The Smart Money: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions

by Michael Konik

A tour of the lucrative world of high-stakes sports betting reveals how a small coterie of professional gamblers became wealthy by beating the Vegas lines and exploiting the offshore betting circuit. By the author of The Man with the $100,000 Breasts. 100,000 first printing.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Gaming, Money

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Based in Southern California, Michael Konik is a writer, composer, record producer, artist, improviser, former television personality, unusually articulate stoner, burgeoning thought leader and generally decent person.

Reviews

[Tom Stamper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having played poker with people who were simultaneously betting 10x the money on sports next door I have assumed them to be addictive gamblers. I once played with an unassuming 60 something year old lady that had $3,700 on the Oklahoma Thunder. I couldn't imagine that kind of wager. One year I heard Mike Matasow made it to final table at the World Series of Poker and then blew $300,000 betting on sports within the week. But for as much as betting on sports has been associated with suckers there has been a minority theory that people who understand numbers can find inefficiencies in the market and win money. This is that kind of book.

The author Mike Konik was writing about gambling and worked his way into a syndicate that crunches the numbers better than the casino odds makers. The problem is that such a people get a reputation and become barred from casinos. To work around this the syndicate hires people to place bets for them. The author becomes one of these guns for hire. He gets comped at big casinos and sees the big heavyweight fights for free, but he also has relationship and stress problems resulting from the time and toll such a life entails. His prowess eventually gets him barred from casinos and much of his work is finding places off shore that will take his money.

One of the problems of winning at gambling is the high of the action and then the desire to feel that high again by betting at bigger and bigger limits. I have gone through streaks at poker where it stops feeling like money. When those streaks come to an end I usually stop playing for months to regain my equilibrium. Mike doesn't have that flexibility when his partners need him to grind away for them from Football season through the Final Four. What you really take away from the book is that even winning is not a solution to happiness or health. What you get from the book is to vicariously live that kind of experience without the ulcers and insomnia. The book was a breeze to read and I can't remember the last time I finished a book of this length within 24 hours. I would definitely read more from Konik in the future.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly interesting. The author was a freelance journalist and poker player who interviewed high-stakes sports gamblers for an article and ended up working for one of them, then branching off on his own in collaboration with an hold high school acquaintance who had become an MIT faculty member and computer/math-whiz. In both cases, the catch is that they use extensive data mining to come up with algorithms for predicting scores of (especially) football [and to some extent college basketball] games enabling them to beat point spreads a little more than half the time and thus run up profits.

Recurring theme of how unfair the competition with bookies actually is, in that they're happy to let you bet forever if you don't know what you're doing but will lower your limits or cut you off altogether if you win a lot.

Other recurring theme is how he finds it exciting at first but gradually soul-deadening as his girlfriend grows tired of the high-rolling, always-on-call-to-get-a-bet-down Vegas lifestyle and ditches him, and he eventually realizes it's of little social value to make your living betting on football.

My quibbles were (a) extremely repetitive story -- I like sports as much as, or more than, anyone, but one week after another of "the Vikings were 5 point favorites, but we were holding out for the line to move to 4, and when it finally did on Saturday I ran downstairs from my hotel room to put 50,000 on the Vikings, and when I saw my friend in the lobby [such-and-such witty banter and gambling jargon quoted in full]" gets old.

(b) since he isn't the brains behind the operation and can't (or won't) reveal their system, you don't really learn anything about the game or about statistical analysis. That is, for them to consistently win bets against the spread, they must have identified some trends that are not widely known, and I'd be curious what they are, but the book never reveals.

[Cooljoe815 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is an interesting story of a writer involved in high stake sports gambling and an interesting character. He navigates the thrills and chills of betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on one game working with this charismatic man named big daddy. One takeaway is all about the line and to get the best edge you need a super computer with super algorithm software. And a few genius working for you.
The only complaint is the title says how did the bettor beats the books and besides the computer and software with some math wizards-I sort of knew these syndicate had that so I didn’t learn anything new.
But a fascinating inside story of a legend sharp Big Daddy beating the books. Highly recommended.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and strangely compelling look into the world of big time sports betting. Konik gives an insiders view of his initiation and full blown participation in the Brain Trust syndicate. The second half if the book is less compelling and while the ending of this memoir is understandable it is somewhat anticlimactic compared to the beginnings.
Overall a very enjoyable read for anyone familiar with betting on football.

[Casan Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool story about Bill Walters and “The Computer Group”.

Pros: entertaining and keeps you interesting about gambling.

Note to the author: the gay voice and affect you gave Algo Andy was absurd. He seems completely made up. If not, he should slap the shit out of you. He’s your friend and a Mathematics professor at HARVARD, and you made him sound like a ditzy aloof Andy Dick. If the guy is a Math prof at Harvard, there’s no way he still associates with a goof like you, no offense.

[Joel Haas · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Bringing Down the House' for sports betting.

But with a lot more week-to-week specific bets (from 1997-2001).

Konik writes well, in that he relives his experience naturally through his writing. So that the emotions, the learning-the-ropes he does, really feels genuine as he grows acclimated to his new life.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough. Often follows format of lose lose lose and then win a bunch of games, wow I’m rich....lose lose lose, win a bunch, etc but offers some details into the often shady underworld of legal and illegal sports gambling.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look into the World of professional sports betting. I was very intregued by this book and read it rather quickly.

[Sean Bucheit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. One of the best I’ve ever read.

[Davey · Rating 3 out of 5]

NF - Legalized sports gambling, betting spread theory

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook.

Highly entertaining into the look of professional sport betting.

[John Marricco · Rating 2 out of 5]

To begin with, this book was about 100 pages too long. It is very repetitive and you really don't get anywhere in the end. I'm really not quite sure who this book is for.

[Landon Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book. After reading Billy Walters book it was neat to hear the story from the other side of the operation. I enjoyed it a lot!

[Chris Sanzone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I approached this book with no specific expectations and found myself captivated by the thrilling world of high-stakes sports betting. The author vividly details the challenges and complexities faced by those who dare to bet large sums of money. As someone who appreciates data analytics, I was intrigued by the strategic maneuvers these bettors employ to find and exploit loopholes. However, the book also served as a cautionary tale, highlighting the restrictive nature of these opportunities; once a strategy is too successful, it often gets shut down. This was a sobering reminder of the risks involved, effectively dissuading me from venturing into similar betting practices.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about a subject I know pretty much nothing about, high stakes sports betting. This gives a view into the large gambling syndicates that (try to) bet huge amounts based on their computer models.

[Joseph Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat look into the underside of big stakes sports gambling, from a person who initially acts as a chump placing bets for an organization before delving into an organization of his own. It was interesting, but not hugely compelling.

[Jacob Borden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but not quite what I expected.

While the book gives an interesting perspective of what it's like to be a part of a large gambling syndicate, the title had lead me to expect more of a description of how the process worked.

[Steven Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining insight into the world of sports gambling. The book got a little repetitive until it picked up again at the end as the author got involved with celebrity sports gamblers. Fun to try and guess who he's talking about.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book on a flight to vegas. An entertaining, quick read. But the ending isn't so good.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book from Konik.

[Marc Pong · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a story than a how to book. A decent book, but how exciting can a book about sports betting be?

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be quite entertaining and I looked forward to reading it every time I picked it up.

[Andrew Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!!!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The underlying sports gaming information is very interesting but the book can be repetitive and seem distracted.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

This is a great read for anybody who has the slightest interest in gambling on sports. It has the thrill on a great fiction book as well.

[Greg Walden]

A pretty unique story as far as gambling goes, I had a great time reading it when I did.