Monday's Edition

By Paul Lawrence

CASINOS COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHY HE NEVER LOST.

Paul Lawrence weaves a fascinating tale of gambling, romance, adventure, history, football, and betting basics in Monday's Edition - a football gambler's odyssey through a season of trips to Las Vegas and Reno to try to beat the sys

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marathon Publishing
• Release date: May 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781960939838

Paul Lawrence

OD expert and executive coach, Paul Lawrence is co-Director of the Centre for Systemic Change, a change management company based in Sydney. He was previously a Global Program Director for OD and Learning at BP.

Book preview

To Joe, the most unassuming

and kind-hearted man I have ever known.

Preface

While this book is about gambling, it must be noted that it’s purely fictional. It’s not written to encourage anyone to take up this sort of lifestyle. Gambling can be an addiction, not so much different from alcohol and drugs. And just like alcohol and drugs, it has ruined many lives and marriages. It must not be taken lightly. It also invites the possibility of crime and corruption into one’s life. There’s an organization called Gamblers Anonymous that can help people with this problem. Some people can gamble and then stop when it gets out of hand. But with other people, it can swallow them up completely, taking over their lives. Please know that this is written only as entertainment.

In this book, there is a lot of factual terminology. Part one may seem a little slow, but this is necessary to give the uninitiated an understanding of football rules and procedures, and the basics of sports gambling. It speaks about many different sports but mostly football and many sports gambling terms and how the betting line was created. Part two deals with a little history of Las Vegas, Hoover dam, and how Las Vegas has evolved. Some of these stories are from my own experiences. Any names of actual people and places mentioned in this story are unintentional and purely coincidental. All of the betting procedures are accurate; although, the timeline may be a little off. But this is a fantasy. So, please enjoy this trip into the football gambling world with a touching love story.

Chapter 1

Finally, it arrived—week one of the pro football season. I was so excited. I always get my newspaper fairly early, usually around 7 AM. My paper is published in Dallas and has very good coverage of sports, especially professional football. They break the games down and show trends between two opposing teams for all games played that day. These aren’t opinions; they’re just facts. I study this as the main source of my decisions. I also look at the line. But it doesn’t mean as much in the pro game, compared to college.

I went out to get my paper and I noticed that it was sort of small for a Sunday edition. I unfolded the paper and looked at section A, it was dated Monday—the next day. I thought that was kind of odd. I went straight to the sports section to see what was there. I was shocked! On page one of the sports section, it gave the score of my favorite team: Dallas had beaten their opponent 27-10 on Sunday—today!

I started thumbing through the sports section, to the box scores of all the games played on Sunday. For a minute I thought I had lost a day. That somehow, I went through Sunday and didn’t remember any of it. Was I going insane? I checked my watch and my computer. Sure enough, it was 7:30, Sunday morning. The games hadn’t been played, yet all the scores of the match-ups were there in black and white. Even the Sunday night game. Then I thought, someone’s playing a joke on me. Maybe one of my buddies at the lumberyard. Had to be. But how in the world could this be done—publish a whole newspaper just to play a joke? That wasn’t possible. I didn’t know what to think. About half an hour later I looked outside, and there was my real Sunday paper.

I looked at the match-ups of all the teams and the sportswriters’ predictions. All I could do was giggle at how wrong they were. At least according to the Monday version of the paper. I was so stunned; I never placed a bet that Sunday. I was glued to the television all day with the sports section at my side. Unbelievably, at the end of the day, all the scores turned out the same as they were in the paper. I have never believed in magic, but a genie had gotten out of a bottle somewhere. I thought about betting on the Sunday night game, but reconsidered, thinking this might be the trap. So, I watched it very closely. Everything matched the paper, right down to the yards per carry, passing yards, turnovers, and penalties. After the game was over, I just stared at the television for about half an hour, not knowing what to think.

I started to call one of my buddies, but thought better of it. Number one, he wouldn’t believe me until he saw the paper. By this time, it was after 11 PM, so I decided that I would just wait. I assumed that the real Monday paper would come tomorrow. I couldn’t wait.

Chapter 2

My name is Martin Adams. I’m fifty-five years old and a computer technician (information technology—IT for short). That’s how I make my living. I manage networks for four different banks. Generally, I work three or four days a week on a contractual basis. Also, I guess I’m what you would call a confirmed bachelor. I live alone. It’s not that I don’t like women—I do. And I have done my fair share of dating. But in the small East Texas town where I live, there’s not much of a party scene, so I don’t get out a lot. I spend a lot of my spare time learning computer systems. And that’s a challenge, because technology is constantly changing. It really is a passion for me. But there’s something else that occupies my time: I’m a gambler. Not in the strictest sense of the word. At least not now. I used to be. Now, I only bet on football—college and professional. At one time, I bet on everything: football, baseball, basketball, horse racing, dog racing, and almost every casino game ever invented. I finally realized that I couldn’t keep this up. I decided to concentrate on one thing and try to be good at it. And that thing is football. I’m not saying that I’m good at it, but it’s my second passion.

