1 00:00:08,519 --> 00:00:09,359 Speaker 1: Good afternoon. 2 00:00:09,679 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 2: You're listening to Gambling with an Edge. 3 00:00:12,359 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 3: Now Here are your hosts, Bob Dancer and Richard Munchkin. 4 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,839 Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Welcome to Gambling with an Edge. 5 00:00:18,879 --> 00:00:21,039 Speaker 2: I'm Bob Dancer and I'm Richard Munchman. 6 00:00:21,839 --> 00:00:25,920 Speaker 3: Today we're having one of our irregularly scheduled podcasts. This 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,079 time is celebrating the twenty twenty four Black Jock Ball. 8 00:00:30,039 --> 00:00:32,960 Everyone other than me on this podcast is a Blackjack 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Hall of Fame member. Along with Richard and me is 10 00:00:36,119 --> 00:00:41,759 Blackjack Ball originator, good guy and all around curmudgeon Max. 11 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 1: Rubin, Thank you very much, winner. 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 3: Of the skills competitions, former MiG Blackjack Team manager John Chang, 13 00:00:50,359 --> 00:00:54,560 Hi you doing, guys, and the newest inductee to the 14 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:55,560 Blackjack Hall of. 15 00:00:55,439 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: Fame, Rick Night Train Blaine. 16 00:00:58,479 --> 00:00:59,759 Speaker 4: Hey, Hello everybody. 17 00:01:00,679 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 3: All right, welcome all the gentle Gambling with an Edge. 18 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:08,560 First questions for Max. This year's ball had several differences 19 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,439 from events in prior years, including the dress codes. How 20 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,560 is it decided to change things up? 21 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 5: Oh, there's quite a few reasons. One, I got sick 22 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,959 of the belly aching and people saying the test was 23 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,359 too long, and we were the Calcutter took too long, 24 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,480 and I think they were right and it needed a change. 25 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,519 We need to pressure that up. A lot of people 26 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,599 don't mind wearing decent clothes, but they really don't like 27 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,319 wearing penguin suits, and they were complaining about that somewhat, 28 00:01:36,359 --> 00:01:38,200 and I said, that's okay too. We're in a very 29 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,760 nice location, so you really can't overdress. But more importantly, 30 00:01:41,799 --> 00:01:46,920 Betmash was going on this weekend and it's hot outside, 31 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,599 and we started at six o'clock and nobody should have 32 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,159 shown up and waited outside like we do normally. We 33 00:01:52,359 --> 00:01:55,280 wait out and when we're in October late September it's 34 00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:59,640 really nice outside, it's horrible right now. So we just 35 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,280 said summer themed. It's going to be tropical. Come in, 36 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,239 no registration, know anything, just come in and take place, 37 00:02:06,519 --> 00:02:09,680 take part in what's happening, and they did. We changed 38 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,439 the way we fed the people. Instead of sit down dining, 39 00:02:12,479 --> 00:02:15,800 we had dining stations and that was a start. And 40 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:19,280 then we had a World Championship of well, the world's 41 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,520 fastest card counter competition, and that turned out really well. 42 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,199 I expected about twenty twenty four people to get into it, 43 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,800 and we had over forty and that went off during 44 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,159 the night. That was really good. We also gave tickets 45 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,680 we changed and we made the calfetta a little bit 46 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,680 of a pair of mutual and we gave everybody that 47 00:02:37,759 --> 00:02:41,879 walked in the door a free five dollars entry into 48 00:02:42,039 --> 00:02:44,120 who was going to win the World Championship, and that 49 00:02:44,199 --> 00:02:48,240 included the employees. And the great thing about the employees. 50 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,520 I went back yesterday to pick up something that we 51 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,599 left there, and as I walked in, all of the 52 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,759 managers were gathered around boxes. I said, what are you 53 00:02:56,759 --> 00:02:59,240 guys doing? And it was really funny looking. It was 54 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,120 the direct hector of sales and the personnel and the 55 00:03:02,159 --> 00:03:05,240 catering people and they're all digging through these boxes and 56 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,439 I said, what are you doing? And they handed me 57 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,520 something that was some kind of mechanical thing and said 58 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,319 this is yours, and I said, no thanks. They took 59 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,319 their tickets that we gave them. We gave every employee 60 00:03:16,319 --> 00:03:18,599 one of those free five dollars tickets, and they bet 61 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,280 across the board. They went one to eleven and they 62 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,960 each put a ticket. They each put that tickets one, two, three, four, five, 63 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,240 sixty seven, and then they pulled the money and of 64 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,599 course they won and they hit some and they took 65 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,199 that money, went out to Nellis's Air Force Base to 66 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,439 the auction and bought maybe a dozen boxes of unknown stuff. 67 00:03:37,719 --> 00:03:40,479 And they were going through at the Rubo Center yesterday. 68 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,759 It was a riot. They had an original Lenyard skinnered 69 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,159 album still in the plast deep. They had all kinds 70 00:03:46,199 --> 00:03:49,159 of just obscure things, but it really turned out well 71 00:03:49,159 --> 00:03:51,960 for them. They said it's we're the favorite party they 72 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:52,360 ever had. 73 00:03:52,919 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: Because I just. 74 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,719 Speaker 6: Want to add the original question was, you know, why 75 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,719 was it moved to August? And Max mentioned bet Bash, 76 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,280 But bet Bash goes Tuesday to Friday, and a lot 77 00:04:06,319 --> 00:04:09,560 of people come to town for bet Bash. It's a 78 00:04:09,599 --> 00:04:14,000 convention for sports betters, and so they wouldn't have to 79 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,199 leave and come back. We wanted to put it right 80 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,360 up against bat Bash. But another big factor was the 81 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:23,879 fact that we really want Thorpe to be able to attend, 82 00:04:24,079 --> 00:04:28,959 and he often travels in September and October, so that 83 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,160 was another key reason to move it to August, so 84 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,120 that we could be sure Ed Thorpe would be there. 85 00:04:35,079 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 5: And this was the first one that Ed had been 86 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,920 to in a long while because of health reasons. And 87 00:04:39,959 --> 00:04:42,279 he wouldn't go out during the height of COVID and 88 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,399 finally caught it last year in New Zealand. But he's 89 00:04:45,439 --> 00:04:47,439 not afraid of it anymore. He did wear a mask, 90 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,600 but so he came he's ninety two and got a 91 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,360 standing o when he came up to speak, and you know, 92 00:04:54,639 --> 00:04:56,519 he's just such a legend in the game, and he's 93 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,879 such a wonderful guy and a great speaker, and he 94 00:04:59,079 --> 00:05:03,639 accommodates every it was. That was probably the real highlight 95 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,680 of the night was still having Thorpe there for many 96 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:06,240 many people. 97 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:12,600 Speaker 3: Okay, we mentioned this card counting contest. What was the 98 00:05:12,639 --> 00:05:16,000 format and how did you said, there's forty people in it? 99 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: How did that work? Well? 100 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 5: I didn't know how many were going to be in it, 101 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:21,920 so I put in a I put together a board, 102 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,040 had it printed, and the first thirty two people who 103 00:05:27,079 --> 00:05:30,040 showed up they picked up cards and it was ran 104 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,560 through as through eight and that would put you in 105 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:34,680 your position on the board, and then they just had 106 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:36,920 a playoff starting at six o'clock all the way through 107 00:05:36,959 --> 00:05:40,480 about seven point thirty. It was just Manolomano and you 108 00:05:40,639 --> 00:05:42,959 just went down the brackets and see where you get 109 00:05:42,959 --> 00:05:46,360 but we started filling up and we oversold, so we 110 00:05:46,439 --> 00:05:49,439 had a backup set of brackets, so we put those 111 00:05:49,439 --> 00:05:51,759 guys in. The guys that had to come through that 112 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,759 bracket had to win seven rounds. Were the guys that 113 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,920 came through the initial bracket only had to win five rounds, 114 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,759 so the late rivals had to play more or but 115 00:06:02,079 --> 00:06:04,399 one of the later rivals wound up being in the finals. 