Our guests this week are Jim Pasko, and his son Dan. Jim has been one of the best backgammon players in the world for 40 years, and together with his son Dan they have been very successful as sports bettors, primarily focused on prop bets.
[00:00] Introduction of gamblers, Jim and Dan Pasko
[00:35] Does Jim still play backgammon?
[03:17] Studying backgammon before bots, taking risk
[09:33] Cheating stories from The Cavendish, scams, magnetic dice
[17:06] Sport betting
[19:36] Jim and Dan’s background in math
[23:29] Betting football and nba props, increasing market efficiency
[26:37] Solving problems for other bettors, combinatorics
[29:12] Erosion of edges as markets change and evolve
[32:42] SouthPointCasino.com
[33:36] BlackjackApprenticeship.com
[34:20] VideoPoker.com/gwae
[35:22] Unabated.com
[35:58] How to contact Jim and Dan
[37:15] Backgammon, learning curves, Stu Ungar
[41:51] Bomb pots
[49:06] Recommended; The Great on Hulu, The Duke, Good Will Hunting, Tombstone
Sponsored Links:
http://BlackjackApprenticeship.com
Recommended:
“The Great” http://Hulu.com/series/the-great
“The Duke” http://Mubi.com/films/the-duke-2020
“Good Will Hunting” http://Miramax.com/movie/good-will-hunting
“Tombstone” http://Imdb.com/title/tt0108358/
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Great interview/show. I’d love more clarification about bomb pots. House games like them and I’m thinking I could get an edge at that level.
I don’t recall Stu Ungar’s drug problem ever being tied to a woman. A book I read talked about his wife but didn’t fault her, if memory serves.
What clarification(s) are you seeking about the bomb pots? Happy to try to answer if I understand the question better.
Bomb pots were new to me recently at a home game. They were dealing two/double flops. I sat out of some because I wasn’t familiar. In addition, I’m not experienced enough to have realized the obvious point that more hands seeing the flop will generate a lot of possible hands. It sounds like less than two pair on the flop is very vulnerable. Top pair with a nut flush might work or an open ended Sf draw. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Are you talking about holdem bomb pots? If so, then, yeah, I think ditching top pair without any redraw is quite safe. With a *competent* player UTG to my immediate right, I once ditched KK on a T high disconnected rainbow board, knowing that he would never lead a hand as weak as QQ into the field. (I was right, he had AA, which – still – I’m not sure is strong enough to lead into 8 completely uncapped hands.)
Obviously if we are talking 4 or 5 card Omaha then you must ratchet up *significantly*. It CAN be correct to muck the flopped nuts if that hand is a straight and you can’t improve on turn/river.
But this all brings us to the most important thing…observing what hands villains show down. There’s very little bluffing in bombs (other than the occasional dry ace). So it really only takes observing a few showdowns to see where they’re at. Take careful note of who only shows down the nuts and who shows down weaker hands and adjust your continuing ranges in future pots against these people accordingly. GL!