Billy Walters, a legendary sports gambler, finally writes an autobiography. For those who wish to share his success at betting football and other sports, he gives the “from 30,000 feet view” of his secret sauce. He prints the factors his computer programmers take into consideration, but you’re going to have to do your own analysis and come up with your own numbers.
Although he ended up wildly rich and successful, his life didn’t start out that way and it was a very bumpy ride. He was raised in rural Kentucky by his grandmother, and he started gambling at a very young age. He presents himself as a degenerate gambler and alcoholic going through several dozen boom-and-bust cycles until he finally got his ducks in a row. He is not at all shy about recounting his many, many failures along his road to success.
One of his “secrets” is that he performs very well under pressure — and is not afraid to go broke if he calculates the odds being in his favor. He is a very good golfer, but even better at sizing up his opponents. Hustling at pool and golf taught him many secrets for getting money out of bookies. He is very good at applying what he has learned in one circumstance and applying it in another.
The Federal Government tried to convict him numerous times throughout his life. He was able to beat all the raps — except the last one, where he was convicted for insider trading. He maintains his innocence and blames Phil Mickelson for his conviction. Walters contends that if Mickelson had testified at Walters’ trial and simply told the truth, Walters would never have been convicted.
Although Walters has nothing nice to say about Mickelson (or Steve Wynn, for that matter), this is not a sour grapes book. He did his time, and now is helping others who do not have his financial resources to beat the prison system. Still, this is just one side of it. I’m pretty sure Mickelson would have a very different take on what went down.
Although there are dozens of specific stories in this book, Walters is not a particularly good storyteller. Many of his adventures would make a good plot for a thriller, but Walters recounts the stories in a rather matter-of-fact manner. Billy Walters was one of those gamblers that Richard and I lusted over having on our Gambling with an Edge podcast. But Walters was in prison for much of the GWAE run and didn’t do many interviews. So, we never got him on the show. Now Walters is doing more interviews promoting this book than he ever did previously.
Well, I’ll step up and report that I just helmed a book club roundtable discussion regarding Walters’ book for the Johnson City Men’s Book Club. Co-hosting with me was someone who ran a high stakes sports gambling cartel in LV concurrent with Walters’ first incarnation of The Computer Group. My anchor point was that Walters recruited me in 2002 to be part of one of his handicapping brain trusts, probably on the recommendations of Marc Lawrence’s group and the late Larry Fletcher, a famous Florida-based sports bettor who partnered with Mike Lee. Fletcher was perhaps better known by his sports betting handle, “Southern Comfort.”
In any event, the thrust of my take on Walter’s book was that what was missing from the story told you quite a bit about the story, but you had to have a kind of inside view to appreciate what didn’t make it into the book. In other words, as my English profs at Penn State used to say, “All writing is fiction.”
We should probably sit down and discuss Walters’ book sometime soon before it (and us old-timers) become lost in history. When people ask me if Billy Walters reminded me of anyone, I always give the same response. Yes, he reminds me of (strike up the theme from Dallas) J.R.Ewing. ‘Nuff said, although there’s much more to be said.
If you have this conversation, can you please record it and put it on a podcast? I would be very interested in listening to it. Thanks.