116 00:06:04,639 --> 00:06:08,439 That was pretty good. Yep, so were you late? 117 00:06:08,519 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: John's not sure. I was on the second board, and uh. 118 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 5: Yes, they are just trying to okay, all right, okay, yeah, 119 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,040 I don't remember how many I went through some first 120 00:06:20,079 --> 00:06:22,519 serve So next year we'll have a bigger board. But 121 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,240 it worked out really well. I think it was really hectic. 122 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,040 Some people had some really bizarre counts. One guy had 123 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:38,519 an account and he had a wrong halves doubled an eight. Yeah, 124 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:40,519 what was the time? 125 00:06:41,199 --> 00:06:41,519 Speaker 1: What's that? 126 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,199 Speaker 2: What was the fastest time? 127 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:45,279 Speaker 5: Nobody broke ten seconds? 128 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,879 Speaker 6: I didn't Yeah, okay, Actually I think I was told John, 129 00:06:48,959 --> 00:06:53,319 your your final time was like thirteen point three or something. 130 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:53,759 Speaker 2: Was that? 131 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 7: Yeah, that's what I saw on the board, thirteen thirty five. 132 00:06:57,319 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 8: But you know, they took out five cards, so it's 133 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,399 really closer to well, if you add ten percent, it's 134 00:07:04,439 --> 00:07:05,680 like fourteen point seven. 135 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 5: So yeah, it should be faster if they take out 136 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:10,759 more cards. 137 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:12,199 Speaker 2: That's what he's said. 138 00:07:12,319 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 3: Thirty years ago, John, presumably you were a much faster 139 00:07:15,639 --> 00:07:16,839 counter than you are now. 140 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,639 Speaker 1: Were you surprised that you ended up winning this contest? 141 00:07:20,879 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 8: I was totally surprised. I was not expecting at all 142 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,680 to win. You know, like a couple of years ago, 143 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,399 when I was in the skills competition, there was a 144 00:07:31,399 --> 00:07:35,959 countdown and Cody just destroyed me. He smoked me like twice. 145 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,319 So I thought, forget it. There's no way I'm gonna 146 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:41,839 be able to win. There's other people out there who 147 00:07:41,839 --> 00:07:47,720 are also just fast, I figured, And you know, yeah, 148 00:07:47,839 --> 00:07:51,879 I was also as you said twenty or. 149 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,279 Speaker 1: Thirty years ago, I was faster. 150 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,959 Speaker 8: I remember thinking I could do it in ten if 151 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:58,560 I got lucky, because he. 152 00:07:58,639 --> 00:08:00,399 Speaker 1: Used to do a lot faster than ten. 153 00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:03,399 Speaker 5: If you'll recall at the original few original few black 154 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:05,439 jack balls, you can crack ten easy. 155 00:08:06,079 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: You I had you. 156 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,439 Speaker 5: You were my secondeseat after well the field was number two. 157 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,959 Daryl was number one. He'd been practicing. He was going 158 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,240 to get you and then you were third. You were 159 00:08:16,319 --> 00:08:18,199 third ranked if you saw the board I had up 160 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,879 there and what the future's line was. So I expected 161 00:08:20,879 --> 00:08:22,720 you to be at the finals. I expected Daryl and 162 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:24,720 he got COVID the day before, and he is not 163 00:08:24,839 --> 00:08:28,160 happy by the way that you want you. I'm sure 164 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,240 the man and step up and give him a chance 165 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:31,199 to beat you. 166 00:08:31,319 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 8: I messaged him, and I, you know, I just conceded 167 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:39,840 before he even started. You know, he said, yeah, I 168 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,159 couldn't break fifteen seconds, but then again I hadn't counted 169 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:45,879 in forty years or whatever, and I'm like, yeah, okay, 170 00:08:45,879 --> 00:08:48,840 I understand. He said, well, I just practiced, and I 171 00:08:48,879 --> 00:08:51,639 got down to eleven. I'm like, well, you know, Munchkin 172 00:08:51,799 --> 00:08:56,120 told me when I RSVP, he said you should practice. 173 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,159 I thought, yeah, you know, there's going to be you know, 174 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,919 Cody kicking and so I thought, yeah, there's no chance. 175 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: All right, That's what I thought. 176 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 8: And then the night of the Hall of Fame dinner 177 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:13,080 that you've been practicing, John, I thought, well no, and. 178 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,159 Speaker 1: Well you should. I'm like, all right, I go home, 179 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,919 you know, it felt like and I went to. 180 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,759 Speaker 7: You know, I talked with Jelko for like three hours afterward. 181 00:09:25,879 --> 00:09:28,759 Speaker 1: I didn't get home till I don't know, after midnight. 182 00:09:29,159 --> 00:09:32,159 Finally practiced for half. 183 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 7: An hour or something, maybe twenty minutes. 184 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:35,159 Speaker 1: I don't I don't really. 185 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,279 Speaker 8: I didn't tie myself, but it wasn't very long. I 186 00:09:37,279 --> 00:09:38,919 was like getting tired, I'm going to go to sleep. 187 00:09:39,879 --> 00:09:43,399 But I did improve by about a second, Like, well, okay, 188 00:09:43,639 --> 00:09:49,320 you know, I didn't. I didn't break through anything, but yeah, 189 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:50,879 you know it did improve. 190 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:51,879 Speaker 1: Well. 191 00:09:51,919 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 5: It was so funny because as this was evolving, some 192 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,000 of the young kids were coming up and said, we're 193 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,679 figuring out a new way, and you just count the 194 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:00,559 tens and if you have more time then it's going 195 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:02,360 to be big. We're gonna we're gonna be win this 196 00:10:02,399 --> 00:10:04,080 next year, they're going to come up with speed down. 197 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,639 Henry thought he had the past was the fastest counter, 198 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,200 but he hadn't practiced, and Henry's eighty years old. 199 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,559 Speaker 1: That would have been that would have been embarrassing. Huh. 200 00:10:20,279 --> 00:10:25,159 Speaker 3: So, in addition to the car speed counting event, there's 201 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,919 a competition for the gross Cheam Cup. Now, there's usually 202 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,960 twenty one questions for that, this time there were eleven. 203 00:10:33,759 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 1: Munchkin, you want to talk about. 204 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 2: This yeah, well, yeah. 205 00:10:38,759 --> 00:10:41,519 Speaker 6: One of the complaints over the years was that U 206 00:10:41,919 --> 00:10:46,559 two things. One it took way too long, and two, uh, 207 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,519 you know, it was really kind of random because there 208 00:10:49,519 --> 00:10:52,639 were so many questions that had that were just you know, 209 00:10:52,919 --> 00:10:56,840 kind of random trivia, and and so the luck factor 210 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,759 was way too high and it didn't really refract reflect 211 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:02,919 people who were good at blackjack. 212 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 2: So we cut it down to eleven. 