Speaking of football and other sporting events, there’s something I have never understood. In this country, it’s legal to bet, but it’s illegal to accept a bet in any state on any sporting event, with two exceptions—Nevada, which accepts bets for all sporting events, and Delaware, where bets can only be accepted on a parlay (explain later) on pro games at about three horse racetracks. And of course, horse race betting is legal in several states. Off-track betting is also legal in several states. Isn’t horse racing a sporting event?

Then there’s the lottery (poor man’s tax), which is legal in almost every state. Don’t tell me bingo is not gambling. It’s even played in churches (talk about your moneychangers). Gambling is gambling no matter where you do it. If it’s legal in one place, it should be legal everywhere. Why differentiate sports betting from bingo? You’re still risking your money to try to win more. In sports betting, I guess the general thought is that the mob would exert influence and coerce players one way or the other. That could very well be true, because even without Nevada, there are enough illegal bookmakers in this country to put Las Vegas and Reno to shame. Not to mention offshore betting on the Internet. Of course, our government, in the past, has vowed to shut that down. Good luck with that.

Chapter 3

When I started going to Vegas in the early 1980s, there were very few sports books in casinos, but more were being added. There are many games in casinos, however, slot machines basically pay the bills. They’re so impersonal and require very little interaction with casino personnel. This makes players more comfortable. The slots are always busy. Two games give the player somewhat of a chance at winning: 21 and craps. There are many other games, but the house has such a ridiculous advantage that they’re not worth mentioning.

In my first trip to the gambling capital of the world with several friends, we went to a casino that only had slots—it wasn’t even a hotel. I just sat in the lobby because I don’t care for the slots. This one girl in our group came to me and said, I won six hundred-dollar jackpots.

Great, you’re up six hundred, right?

Oh, I don’t have it now. I put it back in the slot machines.

That’s what they want you to do.

As far as my gambling history is concerned, after twenty plus years of visits to Las Vegas, I finally gave up on 21 and craps; realizing that the odds were in favor of the casino. Of course, everyone knows that, or should. I just thought I was different and could beat them. I spent countless hours reading books, learning the best strategy and how to count cards in 21.

Card counting is not allowed in casinos. The basic theory behind counting cards is that when there’s a disproportionate number of face or ten cards left in the undealt deck as compared to the amount of number cards, this will favor the player rather than the dealer. When this is the case, the player will increase their bet. And the reverse is true. In order to know this, you have to keep up with the cards (the count ratio) as they’re dealt. It’s very hard to keep up with the count, especially during playing conditions. Even if you’re perfect, the odds are maybe 1 or 1½ percent in your favor. Not to mention that the pit bosses are always on the lookout for counters. Dealers can tell also. If they suspect a counter, they’ll shuffle up after every deal if they’re dealing from one or two decks. Also, if a player is varying his bets from low to very high from deal to deal, this is a tip-off that the player is counting the cards. I was once sitting at a 21 table where the dealer (playing from 2 decks) was shuffling the cards after every deal. Finally, this guy sitting at the table got up and left. The dealer said, Did that guy think I was an idiot?

Or the dealer may be dealing from six to eight decks of cards. This makes counting cards very difficult. Known card counters have been banned from many casinos. And the casinos share this information with other casinos. You don’t want to be in their black book. Many books have been written on how to count cards and what the proper ratio of 10-count cards to number cards is. But in my opinion, this is done mainly to sell books.

I really don’t know what casinos are so worried about. Very few people can master counting, and even the ‘counters’ lose a good bit of the time. I once wrote a computer program that took counting cards into account. My computer could play a million hands in about ten minutes. The best it ever did was to give me an advantage of about 1¼ percent. A lot of work for little gain. If you just play sound strategy, the house advantage is only about 1 or 2 percent, which makes 21 the most favorable game for the player. But you still have to learn proper strategy. It’s just not worth the time or effort when in the long run you’re going to lose.

Craps runs hot and cold. You just have to know when the dice are hot and then press (increase) your bets. Those casinos and hotels aren’t built from losing to bettors. I think I came home a winner three or four times in thirty or more trips. However, the visits to the gambling center of the world were fun. I guess you can always chalk it up to entertainment (everybody says that).

