THE GLORY DAYS OF BASEBALL SCALPING

[REALITY]

Oh to return to those glory days of baseball scalping before the advent of Don Best when you could not only scalp the game but earn.04 commission on both sides of a play even with a then innovative Vegas book who always posted two numbers on a game and took a big pop.
Ex.Yankees-65

Vegas Books Line -Yankees-63or-67

Oh for those glory days of yesteryear...

[reno]

Reality, get back to reality. Baseball scalping is better than ever if you know what you're doing. I used to do it the hard ways: 1) Running from sportsbook to sportsbook in Vegas. 2) Having my own operation with runners with radios in the sportsbooks.

With the Don Best Screen, some money and some smarts, scalping is easier and more lucrative than ever.

The "good old days" is a trick that the mind plays. The mind selectively blocks out past negative experiences and creates a false positive summary image of yesteryear.

Also, deals with sportsbooks still abound. Some enterprising guys I know make a living setting up special deals.

The main problem nowadays isn't making money in sportsbetting; it's making sure the friggin' government doesn't steal it from you.

[REALITY]

Reno,
You really can't be serious.
You of all people who claim every place you can't scalp is a clone joint.
What makes them a clone joint they look at the Don Best,move on air,end of story.
What I earned scalping baseball in the early 80's you most likely won't see in you entire scalping career.
The reason you couldn't earn what i did i simple:
A.You didn't have the access to the outs I had.
B.It was all credit...I didn't have to worry that I would miss a good price because I didn't have money posted up in a certain place.
C.I didn't need runners or radios,I was a one man show.

Here's how it worked:
30 outs on a spread sheet
Call out #1 two minutes later call out#2 and so on down to out #30.
No Don Best no clone lines,no expense for runners,no cash exposure in the street a la the Vegas busts and COMISSION FROM 30 OUTS COAST TO COAST.
Any questions?

[Jeff]

Here's where your both wrong.....

The glory days of scalping were just a few short years ago, right here offshore.

That's when alot of entrprenerial types, businessmen if you will, had the great idea of opening up offshore sportsbooks.

Oh sure, there were a few REAL bookmakers offshore then as well, but the guys who set up shop that didn't have a clue........uh, you mean you're suppossed to MOVE the line??

I guarantee you a few earned on par with what you earned in the early 80's.

Course it's the same principle as the 30 credit outs in the states......

But yeah, today, it's a different ballgame, and one that requires much more "work"..

[REALITY]

Jeff,
With all due respect you're wrong.
30 outs from coast to coast with square players in each geographical region inflating the price of the home team and no
Don Best to at least bring the line somewhat into what the line should be.
It was a license to steal...
And by the way they all took a good bet.

[Jeff]

Wrong......perhaps. However the main point I was getting at, is that it wasn't all that long ago that things were very very good for scalpers/middlers.........

[thedevil]

Have to agree with Reality. Before the advent of Don Best and actually for years after not all books had a screen, they only moved on their money. Back in the 70's and 80's most offices consisted of local business. New Yorkers did business with customers from NY, NJ and maybe Conn. A NY book was using -9.5 on the 49ers while in Calif. they were using -11.5. Middles were everywhere. Don Best helped create scalpers by the thousands. In the earlier days there were only handfuls. Scalpers made so much money they didn't care that they had to dial long distance to get down. Remember back then offices only used a local number, they were never forced to pay large 800 number bills, but the scalpers had outragous phone bills and didn't care. Soon agents with connections across the country started to show up along with betting syndicates and everyone had a DB screen and the world became paint. Sure there are many opps for middles and scalps today but the diffs were mind boggling back then.

Everyone has heard of the Koshers and Poker Players and probably Z and Jeff X the total maven but to my recolection the first guy to start sending big bucks across the country was a guy betting college baskets. He went by the name of Shoebox. He bet games at -3 and the game went to -10. In those days if you were quick you had large middles. Today a Shoebox bets a game and the world knows in seconds.

Guys like BW et al were middlers long before they were bettors. Most probably got their stake playing sides.

THE DEVIL

[REALITY]

Jeff,
It absolutely and unquestionably is getting harder to middle/scalp games.
If you ask me if it's the quality of bookmaking getting better or the buzz and black of the Don Best,it is like sticking a dagger in my heart for me to say it is Don Best.
That is the reality of the situation,no pun intended.
If you require proof an individual Reno
alluded to in one of his old posts M---- THE
J-- made a great living for years scalping and middling.
E-mail Reno and asked him what this individual is doing now and how much does he think Don Best contributed to his downfall.

[Jeff]

While I agree 100% it's much more difficult today, why do you suppose people like the gentleman you mention have thrown in the towel? It's not as if there aren't opportunities anymore, and some guys do quite well......is there no respect for a buck anymore? Are they simply lazy??

[REALITY]

Originally posted by Jeff:
While I agree 100% it's much more difficult today, why do you suppose people like the gentleman you mention have thrown in the towel? It's not as if there aren't opportunities anymore, and some guys do quite well......is there no respect for a buck anymore? Are they simply lazy??

Jeff,
This man was a maniacal workaholic.
His downfall was not a poor work ethic.
The best years of this indivduals career was before Don Best and when Don Best was in it's
infancy.
There is a direct correlation here.
Knowledge is power if you know how to use it.
As more and more people subscribed to Don Best the line became tighter and tighter and the gaps this individual needed to be successful became smaller and smaller.

[reno]

Reality, I had access to plenty of private in the 80s (although nothing close to some guys, perhaps like you) and I got great middles and scalps--but I got stiffed bigtime from plenty of BMs. I got stiffed from runners. I was kicked out and harassed by sportsbooks. In my 2.5 years of playing offshore, post-up, I've been stiffed only once--by now defunct Worldwide for a few dimes only. It takes more smarts now than just easy access to soft numbers.

[Jeff]

Granted, the numbers are tighter, the gaps are smaller, but yet, great success is still possible. Unless he's doing something else and making good money, I'm not sure I understand why he would quit.

I think your quote " knowledge is power, if you know how to use it" comes into play here.

I think alot of the old timers can't keep pace with the high tech world we live in now. They still have the knowledge, they just don't know how to use it.

I would venture to guess there are plenty of sportsbetting success stories of the 70's and early 80's that don't know where the on button is on a computer..........

[REALITY]

Jeff,
Let Reno e-mail you about this individual,this is a topic he might have first hand information about,I only knew him over the phone.
Keep in mind if there was a hall of fame for this he most likely would be the first inductee.

[reno]

Reality, M the J still gets great middles. But he now puts more energy into horses. I'm friends with a guy who works with him. What hurt middling college baskets, M the J's bread and butter in the 80s, were the 80s rule changes. M the J has plenty of scars from being stiffed big time multiple times. Why don't you mention that reality of the good ol' 80s.

[Jeff]

Yeah, I guess it would help if I had a little more background on this particular individual.....

However, across the board, if I were to sit down with every guy who has let technology pass him by and render him useless, after a half an hour, they would have a whole new outlook and enthusiasm for what's possible in this day and age.

Hey, maybe I can start a consulting business for oldtime scalpers? Whip em back into shape!