213 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:11,279 Speaker 6: Questions and all of the questions were blackjack related, and 214 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:17,200 we really sped up the grading of the test. You know, 215 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,279 in the past, we would go through all the questions 216 00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:23,519 and then count up how many people had right and wrong. 217 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,320 This time, we just did it as sudden death. So 218 00:11:27,519 --> 00:11:30,519 everybody in the room held their card up. We asked 219 00:11:30,519 --> 00:11:34,000 the first we gave the first answer, anybody who missed 220 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,639 it put their card down, and then we went to 221 00:11:36,679 --> 00:11:39,039 the second question, and anybody who missed it put their 222 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:42,519 card down, and by the third question we were down 223 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:43,559 to the final table. 224 00:11:44,399 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 5: We had seven questions. When we got to four, then 225 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,840 we had to back up to get our finals. But 226 00:11:48,879 --> 00:11:52,639 when we got down to after three questions, we had 227 00:11:52,639 --> 00:11:54,919 one hundred and fifty people in the room and we 228 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:55,879 got down. 229 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:57,960 Speaker 1: To seven people yeah. 230 00:11:58,039 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 6: But the one that's the one that really eliminated the 231 00:12:02,039 --> 00:12:07,039 vast majority of people was question two was if if 232 00:12:07,039 --> 00:12:11,120 the dealer has a six up, what is your edge? 233 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,279 Regardless of what your hand is, you don't see your hand, 234 00:12:14,919 --> 00:12:17,000 the dealer has a six up, what is your edge? 235 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,759 And it was multiple choice, and that eliminated almost everybody 236 00:12:21,799 --> 00:12:23,320 in the room, and. 237 00:12:23,279 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: Even the ones who made it guessed. 238 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, but the question, and it didn't 239 00:12:31,879 --> 00:12:34,639 matter what the rules would be. The possible answers were 240 00:12:34,639 --> 00:12:38,679 thirteen dollars, nineteen, twenty four, twenty nine, and thirty five. Well, 241 00:12:38,919 --> 00:12:41,080 the only one that fell in the middle there between 242 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,639 twenty three and twenty five twenty six dollars is the. 243 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:47,919 Speaker 1: Six and but some real players got it. 244 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 5: But I was astounded that Mike Shackelford missed the second 245 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,759 question book all the way through to the finals on 246 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,399 us and you know, he literally wrote the book on 247 00:12:57,399 --> 00:12:59,519 a lot of this stuff. But a lot of people 248 00:13:00,159 --> 00:13:03,600 went down fast. It was interesting. Well we'll learn next year. 249 00:13:03,639 --> 00:13:06,879 But to be fair, each question did have four parts. 250 00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:12,159 For example, on the old third one here, which one 251 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,679 of these was not one of Don Schlessinger's illustrious eighteen. 252 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,519 We had that one come up, and yeah, we had 253 00:13:19,519 --> 00:13:22,399 a quite a few different things, but not knowing one 254 00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:24,879 of the illustrious eighteen that just cleared out the room 255 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:28,600 just emptied it. Yeah, so they didn't know, but they 256 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,519 should have because we'd posted it during dinner and said 257 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,279 be careful watch this question. It's going to be on 258 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,080 the test. But no one paid attention. 259 00:13:36,799 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: Anyway. 260 00:13:37,279 --> 00:13:39,639 Speaker 5: It was I like the way it turned out. We've 261 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,559 got quite a few more questions. It was fun, it 262 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,879 was fast, It was really exciting when they came up 263 00:13:44,879 --> 00:13:47,320 to the table and we had a great tiebreaker and 264 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:51,039 that was listing the naming and we had the people 265 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,279 line up and they had name one of the twenty 266 00:13:53,399 --> 00:13:56,159 nine hotel casino I was in Las Vegas with two 267 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:00,200 thousand rooms or more. Ah, that's pretty astounding that there's 268 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:05,039 twenty nine of them here. Yeah, and two of whom 269 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:05,840 has just closed. 270 00:14:07,399 --> 00:14:08,879 Speaker 1: And two of them have just closed. 271 00:14:09,879 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, Rag Tropic Canna would have been on that list. 272 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,519 Speaker 5: Yep. So it's uh, it's pretty crazy. 273 00:14:17,159 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 3: So once we got down to the final table, how 274 00:14:19,399 --> 00:14:20,720 was that competition run? 275 00:14:21,679 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 5: Well, the competition went through and that's I'll let Munchkin 276 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,559 tell you about that one munchkin runs the finals, Richard, 277 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:29,480 you want to tell them. 278 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:37,399 Speaker 6: Yeah, so you know it's it's four four three whatever. 279 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:44,000 The the first one was uh, whole card strategy, so 280 00:14:44,759 --> 00:14:48,200 you know, you were you were dealt a hand and 281 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,639 you get to see the dealer's whole card and make 282 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,399 the right play hit stand double split. 283 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:58,679 Speaker 2: And you know that. 284 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 6: Uh that was funny because it was a little bit controversial. 285 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:10,320 Bobner session, the blackjack attorney made it to the final 286 00:15:10,399 --> 00:15:17,279 table and his hand was fifteen against an ace and uh, 287 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:23,879 fifteen against eleven and he hit it, and that that 288 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,519 is the incorrect play. And later I had several people 289 00:15:29,559 --> 00:15:34,120 come up and say, you know, uh, according to you know, 290 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:38,279 Mike Shackelford has a chart online at Wizard of Odds 291 00:15:38,279 --> 00:15:41,960 and it says that that that's the correct play. And 292 00:15:42,039 --> 00:15:45,600 I said, uh, well, you know, would you care to 293 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:50,600 it is a close it is a close play. 294 00:15:50,639 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: But uh composition close. 295 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 6: Uh, I don't know that that's maybe on single deck, 296 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,639 but Mike, Mike Shackleford's chart was for an infinite deck. 297 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,879 Speaker 2: And I but what I said to the you know, the. 298 00:16:06,879 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 6: People who came up to me was which number do 299 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,440 you want to trust Mike Shackelford's or James Grosjean's and 300 00:16:14,519 --> 00:16:18,919 you know, and uh, I know where I bet. And 301 00:16:19,159 --> 00:16:22,000 but then once you know, people went looked at his 302 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,240 chart and saw that it said infinite deck, it was like, oh, well, 303 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,720 that's that's where the error. I mean, that's where the 304 00:16:28,759 --> 00:16:29,960 discrepancy comes in. 305 00:16:30,039 --> 00:16:34,279 Speaker 5: But it's still so non intuitive because you're supposed to hit, 306 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:35,600 you know, with us that all the way up. So 307 00:16:35,759 --> 00:16:38,120 a typical person sitting out there would say, well, of 308 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,840 course you hit right or sitting there, that's a that's 309 00:16:40,879 --> 00:16:43,559 a great question. But they got harder if they went 310 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:45,919 around the table. How many did you get two questions? 311 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, it was the second one, so we went first, 312 00:16:48,639 --> 00:16:49,480 and they got harder. 313 00:16:49,919 --> 00:16:53,639 Speaker 5: The last couple were just impossible, just impossible, but they were. 314 00:16:53,559 --> 00:16:56,639 Speaker 7: Great pretend you know, A yeah, I still don't know. 315 00:16:56,799 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 2: Oh that's on the test. 316 00:16:57,919 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 6: But he's talking about the final table, like I think 317 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,839 he's talking about the the the whole card place. And 318 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,759 part of the reason for this is there are you know, 319 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:13,759 uh Internet heroes, you know, who would say things all 320 00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:16,839 the time like, oh, well, you know, if you can 321 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:22,160 see the dealer's whole card the play is obvious, and 322 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,000 so the whole point of this is it's not obvious, 323 00:17:26,519 --> 00:17:31,880 you know. You know again, I think it's been three years. 