Book Club Meeting: Billy Walters' Book

The Johnson City (TN) Men's Book Club, helmed by retired ETSU professor, Ken Mijeski, has announced the October 27 meeting will feature a roundtable discussion of Billy Walters' biography Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk. The discussion facilitator, Bob Dietz, worked for Mr. Walters in 2002 and has spent 20+ college football seasons in Las Vegas as a professional handicapper. A special guest will appear who ran a high stakes sports betting cartel that competed with Mr. Walters' "Computer Group" in Las Vegas. The event is open to the public, and media have been invited to attend. The discussion will begin at 3:30 PM in the lounge area of the Italian Pizza Pub at 807 West Walnut Street in Johnson City.

I've heard that it's a good book, though the title is silly: when did the author ever risk his life betting on a game?

Though maybe it's just prescience on his part. I can see, in the near future, gamblers at MGM or Caesar's being allowed $10,000 betting credit if they agree to be publicly executed by the casino if they lose. They could make it a nightly spectacle: "The Losers" and have public beheadings, or feed them to lions--the possibilities are endless. You may consider this unlikely, but I contend that the only reason it hasn't happened already is that the casinos haven't thought of it. They could get dozens of "volunteers" every day--hundreds on Super Bowl Sunday.

And their widows would get a buffet comp.

Ok kevin, we know you hate Vegas.  There is no need for you to repeat it several times a day.

Think positive; it is healthier

I do get where Kevin is coming from, having spent months each year in LV during its bargain/value heyday, but I try to not over-present as the classic nattering nabob of negatism. It is disturbing and disgusting to see where the corporate values lie these days and what their strategies are. I feel like LV doesn't need me/us, so the hell with me/us. I suspect when I traipse around LV with folks who haven't been there before, I sound like Peter Pan back in the real world reminiscing about Neverland.

The only thing I can say is that when I manage to pull off some shifty bargain maneuvers, they are worth more than back in the day, and I have no qualms about pushing the envelope a la Dancer. 

What I like more about LV now versus LV then is I prefer the range and type of shows in the now. For everything else and in general, I prefer the then.

We know you hate Biden. There is no need for you to repeat it several times a day. Biden is President. There's nothing you can do about it. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Of course, it's all much worse than it was. A few isolated bargains remain. but I for one have closer, more convenient, and better value gambling options. I'm sure that's true for a majority of the population.

Boys Boys 

we all have our thoughts I try to see

bith sides of the road 

    Do I miss the old days Yes for sure.

yet now that I am older I am more

financially secure. Yet I love a bargain.

    What I really miss is pre covid 

Groupon deals. Very limited now

I do have fun with LVA coupons.

     Do I miss the huge $ hotdog

or $1.99 late breakfast Not really

      I rarely eat late these days

anyway

Patricia, don't you miss the 99c half-pound Westward Ho dog?  The one with all the rat hair in it?  And remember how they used to sell you mustard for $4.99 after you tasted the hot dog?

You know, one of the very few pats on the back I can give myself for having some sense in my youth is that, for all the many days I spent in LV -- hanging at the Stardust much of the time -- I think I ate just two of those things in about 20 years. 

Postscript:  

The meeting went well. The questions were more sophisticated than I expected, but I guess if people actually read the book, it wasn't just your random sample of people. One guy, who taught college stats for a sociology department, had some good questions regarding financial details of Walters' operation and the percentages necessary to win factoring in overhead. So we got into negotiated reduced vig, rebate potentials, and how frugal Walters was with "the help."

The guest who ran a sports gambling cartel in LV at the same time as The Computer Group fielded about 40% of the questions. Between us, we covered a wide range of material. 

Follow-up lunch is this week, with a subset of the meeting attendees. I'll get into a little more regarding Walters' two "how-to" chapters. I actually had some comment on every other paragraph of those chapters, but they are the more technical chapters in the book, so we didn't spend too much time on them in the meeting.

I'm glad we did it. We actually kicked the thing off at 3 PM so we had some extra time. It's a shame it wasn't recorded, but the head of the club found out his wife had Covid the evening before the meeting, so he was not in attendance. One guy with a Harvard law degree said the guest and I should take our show on the road. LOL. Not sure what that would entail, but it would be interesting.