Lessons from Professional Gambler Billy Walters

“I’ve been around gamblers since I was six years old. I’ve seen it all: smart money, stupid money, sharps, half-sharps, suckers, and squares. I’ve run into every sort of hustler, scuffler, con man, and bullshit artist you can imagine. I’ve dealt with killers, drug dealers, celebrities, billionaires, and a thug-fest of would-be tough guys. For the longest time, I could not resist that sweet voice called Action whispering in my ear, drawing me in, pulling me down. For years, I lived what gamblers in the South like to call a “chicken or feathers” existence; flush one day, dead broke the next. I’ve lost cars, houses, businesses, and marriages. I gambled until I had all your money, or you had all of mine.”

“His personal philosophy could be summarized like this: “In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all.”

For me, the key was balancing patience against greed, gaining control over my ego and emotions, and knowing when to”

“The opposite applies if you’re betting the favorite. Lay the 6.5 as soon as you can because if it goes to 6, you gain a small competitive advantage compared to what you have to lose if it goes to 7. Thus, the adage: bet favorites early and dogs late. Always pay attention to the value of the numbers as the line moves.”

“Over the years, my brain trust of more than twenty-five people has included a guy who was number one in his class at Caltech, a department chair of economics at a major U.S. university, mathematical savants, computer wizards, PhDs, and quantitative and database handicappers who live and breathe algorithms and theoretical angles not found in your average textbook. Our team members act like hedge fund analysts, assigning a numerical value to every conceivable factor or variable capable of affecting sporting events to within a tenth of a point. In the NFL alone, I have several teams of experts working independently. They have never met each other, even though most have worked with me for more than thirty years, funneling their information to one common denominator: me.”