When/How Did Your Gambling Career Begin?

playersonly69 · 07-21-10, 03:10 PM

24 years ago when I was 17.

I was a bookie in during my college days back before the internet

tanner40 · 07-21-10, 03:11 PM

My uncle has been out a professional handicapper in Vegas for almost 30 years so I guess you could say it runs in the family.

ngates815 · 07-21-10, 03:19 PM

Brother got me into it.

Been playing cards for money since, I had my first job at 16.

daneault23 · 07-21-10, 03:19 PM

Originally posted by playersonly69

24 years ago when I was 17. I was a bookie in during my college days back before the internet

Damn, starting young. I thought I was young when I started at 20.

Originally posted by tanner40

My uncle has been out a professional handicapper in Vegas for almost 30 years so I guess you could say it runs in the family.

Must be nice to have that kinda knowledge at your side. Just follow his plays to the bank huh

Dad · 07-21-10, 03:20 PM

I started when I was around 9, playing blackjack with my Dad for 1 penny per hand.

JuicedUp · 07-21-10, 03:20 PM

Started betting college football with friends piss drunk every saturday while attending FSU. Good times.

THE PROFIT · 07-21-10, 03:24 PM

Dog fighting with a little black kid named Michael. I wonder what ever happened to him?

daneault23 · 07-21-10, 03:24 PM

Originally posted by Dad

I started when I was around 9, playing blackjack with my Dad for 1 penny per hand.

Damn, gambling before you even hit puberty

Originally posted by JuicedUp

Started betting college football with friends piss drunk every saturday while attending FSU. Good times.

Haha nothing like winnin money while bein shitfaced. No better feeling.

THE PROFIT · 07-21-10, 03:39 PM

I had bet but on a small time level since I was 18. My dad always played small on NFL & I just found it interesting. When I was about 22 an on the wagon alcoholic Vietnam Vet with PTSD walked into where I worked & wanted a job. My boss told me this weirdo had came in & wanted me to talk to him the next day to see if there's anything I thought we could have him do because she felt sorry for him.

I told her I would interview him. SO he comes in my office about 2:00pm, we talk, he is a strange character no doubt, but I like him. He grew up in Atlanta as a runner & his uncle was the biggest bookmaker in Atlanta. Long story short, within 3 months him & I were running a $10,000 a month book out of the office.

SaviorTebow · 07-21-10, 03:44 PM

In middle school & early high school me and my buddies would play Madden and bet $5 to $10 a game. When you are that age, $5-10 is a decent chunk of change. I remember being 13 years old and losing a $25 bet on the Super Bowl and not having the money to pay up. Learned early to not gamble what you do not have and/or can afford to lose. 21 years old now and have been sports wagering "officially" for the past 2 1/2 years. First official bet placed was a 2 team hockey parlay in March 2008 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Won it too! LOL. Never got into the online books yet, all my wagers to date have taken place in Niagara Falls, Ontario under their crappy Pro Line system or at a sportsbook in Vegas.

ronjon619 · 07-21-10, 03:44 PM

Originally posted by THE PROFIT

Dog fighting with a little black kid named Michael. I wonder what ever happened to him?

he's a convicted felon and plays for Da Eagles.

daneault23 · 07-21-10, 03:46 PM

Originally posted by ronjon619

he's a convicted felon and plays for Da Eagles.

I think he was being sarcastic

playersonly69 · 07-21-10, 03:52 PM

Originally posted by THE PROFIT

Dog fighting with a little black kid named Michael. I wonder what ever happened to him?

YEAH! I forgot to include the Dog Fighting and Chicken Fighting days

By the way, nothing better than a good chicken fight

Dad · 07-21-10, 03:52 PM

Originally posted by ronjon619

he's a convicted felon and plays for Da Eagles.

Say what?????????????????????

THE PROFIT · 07-21-10, 03:54 PM

SaviorTebow, I believe one of these would be a better avatar for you

Attached Files

THE PROFIT · 07-21-10, 03:55 PM

sarcasm, what's that?

ronjon619 · 07-21-10, 03:59 PM

Originally posted by daneault23

I think he was being sarcastic

so was i

maersksealand · 07-21-10, 04:04 PM

oh no, not another thread about this subject !

Killer_Demo · 07-21-10, 04:11 PM

i used to play dice in jr high and high school...had to get my beer money someway

warriorfan707 · 07-21-10, 04:21 PM

Shooting hoops for money in high school, I was a hustler

gryfyn1 · 07-21-10, 04:47 PM

Well there are different levels of gambling i guess:

When I as about 10 was when i first started in any form; We would play poker or Acey-Duecey with our paper route money, betting 10-20 cents at a time.