324 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:32,119 Speaker 2: In a row. 325 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 6: We then had a memorizing Sequences of Cards competition, and 326 00:17:39,039 --> 00:17:45,200 again somebody could not remember the first card of the sequence, 327 00:17:46,319 --> 00:17:47,079 and you know why. 328 00:17:47,319 --> 00:17:52,319 Speaker 5: It was Michael Kaplan and he was third. So he 329 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,240 started memorizing at three because he knew he wasn't going 330 00:17:56,279 --> 00:17:57,960 to have to know the first two. That was the 331 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,960 Andy Block move about ten years ago. He did that too. 332 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:02,680 You've got to memorize them all. 333 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:05,559 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean ten years ago. We used to go 334 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:06,759 in order in the person. 335 00:18:06,839 --> 00:18:09,839 Speaker 6: The first person would name the first card, second person 336 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,279 the second card, et cetera. But we switched that format 337 00:18:13,319 --> 00:18:18,319 to everybody puts down what the first card is, and 338 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:20,440 then the second, and then the third, and you know, 339 00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:23,200 and I, you know, I was really hoping that we 340 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:27,400 would get deep because you know, I, you know, I 341 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:32,000 had the first fifteen of them easily and wanted to see, 342 00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:33,839 you know, how far we could actually go. 343 00:18:34,839 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 5: Did did we go this year with no suits? And 344 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,279 it was just value. 345 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 6: No, no, no, we suiting rank but he had the 346 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:45,920 he had the rank as well. 347 00:18:45,759 --> 00:18:47,640 Speaker 5: Yeah, oh yeah, no, completely wrong. 348 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,079 Speaker 1: A six in a six of something, you know, six 349 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:56,960 of clubs. I think I believe that was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 350 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:04,920 Speaker 6: So then I think the the third was the deck estimation, right, 351 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,400 and I think John was within one card. 352 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:11,880 Speaker 1: And that was hard. We brought out the cards. 353 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:16,480 Speaker 5: Our lady presenting, Megan came out and on a little 354 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:18,920 blackjack table. She brought it out and took this close 355 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,359 off the top and presented the cards, and the last 356 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,880 few beats to the jeopardy song went do do do 357 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:27,079 Do Do do doo. 358 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 1: And they put it back. 359 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 5: So you got about maybe three or four seconds to 360 00:19:31,599 --> 00:19:33,680 look at the deck and estimate how many cards and 361 00:19:33,759 --> 00:19:35,279 how close was it one card away? 362 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:35,839 Speaker 1: Yeah? 363 00:19:36,519 --> 00:19:38,039 Speaker 2: Yeah, John was one card off. 364 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,880 Speaker 5: That's pretty good. We had seventy three cards, I think 365 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,920 it was. That's pretty good, right, yeah, very good. 366 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:46,839 Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah. 367 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,079 Speaker 8: I just thought, oh, it's a deck and a half. 368 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:50,799 It's a little less than dec and a half. 369 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 7: It's just like all right, yeah yeah, I hardly had 370 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,519 a look at it. It's like it's a good thing. 371 00:19:57,519 --> 00:19:58,519 Out of my glasses on. 372 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 5: It was a deck of twenty one cards. 373 00:20:02,839 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: Yeah. 374 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:09,079 Speaker 6: So, and then the last test was cutting trying to 375 00:20:09,079 --> 00:20:11,160 cut exactly seventeen. 376 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 5: Cards twenty two. 377 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 2: I was seventeen, Yeah, it was seventeen. 378 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 5: I did start with twenty two or did they tie? 379 00:20:20,079 --> 00:20:21,519 Speaker 2: Now I'm trying to remember. 380 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,079 Speaker 1: I cut. 381 00:20:23,599 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 8: I knew it was stick when I cut it, like 382 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:30,160 or whatever. Then I was off by three. It was 383 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:38,759 pretty bad. But my opponent, I don't know, like twenty 384 00:20:38,839 --> 00:20:40,640 eight or something, he was way off. 385 00:20:41,039 --> 00:20:43,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think off. 386 00:20:45,519 --> 00:20:50,759 Speaker 3: So, John, you ended up winning both competitions. Don't you 387 00:20:50,799 --> 00:20:54,160 think that's rather greedy? 388 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,599 Speaker 8: You know, I don't think so, because I've never won 389 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,240 the whole thing before. You know, I've been there twenty 390 00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:05,440 well twenty seven balls. I've been there for twenty five, 391 00:21:06,319 --> 00:21:09,960 and it's the first time actually won. I wouldn't call 392 00:21:10,039 --> 00:21:13,559 that hogging the you know, it's not like James who 393 00:21:13,599 --> 00:21:18,920 would or Munchkin who would win time after time. And 394 00:21:19,319 --> 00:21:24,000 the speed competition, well, you know, speed is is nice. 395 00:21:24,079 --> 00:21:26,880 The only reason I think I'm halfway decent at it 396 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:28,319 is because of. 397 00:21:28,799 --> 00:21:34,319 Speaker 7: Counting down people in their checkouts with MIT. 398 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:36,400 Speaker 8: So you'd have to, you know, if you had a 399 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,960 disagreement on account, you have to go through a bunch 400 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,839 of cards, and I did that a lot, so you know, 401 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,680 otherwise not really very useful. 402 00:21:44,759 --> 00:21:48,920 Speaker 1: So so all these lone wolves and stuff. 403 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,880 Speaker 8: You know, they kept down a deck in thirty seconds. 404 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,960 It's probably fast enough. And you know the only time 405 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,839 that speed I think, you know, like the fastest thing 406 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,400 you have to do when you're counting typically is when 407 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:05,799 you walk up to a table and the dealer scooping 408 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,119 up the cards. Can you keep ahead of that? And 409 00:22:09,279 --> 00:22:11,720 you know, like there's never more than about twenty cards 410 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,759 on the table like that, So so you know, people 411 00:22:15,759 --> 00:22:17,680 don't if they're not practicing, and they're not going. 412 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: To get that good. Not that I was that good either. 413 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,759 Speaker 8: I mean I think that running thirt you know, thirteen 414 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,839 plus seconds is like you know, winning the one hundred 415 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,000 meters in thirteen seconds. 416 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,799 Speaker 1: You know, you're like, yeah, you're pretty fast, but there's 417 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,279 a lot of people who can beat that. 418 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 3: All right, It sort gave a speech and any m 419 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,640 seed an event muchkin, Can you tell us about that? 420 00:22:48,599 --> 00:22:48,799 Speaker 1: Yeah? 421 00:22:48,839 --> 00:22:51,279 Speaker 2: That for me, that was the highlight of the night. 422 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 6: We and agreed to call a bingo game, and you know, everybody, 423 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:03,960 all the tables, every player had a Bingo card, and 424 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:10,279 you know, we we promised a fantastic surprise to the winner, 425 00:23:11,079 --> 00:23:15,799 and he called the bingo game, and when he got 426 00:23:15,799 --> 00:23:19,000 to the last number, everybody in the room jumped up 427 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,839 and yelled bingo, because you know, we had we had 428 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,200 rigged the game so that everybody. 429 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 2: In the room would win. And it was hilarious. 430 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: It was. 431 00:23:29,799 --> 00:23:30,480 Speaker 2: It was great. 