Bookies and former bookies- give us some of your best bookie stories you have

[Journeyman]

I had a customer stiff me over 10K , this happened over a 10 day period around Christmas time the year the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

I use to do the marketing for a Tout out of Baltimore Will 'The Swami' Novak (very minor league marketing job) ...I met one of his customers over the phone and developed a sort of friendship with him....his name was Alan, caled himself "Big Al" which always struck me as funny referring to himself as Big Al, even when he called 'hey this is Big Al'

After a month or so of talking to him, he asked me if I knew anyone who could take his action...a week later Big Al is down over 10 large....

Here's where the story gets interesting-

I didn't know his exact address and only had a home phone number...keep in mind he was a small bettor like 100-300 a game, but on this particular week he must have had the worst run I had ever seen, losing games every which way lol, I remember one game he lost both side and total, on a game ending half court shot, his luck was that bad....as the week went on I kept asking him if he was okay with the figure and he assured m he was....all the while I knew this was getting bad but at that point i had nothing to lose...so Big Al kept calling in his parlays trying to get out of the hole but the hole kept growing, til he was down big time.

Longer than normal week because of the holiday-

The week ended later than expected because of the Christmas day games that year were on a Monday and he loaded up once again and lost( I think it was Houston and Dallas on Christmas day) which made his total even larger...I was actually hoping he'd win some back so he would be able to pay me.

Collection time-

to be continued :thumbsup:

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Sure would like to hear some of the players stories of stiffing bookies!

Getting stiffed by players is part of the biz and thats part of the reason why local books have built in advantage of -110, limited hours, limited betting menu, piss-poor parlay/teaser odds, and only dealing gameday lines.

Most of time when books get stiffed big by a player its because they didnt soon enough see the glaring behavior soon-to-be-stiffs usually have.

None of us here that have ever booked any action have gone without being stiffed at least one good time, but if you book bets, you always pay your winning players.

 

[Gravy]

I used to be a middle man for a bookie I knew for 15 years and I had about 10 guys under me and I used to call in bets for us to him and he allowed me to call in bets after the NFL kicked off at 1 PM and called him about 1:10 to phone in all the bets.I always rememeber when I called in bets he sometimes said this whcih doesnt sound like much but said "Thank You" and when he said that I always knew that we were all going to have a bad day gambling wise it was like clock work.The funny part was the guys I had would never agree much so I held bets and would collect the vig like one would bet team A for $100 and team B for 50 so I would call in a bet for $50 for example.I always hated Monday night football because 9 times out of 10 the boys would be down and try to get even for the week but would go deeper in the tank.I always had to collect the money on Friday and that was a chore in itself trying to get money for the bookie and he was always first before I paid guys who were up money and he gave me 20% for whatever I paid him that month which was nice but my dumb ass would bet and lose it back to him but was like betting for free.I was stiffed a few times and had to pay out of my pocket and I have stiffed bookies because I just didnt have the money plain and simple back in my early days when I was making $7 an hr and betting $100 on a game.I will tell anybody this dont become a bookie It seems like easy money and there is ALOT of suckers out there but the time you put in,trying to collect money and the threat of the law just isnt worth it to me in my opinion.I will tell you my best gambling days was when the 49ers waxed the Broncos 55-10 in the Super Bowl was my first big day and won about $500 on that and 49ers distroyed the Chargers won evry qtr bet and flat bet on the Niners.My worst lost was when the Giants bet the Bills and lost close to $500 on that game when I was unemployed.There are so many stories I could tell you It would just shake your head and had buddies call touts for games now that was some shit there calling Stu Finer but thats for another time.This is a good thread and glad to share my story.Gravy

 

[wilheim]

Old fashioned hand written bookmaing

Biggest ticket I ever wrote taking bets over the phone I believe was for 100k around 20 or 25 years ago working for an office (I once wrote bets for a whale who may have bet more but the memory fades). Natrually it was against a big credit figure and was only taken because the book needed action on that side at the number that was read to the player (translation the number was nothing special). I can't remember the game itself, either the Super Bowl or a big playoff game right before the SB. I can't even remember the player. Over the years I have written several whales who would play 20 to 50K a game. I have also written some big name celebs but hate to be a name dropper.