Around that time i was introduce to Football parlay tickets that my father got from a bookie - being friends with the bookie he was cool with my dad playing like two tickets fro like $5 each, eventually I was playing a 4 team paraly for 1 or 2 dollars each also. ( This led to my first gambling memory; I had SMU +63 points vs Houston; i was 13 and didn't really understand the death penalty that SMU got and thought that no way a team loses by more than 60)

I also followed Jai-alai, which my dad went to evey weekend, when I turned 18 I went there and placed bets also, untill it closed about a year later.

My first casino trip came when i was 19, was at Foxwoods for a foods show, and was able to get in without being carded with a group, and plost about 40$ playing a few hands of blackjack

at 21 i became a regular at Mogehn Sun - playing craps and black jack like a kid, and only rarely making a few football bets in the sports book --

Karayilan9 · 07-21-10, 05:12 PM

Betting lunch money on snail races at school, its a great sport, kids going crazy over the snail they backed, watchers checking for teachers, stealing chalk to draw the race lanes.

Kids are stiffs though, don't bet with them

daneault23 · 07-21-10, 08:01 PM

Some pretty funny stories we got here

goofyre · 07-21-10, 09:55 PM

Early teens with prop bets on the super bowl. Played poker 3 days a week in high school and started sports betting around my senior year in high school. I visit the casino here and there as well.

Otters27 · 07-21-10, 10:03 PM

6th grade craps in my friends garage. I didn't know what it was so I asked my mom for 5 dollars to play craps. She sad OK but I don't want you getting into gambling. I have gambled just about everyday since

Brock Landers · 07-21-10, 10:15 PM

played horses at Balmoral park late in HS...

got into Sports betting in March 1995, UCLA won the Title, i won money on it, i was hooked.

Played with ESB after i saw their ad on the back of the Daily Racing Form at the OTB in Champaign while i was a Junior in College.

Brock Landers · 07-21-10, 10:15 PM

Originally posted by Otters27

6th grade craps in my friends garage. I didn't know what it was so I asked my mom for 5 dollars to play craps. She sad OK but I don't want you getting into gambling. I have gambled just about everyday since

Tree Rollins · 07-21-10, 10:19 PM

In college, me and my roommates bet on everything. We would literally bet on who was walking through the door next. We'd bet on how many flicks it would take to get this dying bic lighter to light. Lots of times, we'd get drunk and start betting on who could beat who at what; usually we'd bet who could beat who in one-on-one, or who could throw the football further, or who could get closer to hitting whatever with the football. I played a lot of drunken games of one-on-one for 20 bucks a pop in college. We'd get drunk and bet on who would win a 3-point shooting contest between whoever, and we'd settle it the next week. This was when i really started to like to bet.

jjgold · 07-21-10, 10:40 PM

I guess about 13 or so with football tickets (parlay cards) which was a big thing around NJ/NY/Penn

I was always at track from like 4th grade with my father so I got the bug at a young age

Never would trade those days, great memories

tkim8404 · 07-21-10, 11:02 PM

My story involves being in college as well and the only thing to bet on in NY was OTB or Sports Gambling online.

GELATINOUS CUBE · 07-21-10, 11:03 PM

7th-grade
booking-nba-for-philipino-kids

Brock Landers · 07-21-10, 11:13 PM

my roomie in college pulled a couple of all nighters playing BlackJack, Craps...guy he played with was on tilt, i remember waking up, they were still playing, guy had 2 day old BO...left when he was down like 3 dimes, looked like he was about to kill someone LOL

College is ripe with budding gamblers, its sick actually.

Check this out
Student wins $120,000 by playing online poker, From U of I paper(daily Illini)

Faraz Jaka's door looks more like a slice of Vegas than a University dorm room.

Playing cards and plastic poker chips cover the door, with Jaka's favorite cards in marquis billing, spelling out his last name: Jack, Ace, King, Ace.

The array of cards continues on the inside, where for as many as 13 hours on a good night, Jaka sits with his laptop computer at a desk in the center of his room, tending to an online poker passion that he says has netted him $120,000 so far this year.

"I had never played in my life until last year," the sophomore in LAS said, smiling.

Jaka's success has made him something of a celebrity in Weston Hall, but not because he's alone in his interest in online poker. Online gaming - poker in particular - has exploded in popularity at the University and around the nation as students - most of them men - place bets from $10 and up in pursuit of the big win.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found an 84 percent increase in weekly card playing by young men aged 14 to 22 between 2003 and 2004. About 11 percent of weekly players said they placed bets at online poker sites, the survey stated.

The popular online site PartyPoker.com has about 70,000 active players, with about one in four of them between the ages of 18 and 25, according to Fergus Wheeler, chief of corporate communications for PartyPoker's parent company, PartyGaming.

Cyndi Moriarity, the president of the Illinois Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling, said she used to get one call a year to treat teen and college gamblers. Lately she said she's been getting three a month.

At the same time, the number of regular Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Illinois has grown from 15 sites to 60, including a regular Sunday meeting at 7 p.m. at the Pavilion, 809 W. Church St., in Champaign.