432 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 5: All of these cool guys that cant ten thousand and 433 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,359 a hand and never under pressure. 434 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:39,279 Speaker 1: We told him the first person. 435 00:23:39,039 --> 00:23:41,759 Speaker 5: To stand up and yell bingo got a seat at 436 00:23:41,799 --> 00:23:44,720 the final table and we got it on Phil in 437 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,319 the entire room jumped up at the same time. It 438 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,759 was the big tip of the hat to Mark Billings 439 00:23:50,759 --> 00:23:53,960 for pulling all that together. That was it really worked. 440 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,640 It was good. So everybody had a bingo called it. 441 00:23:58,160 --> 00:23:59,960 Ed Thorpe called a winner for everybody in the room, 442 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:02,680 which was nice. Another thing ed Thorpe did is we 443 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,440 had in honor of the Olympics, we had a gold 444 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,039 of silver and a bronze medal for the world's fastest 445 00:24:08,039 --> 00:24:11,359 counter and he put those around the ribbons medals around 446 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,079 their neck and did all the rest. He thought that 447 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:20,119 was great. He just loves his party, which yeah, and 448 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:21,440 he looks great. 449 00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:30,119 Speaker 4: It was himself really into the anti aging tech methods 450 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,240 and everything really impressive. 451 00:24:33,079 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 8: I asked him a little bit about that, and you know, 452 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:42,680 he it's kind of basically, he does stuff that you know, 453 00:24:42,799 --> 00:24:47,079 is sort of proven and well acknowledge. It's not like, oh, 454 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,039 he's taking some exotic treatments. He pays a ton for 455 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,519 anything like that. I think it's very similar to the 456 00:24:53,519 --> 00:24:58,480 way he approached blackjack. You know, it's uh, you figured 457 00:24:58,519 --> 00:25:00,519 out counting, but he didn't really to go for the 458 00:25:00,559 --> 00:25:03,759 whole cards. He didn't really go for you know, other 459 00:25:03,839 --> 00:25:08,559 other techniques. So but it certainly worked. 460 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 6: Yeah, he said, he said at dinner, you know, I 461 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,240 believe in exercise, you know, yeah, yeah, nothing exotic. 462 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,880 Speaker 5: Yeah, and eating right and all that kind of silly stuff. 463 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:20,359 I mean, who wants to live like that? 464 00:25:21,039 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 2: Yeah? 465 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,839 Speaker 1: So he had so good it's crazy. He really does. 466 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 5: And Muskin can tell you years ago, when COVID first 467 00:25:30,039 --> 00:25:33,839 came out, Ed wouldn't come out because he had calculated 468 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,559 the mathematical chances of him dying if he got it 469 00:25:36,599 --> 00:25:38,759 and it was too high, so he wouldn't go out 470 00:25:38,799 --> 00:25:41,759 in public for a couple of years. And then Pax 471 00:25:41,799 --> 00:25:44,000 Slovan came along and all the rest. So he decided 472 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,279 to take a chance, and then he got it. He's 473 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,079 doing fine. Yeah, yep. 474 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: So part of the Black Tech Ball is a. 475 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,079 Speaker 3: Election for the newest inductee to the Hall of Fame. 476 00:25:58,720 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: Yep. 477 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 3: Year, Rick Knight train Blaine one in a close competition, 478 00:26:05,079 --> 00:26:06,519 beating out Colin Jones. 479 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,680 Speaker 1: Rick has a book, Blackjack Blueprint. 480 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,519 Speaker 3: He's a former Gross Team Cup winner and he's been 481 00:26:14,559 --> 00:26:20,519 playing forever. So, Rick, You've been nominated several times in 482 00:26:20,599 --> 00:26:23,920 the past and finally you got selected. 483 00:26:24,039 --> 00:26:24,759 Speaker 1: How does it feel. 484 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,640 Speaker 4: It's It was really a close one this year, I 485 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:30,079 mean very too. 486 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:31,160 Speaker 5: By two votes. 487 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,279 Speaker 4: That's pretty doesn't get much closer. 488 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: Than that out of one hundred and twenty votes. 489 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 5: Wow. 490 00:26:38,799 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's pretty pretty amazing. It could have gone either way. 491 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:51,119 It was very tough competition. All the nominees really impressive individuals, 492 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:56,880 done a lot over the years, and I'm just wow, fortunate, 493 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:03,319 privilege to be part of the group. It's an honor. 494 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 3: Last year's winner, Maria wasn't at the ball, so she 495 00:27:09,039 --> 00:27:13,480 gave her acceptance speech this year. For those people who 496 00:27:13,519 --> 00:27:15,119 don't know Maria, Rick. 497 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,559 Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about her? 498 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 4: Maria very impressive. First off, she was the only woman 499 00:27:23,519 --> 00:27:26,599 to win the It wasn't named the Gross Team Cup 500 00:27:26,599 --> 00:27:29,480 at a time, but to win the competition at the 501 00:27:29,519 --> 00:27:34,680 Blackjack Ball some twenty odd years ago. So she talks 502 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,200 to talk and walks the walk. She pulled it together 503 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,799 in the nineteen nineties along with her brother, the Greek 504 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:50,319 High Powered Team. She had some very stringent training, very 505 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,119 excellent strategy on how to attack the games, and they 506 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,240 made themselves a nice bundle of money while they were operating, 507 00:27:59,279 --> 00:28:04,240 and I could speak, you know, personally, I've had puck. 508 00:28:04,519 --> 00:28:08,960 Actually two or three players that were trained by Maria 509 00:28:09,839 --> 00:28:13,759 play on a subsequent team that I ran, and they 510 00:28:13,759 --> 00:28:16,400 were just amazing. You could just see that they were 511 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,119 really it was a well oiled machine that they came from. 512 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,599 Speaker 5: What was really astounding about Maria's she would come into 513 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,839 Las Vegas with forty people and manage all those people how. 514 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,519 I don't I can't begin to understand how you do this. 515 00:28:31,559 --> 00:28:33,279 It's hard enough when there's four or five guys on 516 00:28:33,319 --> 00:28:34,880 a team. I don't know how you do it. 517 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:35,759 Speaker 1: But she did. 518 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,279 Speaker 5: And I told her, I marlvered at that, marveled at that, 519 00:28:38,319 --> 00:28:39,720 and she said, oh, we had a lot more than that. 520 00:28:39,799 --> 00:28:42,599 Sometimes I don't know how they kept tracking, how they 521 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,759 kept from skimming, and how they kept everybody under control. 522 00:28:45,839 --> 00:28:48,200 She had a lot of college kids that were pretty 523 00:28:48,319 --> 00:28:51,400 fun at the parties. It's pretty lazy, but I said, 524 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:53,039 I don't know how you're hurting these people. But she 525 00:28:53,119 --> 00:28:55,799 did a great job. They made a load of money 526 00:28:56,079 --> 00:28:59,200 in the day back in the nineties. She did very well. 527 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 4: Her organizational and managerial skills were just phenomenal. She had 528 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:10,240 co captains I believe that managed subgroups that went out there, 529 00:29:10,279 --> 00:29:15,480 and it was a chain of command really just very businesslike. 530 00:29:16,519 --> 00:29:19,279 Speaker 5: Well, she's quite smart. She had to agree with Meal 531 00:29:19,359 --> 00:29:22,480 and then Stanford Law and then Totra parents. She was 532 00:29:22,519 --> 00:29:24,599 going to go to the dark side and play cards, 533 00:29:24,599 --> 00:29:27,240 and her dad said go for it. She had nick, 534 00:29:27,359 --> 00:29:29,880 So that's great. 535 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:31,359 Speaker 1: One of the. 536 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 3: Original black Jack Hall of Fame members in two thousand 537 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:41,079 and three passed recently, Al Francesco. There was a eulogy 538 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:45,920 to him at the ball read by Blair Hull. 539 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,519 Speaker 1: Max. Can you tell us a little bit about Al Francesco? 540 00:29:50,319 --> 00:29:56,039 Speaker 5: Sure, I was a serial entrepreneur. He started frozen pieces 541 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,640 back in the sixties, early their late fifties and sixties. 