Tickets were hand written with the account number and initials of the player in the top right hand corner and numbered on one of the other corners. Each clerk would be accountable for his own ticket books which had 100 tickets to a book and numbered for example 0200 thru 0299, the next book would be 0300 thru 0399 etc. with an original and two copies. The original went to the chart desk, the clerk held copy #two to turn in at end of the day (those two tickets were graded separately by a pair of graders who would then compare their final figure for each player after all of his tickets were graded and added up) and the third copy was confiscated and hidden for emergancies such as in case a ticket was lost or if someone suspected chicanary (changing originals after game over). Even scratched out or cancelled tickets had to be accounted for.

A bet would go like this:

"Give me a the cowboys minus 6 for 1,000"

on the ticket that looked like this:

23) Cowboys -6 10

The 23 meant the game number -Cowboys obviously was the team the player wanted and the 10 was the number used to signify a dime bet at 11 to 10. You only wrote juice if it was a buy otherwise it was a forgone conclusion that the guy was laying 11 to 10. Other numbers that signified amounts were - 5 was a nickel -1 was for $100 or a dollar - 100 was for 10K. The bet for the 100k loked like this"

23) Cowboys -6 1,000

Buying a half point would look like this:

23) Cowboys -5.5 -120 10 (meaning he was laying 1200 to win 1000)

A 25K play looked like this:

23 Cowboys -6 250




Disclaimer, I may have dreamed this whole post. The events depicted in the post are purely fictional and not based on any real persons alive or dead nor is the post based on actual events that really happened..



wil..:drink:

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Has anyone thats booked ever had the infamous "for a dime" trick played on a green phone man?

Foreign dudes are notorious for calling in a game "for a dime".

If the play wins they want 4k and if it loses they only claim to owe 1k.

Good reason for locals to use a good phone recording system.

hno:

 

[Journeyman]

Has anyone thats booked ever had the infamous "for a dime" trick played on a green phone man?

Foreign dudes are notorious for calling in a game "for a dime".

If the play wins they want 4k and if it loses they only claim to owe 1k.

Good reason for locals to use a good phone recording system.

hno:

What about the read back though? I don't see how that could stand...are you joking lol...more I think about it, this is a joke right?:lolBIG:

 

[CAPNCRUNCH]

What about the read back though? I don't see how that could stand...are you joking lol...more I think about it, this is a joke right?:lolBIG:

That's no joke......seen and heard it many times......but it only works if your Chinese.uppy: But have seen it many times more as for hundred.

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

What about the read back though? I don't see how that could stand...are you joking lol...more I think about it, this is a joke right?

If you read it back "for a dime" it still sounds kinda like 4 dimes.

Not a joke and our asians players did that everytime we brought in a new phone man or substitute prior to finally buying a tape recorder.

First thing newbies/subs had to be taught was to read back 1k plays as "FOR ONE DIME" AND NOT "FOR A DIME".

Capn...I never knew a Chinese bettor that played hundreds, but the scam has the same logic.

LOL

 

[Journeyman]

CapN-

Wouldn't the readback count?
If the clerk says you have Cecil County State +3 for 1100 to win 1000, the guy confirms it, isn't that enough?

 

[Journeyman]

If you read it back "for a dime" it still sounds kinda like 4 dimes.

Not a joke and our asians players did that everytime we brought in a new phone man or substitute prior to finally buying a tape recorder.

First thing newbies/subs had to be taught was to read back 1k plays as "FOR ONE DIME" AND NOT "FOR A DIME".

WOW! :discuss:

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Jman, when a new phone man or a sub working and a weekly losing customer has a dispute like that, unless you have a tape proving otherwise you end up paying the 4k bet or you wind up losing a golden goose.

Trust me, guys that pull that type of shit are career losing bettors anyway.

 

[wilheim]

Simple solution was to read back like so:

Readback "Sir you have The Dallas Cowboys minus 6 risking $4,400 to win $4,000 - if that is correct please repeat your account number and password to confirm" Always keep the word dime out of the readback.

When ever I tranied a new clerk I always taught them to talk formally like that readback above and never take short cuts like "ok you got the Boys -6 for a nickel right"? It was always Sir have the Dallas Cowboys minus 6 risking $550 to win $500 if that is correct etc etc.






wil..

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

I was shocked when a couple years I dialed a few 1k bets to Cris and the clerk read them back as "for a dime".

I quickly asked if he would read them back again as laying 1100 to win 1000.

 

[Journeyman]

I had a customer stiff me over 10K , this happened over a 10 day period around Christmas time the year the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

I use to do the marketing for a Tout out of Baltimore Will 'The Swami' Novak (very minor league marketing job) ...I met one of his customers over the phone and developed a sort of friendship with him....his name was Alan, caled himself "Big Al" which always struck me as funny referring to himself as Big Al, even when he called 'hey this is Big Al'

After a month or so of talking to him, he asked me if I knew anyone who could take his action...a week later Big Al is down over 10 large....

Here's where the story gets interesting-

I didn't know his exact address and only had a home phone number...keep in mind he was a small bettor like 100-300 a game, but on this particular week he must have had the worst run I had ever seen, losing games every which way lol, I remember one game he lost both side and total, on a game ending half court shot, his luck was that bad....as the week went on I kept asking him if he was okay with the figure and he assured m he was....all the while I knew this was getting bad but at that point i had nothing to lose...so Big Al kept calling in his parlays trying to get out of the hole but the hole kept growing, til he was down big time.

Longer than normal week because of the holiday-

The week ended later than expected because of the Christmas day games that year were on a Monday and he loaded up once again and lost( I think it was Houston and Dallas on Christmas day) which made his total even larger...I was actually hoping he'd win some back so he would be able to pay me.

Collection time-


I knew Big Al was living with his GF but what I did not know was where...over the next few days after he was due to pay up, I could tell things were not going to go smoothly...I guess he figured I'd have a hard time finding his exact location , but what he didn't realize was I had his number and it was just a matter of time....He called mainly from a cell phone but originally called me from a home phone.

The address-

I called the other number I had for this POS, and a man answered, it turned out later that this was his GFs father...I explained I was trying to make a delivery and the address on the package wasn't correct (old Fed Ex trick) bingo...I was given the address.

The stakeout

I didn't live near him so finding him at home was the next pain in the ass...also had no idea what 'Big Al' looked like for all I knew he was 6-8 and 300lbs which would have sucked because I am only 205 lbs and am not a violent person, and certainly wasn't going to do anything crazy, at the same time I wanted his ass on a platter because he stopped answering his phone and was in full stiff mode by now.

to be continued :drink:


This story has my blood boiling again.

 

[CAPNCRUNCH]

CapN-

Wouldn't the readback count?
If the clerk says you have Cecil County State +3 for 1100 to win 1000, the guy confirms it, isn't that enough?

You can put all of the disclaimers in the world out there and one thing never changes......the readback means squat......the player always claims they couldn't hear the readback or some other story....bottom line.....the book makes a mistake(at least a good book)the book pays for what the player asked for.....no matter what they got. The sad part is that the book never hears from the players, 99% of the time when the clerk puts the wrong side or wrong amount in, when the play wins.....but hey, that is life. Wiseguys are usually the only ones who will turn in a reversal, because they fear losing a good out.

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

CC, thats the best post Ive read in this entire thread.



:thumbsup:

 

[CAPNCRUNCH]

If you read it back "for a dime" it still sounds kinda like 4 dimes.

Not a joke and our asians players did that everytime we brought in a new phone man or substitute prior to finally buying a tape recorder.

First thing newbies/subs had to be taught was to read back 1k plays as "FOR ONE DIME" AND NOT "FOR A DIME".

Capn...I never knew a Chinese bettor that played hundreds, but the scam has the same logic.

LOL

Had all races , creeds and I am sure colors.....they're all gamblers.....good and bad....big and small............most of the 'for hundred' bettors were not scammers, a few, but most just had limited, very limited English.

P.S. Thanks Woofy.

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Actually, along what wilheim posted, anyone new on the phones were taught to read back 1k bets as "to win one thousand" and 4k bets as "to win four thousand".

However, it was almost impossible to get parttimers to not use the word dime during readbacks.

Iceman, thanks for posting this thread as still today I still chuckle anytime I hear someone mention they bet a game "for a dime".

:nohead:

 

[Journeyman]

Best phone clerks I have ever dealt with are Bet Jamaica, not only are they very polite they are also 100% in efficiency...I prefer to call in bets when I can unless the line is moving fast.

 

[DonMelchor]

we were taught to never say "for"... always ask the win amount and that's the way I've done with the ones I've taught, same thing "for a hundred and fifty" could be easily confused with $450,