Chapter 4

For my first trip to Las Vegas, I went with several friends in 1982. I actually came home with about $1,100 in winnings. I played mostly 21. I knew the rules of the game, but I really didn’t know much strategy, just got good cards. The first night I was up $800. I saw one of my friends across some tables and walked through the pit (will explain later) to show her how much I had won. The pit bosses were not happy about that. I had no clue. Absolutely beginner’s luck. I actually took my chips to my room that night. Didn’t know where to go to cash them in.

I never really got into basketball, professional or college. It really makes me nervous. Your team could be up twelve to fifteen points, and in two minutes the game is even. All you have to do is to tune into the last two or three minutes of the game. Too many timeouts.

Plus, the pro basketball season is, in my opinion, way too long. They start in October and the finals don’t finish until early June or later, the next year. To me, there are just too many teams in the post season. They play four rounds of the best four of seven. If every playoff series went to the maximum of seven games, the playoffs would last for 105 games. It’s just a second season. That is probably good for the teams, as it probably means that the best team will win a series. But I still don’t care for it.

And baseball (used to be America’s pastime): is just too slow for me. Too much strategizing. I mean, putting a pitcher in to face one batter, then taking him out—what’s up with that? Plus, there’s too much talk of performance-enhancing drugs. They’re not going to be able to stop it. Then they banned one of the best players the game has ever known for gambling—like no player ever does it.

Then there’s hockey—not enough scoring. To me, it’s one of the most boring games to watch on television, but I’m told it’s very exciting if you attend a game. Probably because there are so many fights between players. I can’t understand why this is allowed. I’m sure this is why a lot of fans go.

Soccer (futbol)—never really understood the rules and also not enough scoring. I swear I could go to sleep just watching a soccer game in person. But it has really taken off in this country in the last several years, especially in the younger bunch. When I was a kid, all we had was Little League baseball. Never heard of soccer. Now, my niece plays for a team in Dallas, Texas. There are complexes that have twelve to sixteen soccer fields. They’re playing games nonstop, daylight till dark on weekends. It’s the most popular sport in the world since it’s played in almost every country. I would rather face a pack of rabid dogs than a pack of rabid soccer fans in Europe.

I have been to a few horse races, but I never understood the fascination of trying to pick a winner out of ten to fifteen contestants. It’s hard enough to pick a winner out of two contestants. There’s a lot of excitement though when the horses are coming down the stretch, but you can’t get too excited when your horse is in sixth or seventh place with 100 yards to go.

Also, like many other people, I played in a hometown poker game. I really did fairly well. However, you’re trying to win money from your friends. Your friends will eventually learn how you play; so, the outcome will basically be even, unless you’re totally incompetent. And the big tournament in Vegas every year—no chance. Not only does it take about $10,000 to enter, but I also don’t have what it takes to go head-to-head with the professional players. They’ll stare you down like you just committed murder. They say you play the man, not the cards. I’m not sure I totally agree with that. You still need to have the cards to win. That being said, I can be intimidated. I would have to wear a hockey uniform at the table, and would still be eliminated the first day.

Chapter 5

Then there’s American football, which is a TDD (totally different deal). It’s the most bet-on sport in this country. I was introduced to betting on pro football in the late seventies by a friend. A small wager on a 2-game parlay. Of course, I lost, but I was hooked. I had no clue how to handicap a game other than listening to other people and reading write-ups in the newspaper. I have found that sports reporters are really good at writing about teams, players, and their injuries or whatever, but most have no clue how to handicap a game. They’ll always give their picks a day or two before the games, but most are under 50 percent versus the betting line. If you go with their picks, you will lose.

The following are some gambling terms that will be used in this book. This is common knowledge for all gamblers:

Point spread, spread, line, or betting line—they all mean the same. This is how many points one team is favored to win by over another team in a particular match-up. Pick means the teams are rated even. If you bet on the favorite with a spread of 6½ points, your team must win by at least seven points. If you bet the other side of this game, your team must either win or lose by no more than six points. This is called covering the spread or just covering, no matter who wins the game outright

Line maker—The person or establishment that sets the betting line on games. This is usually done on Sunday nights in Las Vegas after the day games are played. (This would be for the next week’s games.) The early line is known as the outlaw line. This line is offered to a very select few trusted and big bettors. They make their bets and then the line is adjusted toward the favorite or underdog. This line is not available to the public. After the big boys make their bets and the line is adjusted, the line is then offered for publication and sent to newspapers all over the country.

Dog = underdog—This is the team that’s getting points or predicted to lose. If a team is favored to win by seven, they’re considered -7. And the reverse is true, the dog is +7. Also, in this case, if the favorite wins the game by 7 points, it’s considered a push (tie). No money changes hands. It could be any number.

Casino, book, bookie, bookmaker, and sports book—All mean the same thing in this book.