542 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,759 He started a business doing that, getting in on shelves 543 00:30:03,759 --> 00:30:06,440 and he was doing other things, and he came up 544 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,359 with this idea that one person who call the plays, 545 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:12,720 and they called him Guerrilla BPS, and that means the 546 00:30:12,759 --> 00:30:15,799 big player would sit there and take their instructions so 547 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,559 if they got caught, he could live to play another day. 548 00:30:18,799 --> 00:30:23,000 And he'd turned that into a huge money making machine. 549 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,720 But he turned out Bill RB who was there talking 550 00:30:25,759 --> 00:30:28,799 about he's a candidate for the Blackjack Hall of Fame, 551 00:30:28,839 --> 00:30:32,200 and Blair Hole, who went on to have a tremendous 552 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:37,000 success in the markets and options markets and commodities and whatnot, 553 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,720 and I mean one of the best in the world. 554 00:30:39,799 --> 00:30:43,720 He's really done well with that. But Frank did some 555 00:30:43,759 --> 00:30:46,000 things nobody else has done. One is he went off 556 00:30:46,079 --> 00:30:50,119 to this was in seventy four, I believe, to France, 557 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,880 and they blew about thirty thousand on this game over there, 558 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,839 and some really smart guy who was a consultant told 559 00:30:57,839 --> 00:31:01,039 these casinos over in France that if you dealt a 560 00:31:01,079 --> 00:31:04,240 six dep shoe and you didn't take a whole card, 561 00:31:04,799 --> 00:31:07,039 you could cut off a half a deck and you 562 00:31:07,079 --> 00:31:09,400 could keep dealing and card counters couldn't beat you. 563 00:31:10,319 --> 00:31:12,559 Speaker 1: Well, Frank and his Frank and Bill. 564 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 5: Went over there and started playing in this casino, and 565 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,640 before the smoke cleared, they'd won three hundred and some thousand, 566 00:31:18,839 --> 00:31:21,759 and the guy couldn't pay him and he didn't have 567 00:31:21,839 --> 00:31:24,519 the money anymore, and essentially walked out and said, here's 568 00:31:24,519 --> 00:31:26,079 the keys. And they said, we don't want a casino 569 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:27,799 in France. What are we gonna do with it? And 570 00:31:27,839 --> 00:31:29,480 this is back in the day, with three hundred thousand, 571 00:31:29,519 --> 00:31:32,119 with a whole lot of money, and they didn't take it, 572 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,440 and they negotiated with the guy. They wound up getting 573 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,160 two hundred thousand over time back out of that deal. 574 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,400 But they really had some fun adventuress. They traveled all 575 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,960 over the world way before anybody else was doing that, 576 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,799 and they made lots and lots of money. But Frank 577 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,880 was a tremendous innovator too, with a lot of things 578 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,880 he did, and one of the nicest guys that ever lived, 579 00:31:51,599 --> 00:31:53,799 so he deserved it. He was one of the original 580 00:31:53,839 --> 00:31:56,400 seven inductees into the Black Tech Hall of Fame. And 581 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:58,440 that's saying some because you were just a player. He 582 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,720 wasn't a writer, he wasn't a contribute to the craft. 583 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:02,559 He was just a great, great player. 584 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 2: Yeah. 585 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:09,799 Speaker 6: So in about the year two thousand, Frank came out 586 00:32:09,839 --> 00:32:15,079 of retirement and decided that he wanted to put together 587 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:20,039 an ACE sequencing team, and he asked me at the 588 00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:27,480 time to join, which I did very happily. And so yeah, 589 00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:30,720 we went out and were sequencing aces and I remember, 590 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,559 you know, at that time, Frank was I think sixty eight, 591 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:39,039 and I was so impressed like that he could memorize 592 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:46,960 sixteen sequences in a shoe and you know, and at 593 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,279 sixty eight years old, and I was just like, man, 594 00:32:49,359 --> 00:32:52,880 that's amazing. Course now I'm sixty eight and I'm like, oh, well, yes, 595 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,559 of course anybody can do that. 596 00:32:57,039 --> 00:32:59,759 Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, he was quite an impressive guy. 597 00:33:02,039 --> 00:33:06,599 Speaker 6: Yeah, great guy to work with, although he did turn 598 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,359 out Ken Houston. He's the guy who hired Ken Houston, 599 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,599 and I think everybody involved with that regrets it. 600 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 5: He He never had bad words to say about anybody 601 00:33:19,079 --> 00:33:23,440 but Ken Houston. He hated Ken Houston. Yeah, Kim took 602 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:25,519 everything he had and took it on to TV with 603 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,319 I don't know, Mike Reasoner or somebody and showed them 604 00:33:29,319 --> 00:33:32,079 the actual signals they were using. And a very good 605 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,279 friend of Monskin of mine was living with him down 606 00:33:34,319 --> 00:33:37,480 on the beach in Newport when he did it, and 607 00:33:37,519 --> 00:33:39,960 he saw it on TV and they're living together and 608 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:44,119 he outed everybody at the same time on sixty minutes. Yeah, 609 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,920 he wasn't very popular, but he did write a great 610 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,319 book and he did a lot. But yeah, he stole 611 00:33:52,359 --> 00:33:55,960 a lot of stuff too. Anyway, everybody comes with the story. 612 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:57,079 Speaker 1: Yep. 613 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 3: Currently, the Blackjack Ball is a five oh one Sea 614 00:34:05,039 --> 00:34:10,280 charity and so the mission price has gone up yep. 615 00:34:10,519 --> 00:34:15,800 And every year proceeds are given to some worthy charity 616 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:16,960 in the gambling area. 617 00:34:17,039 --> 00:34:17,800 Speaker 1: This year it. 618 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:23,559 Speaker 3: Was to the National Council on Problem Gambling, and a 619 00:34:23,599 --> 00:34:28,800 representative from that organization spoke at the Blackjack Ball. And 620 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,159 do you remember any part of that speech, Richard. 621 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,920 Speaker 6: You know, just that it was mercifully short. I mean, 622 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,280 you know we were and I mean so the guy 623 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:45,480 who came from the Council, his name is Keith White. 624 00:34:45,519 --> 00:34:50,559 Speaker 2: He's a great guy and he could tell, right, I mean. 625 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 6: He could see things were kind of taking a while, 626 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,719 so he realized he should make his speech short. But 627 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,440 he did come up with some interesting, you know, facts 628 00:35:02,599 --> 00:35:04,119 about problem gambling. 629 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:06,159 Speaker 2: Macks you want to address that. 630 00:35:07,039 --> 00:35:09,119 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really interesting. 631 00:35:09,159 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 5: Because this problem gambling has been a problem in America 632 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,599 for a long time and everywhere there's gambling, and they 633 00:35:14,639 --> 00:35:17,480 can argue two to four percent. But today they've got 634 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:20,880 the online gambling and the barriers of entry are much smaller, 635 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:22,880 and there are a few things going on out there. 636 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,559 And the one they have found in a study in 637 00:35:25,559 --> 00:35:29,719 New Jersey is that ten percent of the people are 638 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,440 responsible for seventy percent of the revenue that's coming in. 639 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,079 And if that ten percent, a majority of them are 640 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,239 white males between twenty one and twenty five to twenty 641 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,320 six years old. They're what college students basically, and they 642 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,280 are the big problem pod of problem gamblers coming through 643 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,239 right now. And the kids, and we talked a little 644 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,159 bit about what happens when the kids steal their dad's 645 00:35:54,199 --> 00:35:57,119 credit card and start using it. 646 00:35:57,159 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 1: Well, how do you tell. 647 00:35:58,079 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 5: If that's your father or not. I don't know how 648 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,920 you do it. But what these sites have done and 649 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:06,239 the states are doing is telling you if your kid 650 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:11,119 uses your credit card and gambles and loses the money, yes, 651 00:36:11,159 --> 00:36:13,519 the credit card company has to give you your money back, 652 00:36:13,599 --> 00:36:16,880 but you have to file a police report because they 653 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,679 stole your money against your own kid. So basically the 654 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:21,480 joints are getting paid anyway if the kids are out 655 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,320 there again on the dad's money on a credit card. 656 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,199 And so there's some things happening like that that are 657 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,239 creating some problems and starting to create some news. But 658 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:31,960 Hey believes and I kind of believe the same thing 659 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,840 that these colleagues kids. We're going to see some bad 660 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,559 stories come out in the next couple of years if 661 00:36:37,599 --> 00:36:39,239 they don't get a handle on where this is going, 662 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:41,760 because it's just too damn easy to play now and 663 00:36:42,119 --> 00:36:44,039 next year this football scene, you're gonna be able to 664 00:36:44,039 --> 00:36:47,000 bet on every damn play. Every kid out there is 665 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,119 going to invent the Martingale I did when I moved 666 00:36:49,159 --> 00:36:54,519 to town. They just do you say, well, you can't 667 00:36:54,519 --> 00:36:55,320 lose ten in a row? 668 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:55,559 Speaker 1: Yeah? 669 00:36:55,639 --> 00:36:57,559 Speaker 5: Do that thousand times. Yeah, you can lose ten in 670 00:36:57,599 --> 00:37:01,920 a row. That's easy. I did it. So anyway, that's 671 00:37:02,079 --> 00:37:05,000 he talked about those things, and I think they're germane 672 00:37:05,119 --> 00:37:09,519 to the business and particularly the gamblers the sports guys 673 00:37:09,519 --> 00:37:12,719 that were there, because they have to make sure that 674 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:17,920 this industry stays healthy, and these bad stories aren't going 675 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,159 to be healthy, and keeping these kids away from it 676 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:22,119 is not going to be good if we can't figure 677 00:37:22,119 --> 00:37:24,639 out a way to do that, So what's some sort 678 00:37:24,679 --> 00:37:28,559 of other sort of authentication or something. But anyway, he 679 00:37:28,599 --> 00:37:34,079 talked about those things, and gambling is growing. Casino revenues 680 00:37:34,199 --> 00:37:37,880 are sliding in regional casinos just about everywhere, but it's 681 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:42,239 almost in a direct correlation with the number of dollars 682 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:46,400 that are being wagered online. So the overall gambling spend 683 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,840 in America, the gambling economy, if you will, is growing, 684 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:55,079 but the land based regional casinos are slipping because those 685 00:37:55,119 --> 00:37:58,119 people can put their money somewhere else. So some of 686 00:37:58,159 --> 00:38:00,360 that kind of stuff is happening right now. Trying to 687 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:01,119 get a handle on it. 688 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:02,039 Speaker 1: All. 689 00:38:02,159 --> 00:38:08,199 Speaker 3: Right, So Max would for next year's Blackjack ball, well, 690 00:38:10,079 --> 00:38:12,320 what do you guess it is going to be similar 691 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,840 to this year's minus the Bengo. 692 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 1: Of course, yes, I do. 693 00:38:19,639 --> 00:38:23,199 Speaker 5: This year, everything we were doing was invent reinventing the wheel, 694 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:26,880 so it was chaos. It was just nuts because a 695 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,159 lot of things were new, but we made we broke 696 00:38:30,199 --> 00:38:32,000 a lot of things. We made a lot of mistakes. 697 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,360 But I think we've learned from all those mistakes and 698 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:36,519 we can really streamline it better next year. 699 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:38,880 Speaker 1: Timing who's doing what. 700 00:38:39,119 --> 00:38:42,199 Speaker 5: But I think from all the things we put on, 701 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,480 I think it went very well. I have heard from 702 00:38:44,679 --> 00:38:46,960 just about everybody that it was the best ball we 703 00:38:47,039 --> 00:38:47,519 ever had. 704 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, I certainly felt that way. 705 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 6: And and you know, I really liked the fact that 706 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,519 we did it sort of right after bet Bash and 707 00:38:59,599 --> 00:39:02,559 we're able to invite a lot of you know, the 708 00:39:02,599 --> 00:39:07,000 big sports betters, and you know, I'd like to see 709 00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:12,840 more big gamblers of all sorts, advantage gamblers, you know, 710 00:39:13,079 --> 00:39:14,159 be able to attend. 711 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 2: And yeah, so yeah, it was. 712 00:39:19,159 --> 00:39:20,559 Speaker 1: A lot of fun. It was. 713 00:39:20,679 --> 00:39:26,800 Speaker 4: It was by far the most creative ball that I've 714 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,400 been to. H I love this how you guys did it, 715 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,920 And to me, the high right of the night, we're 716 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:36,679 seeing Max Ruben in a pink suit. 717 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,840 Speaker 5: Unfair. I had to tell everybody I was I have 718 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:47,719 changed sizes a little bit, and I'm a couple of 719 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:52,280 order than when I used to wear suits. I couldn't 720 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:54,639 fit in any clothes, so I went in to buy 721 00:39:54,679 --> 00:39:57,280 a new suit and I'm getting tried on a summer 722 00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,039 suit I wanted for the ball, and I was gonna 723 00:39:59,039 --> 00:40:02,280 post it. And my wife comes over while I'm being 724 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,039 tried on for this Italian suit and being fitted and 725 00:40:06,079 --> 00:40:08,320 she says, look at this, it's eighty five percent off. 726 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:11,639 And it was pink and I said, it's pink and 727 00:40:11,679 --> 00:40:14,000 she said, but it's eighty five percent off. And we 728 00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:16,199 went around and around it. I said, if you accuse 729 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:18,400 of me of coming out, she said, no, it's eighty 730 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:19,199 five percent off. 731 00:40:19,199 --> 00:40:22,239 Speaker 1: Well, any of you guys that are married, you understand. 732 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,599 Speaker 5: She said, they five. I wound up with a pink suit. 733 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:28,159 But it was fun to wear. I'm not gonna wear 734 00:40:28,199 --> 00:40:29,199 it a lot of other places. 735 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 1: It was fun. 736 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,440 Speaker 5: Yeah, I liked it. It might be my official black 737 00:40:34,519 --> 00:40:35,599 jack ballsuit from now on. 738 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:37,119 Speaker 1: He pulls it off. 739 00:40:37,159 --> 00:40:39,920 Speaker 7: Well that was fun. 740 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:39,559 Speaker 1: Ye. 741 00:40:41,199 --> 00:40:43,119 Speaker 5: Overall I thought it was more fun. There were more 742 00:40:43,199 --> 00:40:45,400 laughs and a lot more drama. 743 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:47,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, good everybody. 744 00:40:47,559 --> 00:40:50,719 Speaker 5: Everybody was cared about who won at the end, and 745 00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:54,639 it said so an amazing thing. And Anthony Curtis said 746 00:40:54,639 --> 00:40:56,920 this long ago to me because I told him, and 747 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:01,480 this was during World Cup soccer, maybe eight ten, fifteen 748 00:41:01,559 --> 00:41:04,400 years ago, and I said, god, socker's boring. He said, 749 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:09,239 put a bet on it. Huh, just bet twenty bucks, okay, maybet. 750 00:41:10,159 --> 00:41:13,519 Within about three days I knew what off size was. 751 00:41:13,679 --> 00:41:17,679 I knew what tackling was rolled through the front line. 752 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,079 Who they should be passing to. It's gambling, just as 753 00:41:21,159 --> 00:41:24,159 Larry Merchant said it best is gambling excites the caring 754 00:41:24,199 --> 00:41:26,880 glens and it just does so if you've got a 755 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,199 chance to win something. I knew that with my wife. Now, 756 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,320 I'll make a ten dollars bet on a football game 757 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:32,800 I want to watch all day and tell her she's 758 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,400 got ten on it. She loves the game and screamed 759 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,840 with the TV all day for ten bucks, and if 760 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:39,920 I handed her a hundred bucks, you wouldn't know the difference. 761 00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:42,320 But if she can win ten bucks, it means something. 