Players who know when to stop are in no real danger, provided they can pay their losses, Moriarity said. But she fears that young players are less likely to stop when they're down. The high and the rush of gambling can be really lethal for kids," she said.

Dan Romer, a senior research fellow with the Annenberg School's Adolescent Risk Communication Institute, said addiction to gambling is like addiction to alcohol: not everyone who does it is going to get hooked.

But as the number of players increases, so does the number of potential addicts. The game is especially alluring in college dorms, Romer said, because there are large numbers of people, some staying up all hours, looking for something to do besides homework.

"All their buddies are there ready to play with them," Romer said.

Students across campus hoping to emulate success like Jaka's play almost religiously. Whether in the dorms, apartments, houses or frats and sororities, www.partypoker.com, www.royalvegas.com and other sites are likely forms of entertainment in each residence, as the gambling obsession grows. Frequent visitors to these sites admit to spending five hours or more playing daily.

Serving as more than just a hobby for many young people, these gambling sites provide an accessible and convenient opportunity for income. Struggling college students have a new option when scrounging around for money-online gambling.

Brent Robbs, freshman in business, a steady PartyPoker patron and also a resident in Weston Hall, recently hit a High Hand Jackpot and won a hefty $7,000 in one game.

"It was like eight in the morning, but I jumped up and started yelling and waking everyone up when I won," he said about his excitement.

As people hear of instances like this one, they are enticed by the thrill of the "big win." Those who do not already play, start; and those who already do, play more frequently in the hope that they too will prove as fortunate.

"Before that day, though, I had won about $3,000 on my own," Robbs said. "I usually play at least a few hours every day for fun."

PartyPoker afforded one student, sophomore in Aces Ryan Gittings, enough cash to spontaneously go on vacation for spring break with his friends this year. "I hadn't planned on going with them, but at the last minute I won enough on 'PP' to go," he said about his unexpected and well-timed earnings. Gittings said he plays regularly mainly just to win a little extra spending cash for the weekends.

Some students have used their winnings to help pay for their tuition, and a few others have said they don't plan to look for summer work because they have already decided that they can make significantly more money just playing poker online all day.

All gamblers need to get in on the excitement is to be at least 18 and to present a credit card or personal bank statement information. Though the legal gambling age is 21 in the United States, one only has to be 18 to participate in Internet gaming. All of these gambling companies' headquarters are located in other countries, such as Sweden or Antigua, because United States regulations will not permit the sites to have their businesses set up on U.S. soil.

Therefore, thanks to the the Internet, people under 21 can legally gamble since they are doing so "overseas," right from the comfort of their own homes. There have been efforts to pass legislation to restrict online gaming sites based overseas, but the legal debate remains unresolved.

While the University of Illinois does not permit gambling on University property, as this activity would violate both state and federal laws, the virtual nature of online gambling evades this issue, according to Brooks Moore, assistant dean of students.

Ilene Harned, a McKinley Health Center health educator, said that she has not seen online gambling as a huge issue of concern here on campus yet, but that there are trained staff members at McKinley to provide counseling and guidance to those students in need. Few students come into Harned's office seeking aid for gambling issues, but she said that when anyone does, there are always counselors available. Harned said she primarily specializes in alcohol and drug counseling, but is also trained for gambling, as it can also become an addiction. Poker enthusiast Jaka brings the same exacting attention he pays to business into his poker hobby, recording his winnings in an Excel spreadsheet that shows him up as much as $170,000 at one point this semester.

Jaka said he started out playing $10 games with friends. Soon after he was down $70 and wondering if the game was too risky. He decided to play one more $20 game. If he lost that one, he said, he was done.

Jaka hit a $200 winning streak instead. He started learning more of the probability and math skills involved in the game, he says, thanks to a friend, University sophomore Ben Lefew. Today they're good friends, in large part because of their shared love for the game.

"Whenever I learn a game I have ambition to get good at it," Jaka said.

Jaka said he plans to invest some of the money, is in the process of buying a condo on campus to rent out to students and is even seeking out charities to help.

One week this year, Jaka said he and his roommate, freshman in engineering Mark Riley, got into an unusual cycle staying up all night - Jaka playing RoyalVegas and Mark playing another computer game called Command and Conquer - going to classes at 9 in the morning, coming home around 1 in the afternoon, sleeping until about 8 in the evening and then waking back up to repeat their cycle.

One night during their nocturnal schedule, his roommate exclaimed, "Yes, I just conquered China!" while Jaka then responded, "Yes, I just won $20,000 in that hand!"

Jaka said he won about $105,000 that week.

He plans to play professionally one day.

"I'm really big on living life to the fullest. I enjoy every minute of it," he said. When asked how poker has changed his life, Jaka said, "It's only helped me be what I want to be and follow my passion, and now I have a new passion, right? Poker."

venice2222 · 07-21-10, 11:16 PM

junior year in college