Someone recently mentioned that one of the characters in the book, The Ultimate Edge, was based on himself. This book, written by Mark Billings, talks about blackjack in the 80s. It includes some insider tips that I haven’t seen elsewhere and ends with a discussion of the main characters’ best play.
I read the book in preparation for a Gambling with an Edge visit from the author on April 4, 2013 and came across one tiny throwaway section that has brought a lot of fun to my life. I wrote about it back then, but since I’m sure many of my readers didn’t read that particular column 7½ years ago, I’ll repeat the fun part here.
The part I enjoy involved a bar bet that a guy could do “between three and four hundred push-ups in 10 minutes.” I avoid all bar bets on general principles but would have been very interested in seeing how this one played out.
If the guy making the bet looked like a professional athlete, then maybe it would be possible that he could do 300 or more push-ups in 10 minutes. Maybe. But this guy was kind of average looking with rather puny arms.
The bet was made. The guy did seven push-ups and claimed he won the bet. I had to read that several times before I realized that the bet wasn’t between 300 and 400 push-ups (which is what most people would mean when they say “between three and four hundred”), but simply between three push-ups and 400 push-ups. And seven push-ups are definitely in that range.
Okay. It’s rather cute. But how does this change my life?
I regularly get asked how much money I’ve won or lost on a particular day. I don’t want to give an exact figure, so I often say something like “between ninety and a hundred thousand dollars,” which is usually going to be true unless my actual number is either less than $90 or more than $100,000.
When people hear “between ninety and a hundred thousand dollars,” their minds go crazy. They want a piece of that unless it’s a day where I LOST between ninety and a hundred thousand dollars! In that case, I’m on my own.
When I eventually explain that it’s just a play on words, most people seem amused and forget that I didn’t actually answer their question. If they insist on a more precise answer, I ask them to explain how this is any of their business in the first place. That usually ends the discussion.
Since it is New Year’s resolution time, I think I’ll resolve to do between three and 400 hundred push-ups every day along with a similar number of sit-ups. That will really make me stronger and healthier!
On a somewhat related note, Mark Billings has recently published a new book on Predictive Roulette. You’ll read about it here and I’m quite sure he’ll be a guest on the podcast.
The essential notion in that funny story is actually something that can have a critical impact on our lives, so it would be good for us all to learn a lesson from it. Sometimes people say specific words that are either accidentally or intentionally misleading, and we interpret what they said differently than what the actual words say, so this works to our detriment. The consequences can be severe if it’s something medical or legal. As one example, many years ago I misheard what my doctor said and thought he was telling me to discontinue my antibiotic pills. I wound up with an out-of-control infection that put me in the hospital for almost a week. The lesson is to make sure you heard the speaker correctly and that you know what he meant. If you’re not sure, repeat it back to him, and ask questions. This is also why it’s good to get things written down, using numerals instead of words to represent numbers.
Bob Stupak was famous for proposition bets like that when he was operating downtown in the 1970’s.
I wonder what happens if you catch a guy accepting such a silly bar bet. Let’s say you bet it for 20 dollars that you can do between 2 and 3 hundred push-ups within 10 minutes. And then you do the 7 and instantly claim yourself being the winner of the bet. Would be interesting how many people pay the 20 dollars and how many believe being con-ed and therefore refuse the payout.
I knew something was amiss when I read the wide range, nobody capable of astounding push up numbers is going to be vague about it, they would say I could do 300 push ups, its not like they would continue on at a bar after they hit the money number, bar floors are dirty…
One of my pet peeves is when someone using the term “it’s the law”. Having spent 30 years in Law Enforcement, I have a fairly good working idea of the “law”. Both criminal and civil. So, when some sidewalk lawyer will say “it’s the law”, I often demand to see this law in writing. Then the excuses start. Uh, well, That’s what I was told…….