s nephew, is the sportsbook director and Jimmy’s sidekick at the South Point, owned and operated by Michael Gaughan, another Las Vegas legend. In 1992, Jack Binion was Nick Bogdanovich’s boss at the Horseshoe. I could bet $25,000 on a game of college football at eight o’clock Monday morning, and $50,000 on a pro football game.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“I’d like to say that after her passing, I resolved to turn my life around. I might have resolved to do that, but my follow-through fell through.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Another example: Take our favorite football number: 3. If I like the favorite, anything better than –170 would be better than laying 3 at $110/$100. For the underdog, anything better than +140 is better than taking the 3 at a price of $110/$100.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“The opposite applies if you’re betting the favorite. Lay the 6.5 as soon as you can because if it goes to 6, you gain a small competitive advantage compared to what you have to lose if it goes to 7. Thus, the adage: bet favorites early and dogs late. Always pay attention to the value of the numbers as the line moves.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Let’s look at the first example in the table. Remember, my formula is 90 percent of the old team rating + 10 percent of the True Game Performance Level. In that example, the True Game Performance Level is 14 (the net score) + the old power rating of the opponent (–4.2), and the net injuries (4.7 – 6.5 = –1.8). So the formula for the True Game Performance Level is 14 –4.2 – 1.8 = 8. TABLE 1 Updating Power Ratings Examples TEAM RATING TEAM INJURIES OPPONENT RATING OPPONENT INJURIES NET SCORE TRUE GAME PERFORMANCE LEVEL NEW TEAM RATING 8 4.7 –4.2 6.5 14 8.0 8.0 6.2 3.5 9.0 1.8 –10 0.70 5.65 –4.5 3.8 11 5.1 –8 1.7 –3.88 7.6 4.1 2.1 3.8 7 9.4 7.78 –2.8 1.9 6.4 2.8 –21 –15.5 –4.07 5.0 5.4 7.6 2.9 11 21.1 6.61 Thus, the new power rating is 90 percent of 8 (7.2) + 10 percent of 8 (0.8) for a new power rating of 8. Over time, you’ll get the hang of doing this.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Regarding the importance of injuries and their effect on overall team performance, here’s a great example from the NFL: Tampa Bay’s offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs usually wouldn’t be considered a high-impact player. But when Tampa Bay met the Los Angeles Rams in the 2022 playoffs, Wirfs was injured and, because of the unique set of circumstances involving that game, his absence had a major impact. The Rams, led by all-world defensive tackle Aaron Donald, had a ferocious pass rush, and Tom Brady was not the most mobile of quarterbacks. Wirfs, who we normally graded at 1.3 points or so in the regular season, suddenly became a lot more valuable because of his injury—maybe worth as many as 6 points. Here’s why. With Wirfs out, his backup (normally worth 0.3 points) was also injured, but playing. Therefore, with an injury, he was worth no points. We knew the cumulative totals of that injury, along with Wirfs’s absence, were going to have a significant impact on the Bucs’ performance and the outcome of the game. Add the disappearance of wide receiver Antonio Brown, who had left the team weeks earlier, the loss of wide receiver Chris Godwin, and, therefore, the need for tight end Rob Gronkowski to stay inside to help block the pass rush, and I knew the Bucs were in trouble. I wagered accordingly and won the bet, largely because I knew that an injured offensive line was going to change the dynamics of this game. I would have acted differently in the same scenario if the team had a more mobile quarterback or a stronger running attack. Again, these are the special situations in which you have to understand the value of each player, the quality of the opponent, and the overall impact on the score of the game.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Over the years, my brain trust of more than twenty-five people has included a guy who was number one in his class at Caltech, a department chair of economics at a major U.S. university, mathematical savants, computer wizards, PhDs, and quantitative and database handicappers who live and breathe algorithms and theoretical angles not found in your average textbook. Our team members act like hedge fund analysts, assigning a numerical value to every conceivable factor or variable capable of affecting sporting events to within a tenth of a point. In the NFL alone, I have several teams of experts working independently. They have never met each other, even though most have worked with me for more than thirty years, funneling their information to one common denominator: me.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Home Field Advantage The standard NFL home field advantage, taking fanfare, folklore, and conventional wisdom into consideration, is generally thought to be worth 3 points. Well, not so fast. The actual average home field advantage, taking into account every NFL game from 1974 to 2022, is closer to 2.5 points. In addition, the home field advantage over the last four years of NFL football is actually less than 1 point (thanks largely to COVID). If you had made the mistake of using 3 points for the average home field advantage over the last three years, you certainly would have lost.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Based upon my detailed betting records and additional records provided by the sources, here is a snapshot of Phil’s gambling habit between 2010 and 2014: He bet $110,000 to win $100,000 a total of 1,115 times. On 858 occasions, he bet $220,000 to win $200,000. (The sum of those 1,973 gross wagers came to more than $311 million.) In 2011 alone, he made 3,154 bets—an average of nearly nine per day. On one day in 2011 (June 22), he made forty-three bets on major-league baseball games, resulting in $143,500 in losses. He made a staggering 7,065 wagers on football, basketball, and baseball. Phil didn’t let his playing in PGA tournaments get in the way of betting. Indeed, according to the 2010–2014 betting records, he made 1,734 wagers on games during twenty-nine events. This included seventy separate bets on baseball and preseason pro football during The Barclays tournament in August 2011 where he shot 8-under and tied for 43rd (he won $415,000 in bets that weekend). On February 11, 2012, a busy college basketball Saturday, Phil blew himself up by running his betting losses to nearly $4 million, according to the gambling sources familiar with Phil’s other bets. Even so, he displayed an incredible ability to compartmentalize. He shot 64 the following day to win the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach while playing with, and demolishing, Tiger Woods, by eleven strokes.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Based upon my detailed betting records and additional records provided by the sources, here is a snapshot of Phil’s gambling habit between 2010 and 2014: He bet $110,000 to win $100,000 a total of 1,115 times. On 858 occasions, he bet $220,000 to win $200,000. (The sum of those 1,973 gross wagers came to more than $311 million.) In 2011 alone, he made 3,154 bets—an average of nearly nine per day. On one day in 2011 (June 22), he made forty-three bets on major-league baseball games, resulting in $143,500 in losses. He made a staggering 7,065 wagers on football, basketball, and baseball. Phil didn’t let his playing in PGA tournaments get in the way of betting. Indeed, according to the 2010–2014 betting records, he made 1,734 wagers on games during twenty-nine events. This included seventy separate bets on baseball and preseason pro football during The Barclays tournament in August 2011 where he shot 8-under and tied for 43rd (he won $415,000 in bets that weekend).”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“Back then, Kentucky folks adopted an early version of Airbnb, but it was more like Pokerbnb. They opened their homes—beds and all—to card players who cut them in on the pot in exchange for hosting seven-card stud games. These roaming games often lasted for days, even weeks. Losers moved on. Winners took naps until the next challengers arrived. The wealthier farmers and businessmen were known to play for thousands of dollars.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk

“My philosophy on life is simple: You come into this world with nothing, and you leave with nothing. So seize every opportunity to leave a legacy that might inspire others to make the most of their time on earth. At the end of the day, there are two people you can’t bullshit—yourself and your maker. You will be judged by the way you’ve lived and by whether you’ve followed your servant’s heart. For the longest time, I was anything but a shining example. But I firmly believe that we can benefit more from studying the lives of sinners than saints.”
― Billy Walters, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk