Good afternoon. You're listening to Gambling with an Edge. Now here are your
host Bob Dancer and Richard Lunchkin. Good afternoon, Welcome to Gambling with an
Edge. I'm Richard Munchkin and I'm Bob Dancer, and today our guest is
mister Duppy. Mister Duppy has been tirelessly doing the show notes for Gambling with
an Edge for like five years now, so we wanted on our farewell tour.
We wanted to have him on because his life has kind of changed considerably
due to Gambling with an Edge, and so we wanted to have him on
to talk about that as a success story. So, mister Duppy, welcome
to Gambling with an Edge. YEA, thank you guys. It's certainly great
to be here. I'm a long time fan and yeah, I mean it's
really had a great impact on my life. So I'm honored to be here.
Thank you. So can you tell us basically how that started? How?
What the how things changed for you when you started listening to Hambling with
an Issue core Right, So I started listening and I was doing very small
amounts of advantage play. I was doing like a lot of a lot of
a lot of couponing and all that kind of stuff, and I was hustling
a lot of Ultimate X and my local casino, and basically there were only
about two other guys that were checking the machines all the time. And then
there was a day that I saw one of those guys on a carnival game,
and it just didn't make sense to me why he would be playing a
carnival game when there were all these Ultimate X machines that he could have been
checking that we're all still good, and until I apposed the game, and
then I noticed why he was playing that carnival game, and that was something
that I would not have known if not for gambling with an edge, I
just would have thought he was playing on the square. And so that that
kind of introduced me to that, and then I ultimately started talking to him
and I became friends with him, and then he introduced me to some other
guys that were very very sharp here in my hometown, and we've all become
friends and they've been really really helpful to me, both psychologically and also in
terms of like information and getting sharper. And basically it all started because I
saw that whole card game, which I would not even have known to look
for if I hadn't been listening to gambling with an edge? Wait, what
did you mean that helpful? Psychologically? Well, like I think when I
started out, I had a very small bank roll, and I was accustomed
to a lot a lot of slings, and so as my bankroll grew,
there were a lot of opportunities where like you have to take on some extra
swing to take on more ed right, And that I think was something that
I was not accustomed to. And if I was trying to do that alone,
I think it would have been hard to know if this is really the
correct thing, because we're all kind of biased by outcomes and trusting the office
and also seeing people that are successful tell you that this is the right thing,
right. That was really really important to me because otherwise I don't know
that I could have taken some of the variants as well as I did.
Because just like in finance, like you have a bank roll, but like
you have a psychological bankroll and you have a financial bankroll, and if you
do a play, you have to meet both criteria, right, And so
I felt like early on, as I was ramping up and starting to win
more, but also starting to lose more at times. That was kind of
challenging for me to deal with, and those guys were really thoughtful in helping
me get the skills to kind of psychologically deal with that. If that makes
sense. Yeah, no, no, no, you have to ramp up
at your own speed basically. You know you have to because I remember when
you know, going from red ships to green ships. So for in the
beginning was like, oh man, this is a lot of money, and
then you got you get used to it, and then you go up to
black ships because it's like, oh man, this is a lot of money.
You know, so it just yeah, everybody makes that progression at their
own speed. Yes, that is true. But if I had to make
that progression alone, without a group of friends or a community, I think
it would have been much flower And some of the things that I did were
very time sensitive, and so you know, being able to ramp up tasker
I think was really valuable. Yeah, you mentioned you did Ultimate x vulturing
and then you learned a little bit about whole carding. What else did you
in your eighty adventures? Sure? Right? So, I mean I think
that prior to being like in the casino side, I was always looking for
ars, like I did a lot of scalping tickets and anything like that.
And then once I got into the casino stuff, like I said, it
was, it was all of the it was all of the couponing. I
did the plot hustling for years, but now that's very competitive where I lived,
so I kind of gave that up. And then I had a tip
once about a lot of replay that was beatable, and so I did that
at a very small scale for a couple of months, kind of solo,
you know, just doing it by myself because it wasn't really expensive to do
it. And then they changed the stakes on it and it became a lot
more expensive, which but but it was the same game, and so it
became a lot more valuable, and so I said, I said, So
I said to my girlfriend at the time, I said, I need all
of the money that we have to like spend a lot of tickets, like
I need every dollar that we have not and girlfriends just love that one.
Well, you know, yeah, I mean I think it was more surprising
when we told people that's what happened. You know, they all kind of
felt the unit Richard. They were like, why on earth would she agree
to this, But I think that I have known that that day might come,
you know. I think in the back of her mind she had kind
of seen me do some other things and was like, you know, there
might be a situation when this is going to happen. And so I told
her, I said, this is the situation, and so I need all
the money that we have, and how much are we talking here? I
think at that point our liquid savings, which is all that we could get
access to in a week with like forty K and so at the end,
so at the end of that week, I had eighty four dollars that were
not in ticket man, and she was down with it. Well, she
was down with it because I had done it on a smaller scale prior.
It was the same situation, but now it was just with the stakes were
higher. Right, So I said, look, I have proof of concept
that this is gonna work, and the return on this is excellent, and
this is like kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now there were
lots of other like you know, small nuances and when you talk about or
not. But but but because I had experience doing it prior, I felt
like it's the same game. You know, it's just more money, So
why wouldn't you try to ramp it up? So you bought forty thousand hours
worth of lottery tickets, what did you think your EV was? And then
what was the result? So that is a unique situation. So I would
just say that, like the EV is above a carnival game by a good
bit if you have a whole card information. So you know, it's like
it depends on which carnival game it is. But so I buy a lot
Yeah, sure, I mean it's not missed to be stud you know,
but it's it's like it's a little over thirty wow. So uh, and
they picked a game that was not very swingy, which was the mistake,
I think, Right, So it's not a very swingy game and the edges
over thirty percent. And so I had always made money. I made money
every time I did it one hundred percent of the time. And the first
week that we did it together, we didn't really make much money at all.
In fact, I think that she finished slightly down, and that would
be like about a ten standard deviation event. And so something's wrong, right,
we just have to figure out where, right, um, And so
what was wrong? Was there was a software on certain types of buys where
you would not get the tickets that you were owed, and and so that
situation, my opinion is that they're aware that that exists because on the newer
software it doesn't exist, but on the old software it still does. I've
been updated and I talked to one of the clerks at a store where I
was buying tickets and he explained it to me, and he said, oh,
no, no, here's the problem, and here's how you fix it.
So then I was able to fix it. And you know, I
feel bad for some guys somewhere who probably saw this and thought that he could
also go and just print money and then didn't realize that the software was off,
you know, and probably thought the game was rigged. But yeah,
I had a very very at a very very thoughtful store owner. And part
of the other thing that I would add is that that was important. It
was like, I'm finding the right store to buy the tickets at, because
what I was afraid of is that someone could just do this. If someone
knew what I was doing and they had access to capital, they could also
do it. But but what I also couldn't do is go to a store
where the guy behind the counter was like a sixteen year old kid that was
like, I'm not doing this for hours and hours and hours. I want
to sit here on my phone. And so I think the solution was like
finding stores that are not crowded, that are not going to be busy because
you need lots of volume, and then finding stores where the owner is the
cashier because they're making a commission on every ticket, and a store where the
owners also not gonna trust the mass. He's just going to think that you're
a lunatic, and he's going to be very continuous, and so so you
didn't try to spread it out. You put all the money through one store.
Well, no, because I had a store and my girlfriend had a
store. But but I but I thought that it was important that we buy
the tickets in person, because I believe that there are rules about buying tickets
remotely or dropping off cash or something. So I made sure that we read
every rule. And with the situation, I have every copy in which it
was advertised. You know, I have hard copies of their own posters.
I took pictures of billboards, and I made sure that I, you know,
really really followed the fine print to the tea because I didn't want any
problems, and so part of that was making sure that I was there buying
them in person and buying them like a normal customer would. Now I can
say, you know, as someone who has always stuttered and who got picked
on a lot it was a very interesting feeling to be in a convenience store
for hours, buying infinite amounts of lottery again and constantly getting made fun of
and just really not caring because I knew, you know, kind of what
the answer was here. I knew who the sharpest guy at leaked in that
store was, and that was an interesting really happened to me to have that
competence. Yeah, yeah, what happened week two? So in we two,
we figured out the problem with the software and then just right on ev
enormous sample exactly where it should be. I mean, there are a couple
of hiccups, like we would print so many tickets that the blade would get
hot, and when the blades would get hot, they would get resolved to
cut the ticket. So some days I would come home with a role,
you know, like five yards long of uncut tickets. But yeah, I
mean, yeah, but I would say like in general that you know that
then it worked perfectly as as soon as the software problem, let's solve,
it worked perfectly. And yeah, it was just about you know, trying
to like trying then to get more casts for the following week, you know,
because you need cast all the time, and I was running out of
money. So I just you know, working crazy days, just you know,
trying to turn it over. Oh so, because when you get paid
this money back, it comes as a check or something. It technically,
so I have all these tickets, then I have to cash all the tickets.
And so I can either turn the tickets into cash or I can turn
the tickets into fouchers and buy more tickets with the boucher. And so at
first I was just buying more tickets with the bouchers because that was the most
efficient way to do it. But ten at the end, obviously, like
you need to get the cats out. And one of the grossest parts about
these safe sponsored lotteries is there's no cash out infrastructure because you don't ever take
the money. You only buy more tickets. And so, like I would
go into a grocery store and I'd be like, I have a lot of
bousers. Can I have some cats? And they'd be like, yeah,
right and stuff, and I would say, no, I have a lot
of bouchers, Like how much cats can I have? And they'd say five
hundred or a thousand dollars? Right, And I'm just like that's not enough,
that's not enough. But but there's no right, there's no infrastructure to
get the money out, which is which just shows you all predatory that games
are. Wow. So how long did this last and how big did it
get? Yeah, I mean it lasted. Um, it lasted for a
couple of months, and then that they were gonna do it again. Unbelievably,
they were gonna do it again, and they were actually gonna do it
again in a way that had smaller tickets, and the smaller tickets to a
print pastor right, and so speed is everything. And so I was like,
if they do that, and now I had some capital, and I
also had lots of bouchers, and I was thinking, if they do that,
I mean I still get kills thinking about it, because like it would
have been so much money. And then they just they pretended it never happened.
They pulled everything, they just kind of shut it all down. So
it stopped after a couple of months. Wow. So so now you have
this uh newfound success and quite a bank roll by the end of this lottery
thing. Where where did you go from here? Well? Well, well,
in fact, I thought I was done with that play, but it
turned out that I wasn't because the following year, in the afternoon, I
had some gentlemen stopped by my house. I had a special agent from the
US Postal Service, and I had a special agent from the Department of Homeland
Security. Oh good, yeah, right, So that's a very special day
in your life when those guys show up at your back door. Yeah.
And so that was during the pandemic, and I was here with my girlfriend
because she was off for the summer, and so she went to the back
door and she said, there were guys here to you, and I said,
okay, and I went to the back door. I got the badges
and stuff in my face, and then I'm like, well, I don't
know what to do at this point, because like, I've paid all my
taxes, I did everything right. I know, I did nothing wrong and
nothing illegal, but I still might have to pay to defend myself. And
so what should I do? And so I opened the door, and can't
you asked me what my name was? I my name, and then I
said, I said, you guys are wearing map and I'm not wearing the
map. And I'm assuming if we're gonna talk, they're gonna be talking for
a while. So do you want me to get a mask? And I
said yes, Oh, it was right, and and then so they said
yes, and I got a mask, and I was like, I guess
I'll talk to them unless it gets really competational, in which case I'll just
have to call on a turn. So I went back and he said okay,
now tell us why we're here. And so I thought about that question
for a couple of seconds, and I said, you know, I'm really
happy to speak you gentlemen, but that question is a little open ended from
my taste, and I would prefer very specific questions. And then they said,
no problem, we have lots and lots of specific questions for you.
And I said okay. And they said, so tell us how you know
this one particular person and this other person. And I said I know them
because they work at a store that I buy a lot of lottery tickets at.
And they said okay, good, Now tell us why you do that,
And I said I'd do it because some people are bad at math.
And they looked very surfed because, as it turned out, they were investigating
a case at that store, and so my activity there made it seem like
I was involved in some kind of illegal activity or possibly illegal activity. Right,
I don't know what happened with the case, but and so I basically
then I had some screenshots about the maps and stuff. I had a Google
doc. So I tried to explain it to them as simply as I could.
I mean, I know they're smart guys, but I was you know,
they're not ap So I was just trying to say, look like,
this is why a ticket is valuable, and this is a situation in which
tickets are valuable, and if you know that they're valuable, then like you
should buy as many as you possibly can. And they're pretty skeptical of that
for about forty minutes. But then when they would ask me questions, like
I always knew the answer to the question in a way that you would only
know if you did it for the reasons that I did it, right,
Like, you know, like they would ask me about this about the size
of my bouchers and I would explain it, and they would ask me about
my taxes, and I would explain it, and I said, I have
boxes of every ticket I ever bought, Like you want to see my tax
return. You know, I paid a lot of tax on money that no
one knew existed, and this is how I did it, and this is
why. And I'm a finance guy, right, and so like I understand
that, and well and so basically about an hour into it, I kind
of got the sense that they were like, he's probably not associating with people
that would be doing a simple crime, possibly, right, like right,
yeah, And then I think they kind of softened up, and then that
was it. Now I wanted to ask you about you. So every week
you've got like a billion tickets and now you have to sort through them to
find the winners. How do you How do you do that? Uh?
Well, I mean well, I mean you can go to the store and
you can scan them, and it takes a very long time. And some
tickets are worth a lot more than others. So you could kind of sport
and get a sense of which tickets would be more valuable due to some trackers
that I probably don't want to discuss and then you could figure it out,
so that would help with the turn. Right. It's not like I had
just to check every single ticket every week, but I needed to check as
many as I could. But you know, there is kind of a cap
onto the amount of tickets that I could buy. But I would say in
a given week, between my girlfriend and I, I mean we were probably
working seventeen eighteen hour days only checking tickets or buying tickets. Oh my god.
Well but I was worth it. Well yeah, I mean I mean
I think it was worth it, although I mean I feel like if she
was here, she probably say it was worth it. But I don't want
to do it again. Yeah. Yeah, the relationship survived the end of
the promotion. Uh, it did survive the end of the promotion. Yes,
And I think that her and her family that they kind of also like
understood it, like right, because I had to kind of explain it to
people like this is what we're doing and this is gonna sound weird, but
you just have to trust me, this is gonna be fine. Because I
think that the biggest fear that her family had was that, like was that
like she was gonna get robbed because we're in the same stores all the time,
right, with lots of money and lost the tickets. I think that's
a real concern. Yeah, yeah, right. Or if I'm going to
the store then to catch the tickets, that's also a concern because you know,
I finally found a store that had a fair amount of cats they could
give me every day, But then I'm there every day, and so every
day I'm walking through the parking lot, you know, and like starting to
worry, Now, how long ago was that? I mean, that was
a couple of years ago for sure, So I think it's been it's been
three years since I had the federal agents at my house, and that was
like a year or two after the promotion. So when that finally ended,
you suddenly had time on your hands again, which you didn't dittorm You were
doing seventeen hour with Dickens. So where did you go from there? Well,
so from there, I was fortunate enough to be in a state that
had a sports betting was legal, and that that was in kind of the
golden age of sports betting, where there were high customer acquisition costs. They
weren't really caring, they just wanted market share. They wanted to get people
involved in the app, and so you know that is also an industry where
a small a percentage of the betters make up a lot of a handle.
And so I then I just used the bankroll that I had from that play
to send wires and I would send wires to sports books constantly, and I
would get ten thousand on one hundred thousand or fifteen thousand on a hundred.
It's over and over and over again, and that they would like and they
would take big bets. So it was not hard to lose a hundred somewhere
and then be able to send them another wire for one hundred. I mean,
I can see I'm fairly competent. I can talk about that now because
those days I think are long gone. I mean I think there's within the
last couple of months, I feel like the major operators have gotten a lot
sharper and a lot tighter. Back in the day when they just wanted some
they basically wanted they basically wanted to handle. I think that they wanted sports
to look unprofitable because that would open the door to a casino, and if
they had really big handle, I think they could sell it to other seats,
you know, saying like, look at the scandal that you met.
But they but but the reality is, I mean they were giving away,
you know, free bets and stuff that were just insane. And they were
giving away these depositent matches, especially at the high end that I mean,
I don't think that stuff will ever happen again. But fortunately I had a
bank roll to be able to take advantage of it. Wow, that's that's
amazing. I didn't realize how big it had got, I mean, how
much they were actually giving away and having in that side, yeah, or
like sometimes they would be stackable, like I got one. It was that.
I think it was bet uh. I think it was beat two hundred
and fifty thousand in a weekend and get a fifty thousand dollars free bet.
Okay, fine, but if I send you a wire for two hundred and
fifty, you're gonna give me a fifty thousand dollars free bet anyway, or
not a fifty thousand dollars free bets Like at Caesars, I was getting ten
percent freebats on any wire type. Right, So if I send you like
two fifty, I'm gonna get twenty five, you know, And can huh
wait, you're you're getting twenty five on the two fifty, and then you're
also getting a fifty thousand dollars free bits on top of it, right,
correct. But what I would do is I would send them a hundred because
I felt like I could blow up one hundred faster than I could blow up
the two fifty, right, which then I could re up it, right,
because if I can blow it up more often, I'll get ten more
often, then get you know, twenty five months and then have to wait
more months to blow it up. Wow. No, it was insane.
I mean I think those first like that first year, this first couple of
months, we're insane. And I mean I don't mind talking about it now
because I really think you would be hard pressed to get this kind of deal.
And if you can, then great, you know, you work your
host. But but I mean I think there was a period of time when
those offers were very very good. Yeah, you don't have sounds like a
very don't have to be a very good sports better too to win when you
get those kind of rebase. No, And I mean that was a situation
where like I would always head, which I know people will probably like argue
about till the end of time. But in my situation there, because I
was sending big wires, like I still am a little tight on cash.
If I'm doing this at multiple sports books, right and so, and so
the ev of preserving my bankroll grow because I'm getting you know, five or
ten percent on that every week is more valuable than taking those free bats that
plus four hundred or seven hundred and then going over ten and not having money
to send you know some future. Well yeah, yeah, I mean,
yeah, you had a big bankroll, but probably not big enough to take
the kind of swing that you would take if you're you know, betting at
seven to one. I mean you can you can dig a very very large
hole with that, you know, at those sizes. Yeah, you're absolutely
right. And so the value of reinvesting the free beat, if I headed
it, is worth way more than the added value of taking on edge,
right, So I would always say yeah, yeah, then in turn,
what I would get then I would have where action from where else two,
which also looks good, Right, But I can also extract value like that,
Sure, yeah, we're going to take a brief break for some commercials,
and then we will be back with mister Duffy. Tails from the Felt
is a new card counting an advantage play coffee table book that takes you inside
the grind. Twenty one stories told by twenty one different aps adventure, intrigue
and loneliness on the path beating casinos for millions. Beautifully illustrated and bounds,
this collector's edition book feature hall of famers and emerging heroes of the game.
Proceeeds go to help those affective by problem gambling. Learn more at store dot
Blackjack Apprenticeship dot com or find a link below in the show notes. Video
poker dot com is the best place to play lots of games. You sign
up for the Gold membership eight ninety five a month or seventy nine ninety five
a year. This allows you to get correction on most of the games.
Game of the week is Lucky eight. This is the rare case where video
poker game has the same name as a table game. Sidebet This is a
ten coins per line game where you get bonuses for three or more eights.
Fluting full houses with three hs, you get delt trips are higher. About
every thirty five hands get to spin the wheel, which includes amounts ranging from
one hundred eighty eight two very occasionally eighteen thousand, eight hundred. This is
wild variations you spind the wheel on delt flushes are higher, which occur every
forty two hands on the need to figure out the strategy for yourself, but
it appears to be possible with simple algebra with to pare eight eight four four
five. For example, it must be correct just to hold the eighth illus
is on three or more eights on. This is wild variations where you would
normally hold as suited jack ten nine over pair of eights, or maybe holding
jack ten nine eight in this game surely holding the eighth bet. Everyone seems
to be talking about sports betting lately. If you're looking to learn more about
how you can profit from the sports betting gold rush, than unabated dot com
is a great resource for you. Founded by frequent gambling with an Edge guests
Captain Jack and rufus Peaboddy, unabated has three educational articles and an odd screen
to help you shop lines if you've bet props. Their Essential Tier has projections
and simulators you won't find anywhere else. Premium Tier membership adds an array of
pricing calculators in game tools and the most advanced real time odd screen of take
a trial run with their tools to decide if unabated dot com is right for
you. Okay, we are back with mister Dappy. Okay, so what
are you doing nowadays? Still betting sports or what's happening? Yeah, I
mean touched uff has gotten very, very tight, so I think there's still
some tiny little edges. But I think, like I said, I think
good days for me at least of sending wires and getting big bonuses and getting
offers constantly, I think are pretty much over. Teasers just cut my seven
Stars sat it, which I didn't think they would do because I earned it,
it was verified, and then they waited a couple of weeks and they
said, due to an internal business choice, you're not seven Stars anymore,
which I was annoyed by because I booked my seven Stars retreat and I paid
for the airfare, and then they refused to give me the credit on the
airfare for the trip that I had booked, which that's all kind of grows.
Oh wow, yeah, that sucks. Yeah. Yeah, I mean
I'm doing some like some of the sports stuff and a little bit of the
I Catino stuff and then trying to figure out what my next step are.
I still have a consulting job in finance. I'm a CFA charter holder,
so you know, I can get a finance job if I need it.
And then just in my spare time, I'm big into a credit card point
to chase too. So still grinding the partist account. Oh yeah, you
mentioned that you you didn't know anything about that that was something you learned from
gambling with aniche. Sure. I mean that started on an episode you guys
had Jimmy Jazz on and I was like, oh, it seems like something
that could be good for me, you know, because I was looking to
get a better return on my span and it wasn't an area that I was
really familiar with. I also thought that if I was going to try to
in the network with other ap ease, that might be something that if I
build up a lot of knowledge about that could be valuable, right, And
so I was like, Okay, well, if I can get really good
at this, then perhaps I can add value that might you know, make
people realize that I'm sharp even though I don't have gambling information at the time,
you know, because I think the things are similar and so since yeah,
and so since then, I think I've done fairly well. But I'm
only a Chase guy, and I only use points for travel, but I
average between twelve and thirteen percent back on like every dollar charts every year,
and that's been going on. How do you get that high? How do
you get so? Right? So again, I mean I'm gonna redeem these
for travel, So this is not cash back, right, but but I'm
redeeming for coach right right. Basically at Chase, the thing that really drives
it is the chief Freedom cards are now the Chase Freedom Flex Cards. They're
the cards that have five percent cash back act of a fifteen hundred macs right
for every quarter, okay, and so that might be at a grocery store,
that could be at a gas station, okay. And if if you
have a Freedom Card and you have a premium Chase card, then you get
a minimum of one point five or sent back. I'm sorry, well at
one point five times the amount that you earned on the Freedom if you are
using it for travel. So so if I have a Sapphire reserved and I
have a Chase Freedom Card, my five percent on Freedom is worth at least
seven and a half percent. Right, So yeah, the thing is is
that you have to get other Freedom cards. So you can't apply for a
card that you have, but you can apply for another Chase card that's not
branded, so like Freedom on Freedom Unlimited for example, and then you can
wait a year and product change into a second Freedom card and now you have
three thousand dollars a quarter at five percent. Well, I have four Chase
Freedom cards now because I've done this ever many years, so I have six
thousand dollars a quarter at five percent. At five percent is seven and a
half a sapphire reserve. I have companion path. So now you're looking at
about sixteen percent based on how I value Southwest wide, so you know,
so suddenly I have I I have twenty four thousand a year at sixteen percent
if I travel with a companion and right, So that stuff adds up fairly
easily. And it's always about how you get things coded. So if you
live in an area with a grocery store that owns a gas station and they
own a grocery store, if it's five percent at gas stacion by a grocery
store gift card at that gas station, it'll be coded as five percent and
then spend it on your groceries and a gift the gas station has a gift
card for the grocery store. Yes, if it's a situation like a Kroger,
a safe Way, a Giant Eagle, Albertsons, or whatever. They
often sell their own gift cards at the gas stasion and those can be used
anywhere. So by buying it at the gas stasition, I can get it
coded as five percent, which, like I said, is effectively like sixteen
for travel, and then I can use that on my spend of the grocery
stores or some stores will permit you to buy other other gift cards with their
own gift card, which means at the end of the quarter that I can
just load up and use it as a store of value until I need to
buy a gift card for loads or home depot or something. So when you
buy at the gas station, because that's the one I was thinking, how
are you going to spend six thousand at the gas station? When you buy
gift cards at the gas station? Are you buying like these and gift cards
or what? What do they have? No? So say it is like
a Safeway, right if I buy a gift card at the Safeway gas station.
I can use that at the Safeway grocery store. Yeah, there's no
premium for the gift card. You're you're getting full value of it. Correct,
There's no premium for the cards. You're getting full face value. And
so then I can just use it to store the value there. Because if
I'm able to convert a Kroger, a Safeway, or a Giant Eagle gift
card into any of the other retail gift cards that they sell, then I'll
just wait till I need them and they have a special on gas and I'll
redeem them. Obviously, it is a function of like interest rates, right,
because like I have a couple million miles now, So if I'm not
spending miles for years and I can get four percent, well, you know,
should I really be floating those gift cards. I'm not sure, But
if I don't. But if I don't have a lot of miles, it's
a great return to get, you know, twelve or sixteen percent on that
money in a year by floating what you need to maximize five percent there for
the quarter. Why are you choosing only to spend the money on travel?
Are the benefits on travel it seems like you could monetize these as you want
to. Yeah, I mean I could, and there are promotions where I
could get one and a quarter cast back against my bill. But because I
have status on Southwest, I have if I would get one free flights,
so it's hard to argue. And if I only travel with my partner with
friends, it's hard to right. Like, it's hard to take the cash
at a percent and a half when I could be getting, you know,
a lot more than that if I would even for travel. I can say
the one thing I would not do is I would not turn a bunch of
visa gift cards or do anything like that if you are an advantage player,
because that looks bad. I think, I think that looks like you're I'm
laundering money. I would not turn a lot if I was also making large
cash rants actions and doing other things like that, because I've had the sees
with banks and I think that would just add a whole amount of complications that's
not needed. So well, the reason it looks like you're turning cash is
because you are. Now, let's let's say subjects a little bit. You're
a pinball player. You started playing pinball, how important was that in your
life? Sure, that was really important to me. As a kid,
I played with my dad a lot, and that was one of the things
that we always did together, and that was one of my first like that
was one of the first like introductions to tile you shopping lines and progressives.
Ever, Basically, there's a pinball machine called Cyclone, and as cyclone,
there's a progressive jackpot that can be won, and if you wanted, then
you would probably have the high score of the day. And if you had
the high score of the day, then you got more free games. And
so as a kid, when we would be on vacation, there'd be all
these arcades and they would all have Cyclone, and he would send me around
to find the Cyclone pinball that had the highest progressive jackpots, because that would
mean if we hit it, our expected value in terms of free games would
be the highest. In our cat per game what would be the cheapest.
And so that was one of my very early childhood like aps. I felt
like I had a job that I would go around and check all the progressive
meters on Cyclone. Well, listen, this has been great, but we
are getting to the end of our show and we want to say, mister
DOPPI for being here and if people can find you on Twitter as mister Doppy.
Right, yeah, yeah, yep, that's correct. I've been on
there for a little while. It's yeah, it's just at mister Duffy,
that's right up, filling to it in that show notes. Okay, all
right, sounds okay. So at the end of our show we have recommended
and Bob, you don't have one this week? Is that right? Is
correct? Okay, but mister Duppy, how about you you have a recommended
for us this week? Yeah? Sure. I would say to people that
are either in Vegas or traveling in Las Vegas, I would highly recommend going
to the Pinball Hall of Fame. It's not that far from the strip.
They have like two or three hundred pinball machines from the fifties to probably the
early two thousands, and they're all in great shape. I think it's structured
as a nonprofit and it's just a really great way to go h spend an
afternoon in Vegas, need something to do. And they also have Pyclone there,
right, So if you want to check out a progressive leader on a
pinball machine, it's there. It's a perfect working order. He is your
name at the top of the high score list, No, because I think
they're actually very good pinball players there. So I don't think I've ever taken
the top score there. But someday I can do it. Some day,
I can hope. Yeah, I just wonder what would it be worth if
you did me you got the progressive with the cyclone ininball Hall of Fame.
I mean, I think it would probably pay three free games, though you
might make an extra fifty cents averse the final one that wasn't smacked out,
But I mean fifty cents in like fifty cents in ev in nineteen eighty seven,
right, I mean that was big money to me. All right.
My recommended this week is the last season of the show Succession, which is
on HBO. If you haven't watched it and you have access to HBO that
gives you access to HBO Max and I would highly recommend that show. And
this is the final season and it's just started a few weeks ago, so
yeah, check it out. Succession. Very good show. Okay. We
want to thank mister Dappy for being here and for working all these years on
our show notes, and thank you Bob and do I get to say this
this week? Go out and hit Los roal flushes everybody. Good day,