762 00:41:43,159 --> 00:41:45,400 So that's what we did. We got everybody involved, but 763 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,760 it really it really turned out well, I think, so 764 00:41:49,119 --> 00:41:50,360 we'll do more of that in the future. 765 00:41:51,199 --> 00:41:52,079 Speaker 1: You have any thoughts to me? 766 00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:54,519 Speaker 4: You have any thoughts about a theme for next year? 767 00:41:55,360 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 5: A fee a theme? Yeah, somebody they said due Cowboy. 768 00:42:01,119 --> 00:42:03,760 I said, yeah, that's that's good. That's Joco and Blair 769 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:06,079 and at Thorpe. We're all going to show up in 770 00:42:06,119 --> 00:42:08,119 their shafts. 771 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:08,679 Speaker 1: Yeah. 772 00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:10,400 Speaker 5: I kind of don't think that one's going to work. 773 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:12,199 So I don't know what the theme would be. But 774 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,519 this year, I just tried to figure out something for 775 00:42:14,559 --> 00:42:17,199 the summer where people dressing light because it was so 776 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:21,480 damn hot. Just said tropical. So we'll come up with something. Okay, 777 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,840 not sure what. Yep, So that's probably the working date 778 00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:28,440 for next year. But I'm not sure what. 779 00:42:29,079 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 2: Is probably the working date for next year? 780 00:42:32,159 --> 00:42:33,559 Speaker 5: Saturday after Betbash? 781 00:42:33,679 --> 00:42:37,519 Speaker 6: Oh okay, I think that's the sixteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth of 782 00:42:37,559 --> 00:42:38,480 August right. 783 00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,679 Speaker 5: Down the state next year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So we'll 784 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:43,679 do that. And one thing I wanted to add is 785 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:48,000 we've got sponsors that do so much for us. Strangely enough, 786 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,679 people spend three hundred and fifty to get in the door. 787 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,880 It cost us at least two hundred more than that 788 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:55,840 to put this party on. 789 00:42:56,559 --> 00:42:59,079 Speaker 1: It's expensive, and. 790 00:42:59,119 --> 00:43:01,559 Speaker 5: We rent a place that cost a whole lot of money, 791 00:43:01,599 --> 00:43:04,239 and we use their av system to cost six thousand 792 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:07,280 for the night and the rentals ten or eleven thousand. 793 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:09,000 But it's all goes to. 794 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:09,679 Speaker 1: A great cause. 795 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 5: It goes to the Rubo Center for Brain Health, and 796 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,360 they did a lot of good things for me, and 797 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:16,039 they've done a lot of good things for my friends. 798 00:43:16,119 --> 00:43:19,400 So we just put that in. But we couldn't begin 799 00:43:19,519 --> 00:43:23,400 to have this party with this quality without people like Joco, 800 00:43:24,079 --> 00:43:27,119 who's been a sponsor ever since we started in Blair Hole, 801 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:32,840 and Bill Bnter and Pevin Man Cody and even a 802 00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:38,320 Collar buys a table and he had nine people there 803 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:41,239 this year and he You just couldn't be any nicer 804 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,199 than that guy. He really really is a great guy. 805 00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:47,320 Speaker 1: Ed Thorpe one of the sponsors. 806 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,760 Speaker 5: No, No, Ed Thorpe. And I told Ed this a 807 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,960 long time ago that Ed is full comp for him 808 00:43:56,039 --> 00:43:59,280 and whoever he wants to bring one person or fifty 809 00:43:59,639 --> 00:44:03,239 Ed umped and everybody agreed with me Ed, Ed shouldn't 810 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:06,119 have to pay to come to a black jack party. Yeah, 811 00:44:07,079 --> 00:44:08,760 he kind of hands up to do with all this. 812 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:13,639 So No, Ed doesn't pay and shouldn't all a. 813 00:44:13,559 --> 00:44:18,760 Speaker 8: Few more people. Yeah, there's a few that Jelco invited. 814 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:23,400 Uh who Well, Harry Harry Zema, for example. 815 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:24,280 Speaker 1: The guy's made. 816 00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:28,639 Speaker 8: I think he's a billionaire and he started out playing 817 00:44:28,679 --> 00:44:33,320 blackjack when he was eighteen. No, he's never been to 818 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,559 the ball, but I think he expressed interest, so I 819 00:44:36,559 --> 00:44:37,840 think he'll be there next year. 820 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:39,000 Speaker 2: Oh that's great. 821 00:44:39,079 --> 00:44:44,559 Speaker 8: Also, Jelco's partner, David He's like, how come I have 822 00:44:44,679 --> 00:44:50,920 never been invited? And uh, yeah, so so he's probably 823 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:51,840 going to come as well. 824 00:44:52,519 --> 00:44:53,960 Speaker 1: Uh. You know, each of. 825 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,719 Speaker 8: These guys is you know, they're more money than they 826 00:44:56,760 --> 00:45:01,079 know what to do with, and uh, you know. Also 827 00:45:01,159 --> 00:45:04,960 regarding the problem gambler idea, you know, I was thinking 828 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:09,000 that many of these kids are just it's too easy 829 00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:12,159 and they don't look at it at all, and it's 830 00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:14,639 kind of like Billy Walters was when he was a sucker. 831 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,280 I think a lot of them are not really suckers. 832 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,440 You know, if you just educate them a little bit, 833 00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:22,000 they can turn it around. 834 00:45:23,199 --> 00:45:26,679 Speaker 1: So, you know, having some kind of requirements. 835 00:45:26,159 --> 00:45:31,159 Speaker 8: For education, you know, could be very useful in terms 836 00:45:31,159 --> 00:45:33,719 of turning a problem gambler into a winning gambler. 837 00:45:35,159 --> 00:45:39,239 Speaker 5: I'm not sure that that would qualify under the guidelines 838 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,519 of five zho ones see three charitable contributions. If we 839 00:45:43,559 --> 00:45:45,920 took all the money we brought in and use that 840 00:45:46,039 --> 00:45:48,519 to teach another army of card couners to go out. 841 00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:53,400 Speaker 6: More, I don't think that's what he's suggesting, but certainly, 842 00:45:53,639 --> 00:45:58,159 you know, they could change. Instead of teaching trigonometry in 843 00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:02,119 high school, they should be teaching you know, statistics and 844 00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:04,199 data science partly. 845 00:46:05,679 --> 00:46:07,559 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, how to pick a parley. 846 00:46:07,639 --> 00:46:09,199 Speaker 1: Yeah well if. 847 00:46:09,079 --> 00:46:10,719 Speaker 5: They did that, the kids would pay a lot more 848 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:12,719 attention in math claffs yep. 849 00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and. 850 00:46:16,199 --> 00:46:18,360 Speaker 2: It would be much more useful in their life. 851 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:19,760 Speaker 5: Yeah, no kidding. 852 00:46:20,679 --> 00:46:23,039 Speaker 8: You know, Harry once told me that he did he 853 00:46:23,079 --> 00:46:26,639 did the Frank Shapani thing where he put a casino 854 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,400 like they couldn't pay him, but instead of saying, well, 855 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:34,559 I'll just settle, he actually took their receipts for several 856 00:46:34,639 --> 00:46:38,760 weeks until they got paid, so he did a little better. 857 00:46:42,119 --> 00:46:42,320 Speaker 1: Yeah. 858 00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:45,599 Speaker 5: I suppose Harry is the most successful gamble in the 859 00:46:45,639 --> 00:46:46,519 history of the world. 860 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:48,039 Speaker 1: Right, I think. 861 00:46:48,119 --> 00:46:51,039 Speaker 8: So, you know, Jalco knows everybody, and he's like, I 862 00:46:51,079 --> 00:46:52,159 think Harry's number one. 863 00:46:52,679 --> 00:46:53,280 Speaker 1: Yeah. 864 00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:55,960 Speaker 2: Wow, Tony Bloom has done pretty well too. 865 00:46:57,119 --> 00:47:00,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, Tony Blue might be second. Yeah. 866 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:03,159 Speaker 5: Oh, Tony's done fabulous. 867 00:47:03,519 --> 00:47:06,960 Speaker 8: No, right, but he got put to sleep by the 868 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:12,119 twenty one questions literally, and I think he's been back 869 00:47:12,199 --> 00:47:15,760 since then, so maybe Joe can convince him. 870 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:21,000 Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, no, Well that's why we're keeping in twenty 871 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:21,719 one from now on. 872 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:28,679 Speaker 3: Thank you, gentlemen, Thank you, Richard, Max john Rick and 873 00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,639 those not related to blackjack, brought hit lots of royal 874 00:47:31,639 --> 00:47:33,800 flushes everybody day