How did you start gambling?

There is usually a moment in time, unless you were "born into the lifestyle", having a mom/dad with a gambling problem.

Me? 1993...freshman year of high school. NCAA Tourny pool at my buddies dads work. $10 to enter. I had ZERO doubt UNC would win it all (havent been been as sure about much since). I had 2 regions perfect, all the final 4 and only missed 10 total games I think. Won $250 ......Thanks Chris Webber

LOVED to shoot dice at house parties. Nothin better than being in a big circle of people and going on a monster roll talking sh it and takin everyones $1s and $5s ......

 

The rest is history.

 

Whats your story?

I am going to say I was "born into it".. My pops has a huge gambling addiction. I remember driving to San Francisco when I was 13 for a national tennis tournament and spending about 3 hours waiting for him at casino in Wendover, NV and then another couple in Reno.  Doesn't help that he lives in Mesquite, NV and gambled away 6 figures into the one armed bandit and eventually had to short sale his condo..  My first gambling experience was playing cards with my junior high friends for dimes and quarters.. My first casino experience was when I was 18 years old and my ID said that my name was Chad Iverson and I won 300 dollars playing blackjack in Reno, NV while I was there for 4 days playing in the Big Sky Tennis Championships.. I thought it was about the easiest thing in the world.. I went back to campus and bought a new mountain bike, it was stolen 3 weeks later..

lol I stole your mountain bike!!!  no seriously, my buds and I used d to do just that on campus.

Through work a guy would bring in those football cards with the College and NFL games. He was the one who introduced me to Covers.

My dad taught me to play Blackjack when I was 7.  We spent a night in Vegas on a family vacation when I was 8.  Seeing Vegas at night (1979) was mystical.

Back in the sixties, I was going to college in Inglewood, CA,

Parents had friends that owned a race horse...we would go to the track when she ran....started with  show bets..........and the rest was history........i was probably 12 at the time and mom let me bet lol

in my blood. every relative i had had it in his blood.


lotto tickets etc...

i was 4 and i knew this crazy card game, we taught the card game to other kids, we'd play for comic books, etc...

i lost a lot of comic books =(

Poker in high school.

Uncle had a slot machine I used to play as a kid for pennies.

Horse racing game for intellivision taught me what odds were early on.

Started talking to a kid in high school about horse racing, he was always reading the sheets in class.

Family trips to Vegas when i was a kid.

My favorite uncle who I thought of more as my dad than my dad was a degenerate gambler. Had an extremely successful business in the 70's and 80's, he pissed everything away at the card rooms in Gardena which were garbage holes at the time.

First legit trip to Vegas with a girlfriend and I was hooked on slots and black jack. I only play poker and craps in Vegas now.

Degenerate Korean coworker who also ran a home casino in Burbank got me into Sports betting and Covers 13 years ago, just had a few beers with him this evening talking about the old days.

Made a $1 bet with my grade 8 teacher and won.

ive probably told this story before...  this was the true beginning although the real taste for it was later...

The day I turned 21 I was playing craps in lake Tahoe. Of course won, has been down hill ever since.

after winning that I was tried to bet on everything sports related possible with friends... 

but the one that really changed me was when I took the $285 and offered parlay cards in highschool...

Playing Poker-

When I was in 5th grade I saw this kid take bets on Cardinals-Brewers..1 dollar here and there for the entire series...I saw him collect a bunch of dollar bills after Cardinals beat Brewers and he was an obnoxius Alabama fan that wore an Alabama 1978-1979 National Championship crimson shirt..so when it was time for Bama to play Auburn I saw my oppotunity..I took bets that Auburn would beat Bama..he convinced everybody ( in Mobile,Al..80% Alabama fans at time)to bet against me.My mother thought it was funny and agreed to back me if I lost.It was 1982 Bear s last yr at Bama and Bo Jackson was a freshman..so I took some bets a dollar here and there.a few 5 dollar bets on obviously who would win the game..Auburn trailed 22-16 with about a minute left..4th and goal Auburn is on Bama s 1 yard line....Bama had defeated Auburn 9 yrs straight..Bo flys over the top..TOUCHDOWN AUBURN..Auburn wins 23-22..I collected from EVERY kid//like 50 total bucks..I told my grandfather about it and he gave me a long lecture on gambling so I didnt do it until I was in 11th grade when I saw my mom s boyfriend betting schedule with pointspreads..1st bet ever made was UCLA/ Troy Aikman 1988 Jr yr hosting Tom Osbourne s Nebraska Cornhuskers..Bruins were like a 7pt fav..I bet UCLA -7 & Won 41-28..I bet thu my mom s boyfriend he paid me the 75 bucks on following Tuesday..for whatever reason I started playing the next season with my friend s dad who was a bookie.My friend convinced his dad..I lost like 660 and paid his dad then collected 750,1500.3100 and was playing cards..at 17 I was having plush hotel parties and had serious money for 1st time in life and played every season since 1989,but took a nice bath 1990 season when I was a frosh@Auburn..roomates were free popping everyone in town.Bookies beating on my door all the time.It was so bad I went bck to bham..just wasnt mature enough for college nor interested .I then went back home in Bham..same friend that had the dad who was a bookie convinced me to get involved with one of his partners..Im 18 with own office set up taking bets..none of these shmucks wanted to pay.The guy staking me convinced me to talk to this kid s dad bc the kid didnt pay..I did it< got the 400 bucks and felt like the biggest pile of crap so I got out off that side although we won nearly every bet,but u still have to collect then when I found out a guy stole from others to try to pay me I figured I would just bet on sports,I still love the excitement of a Sat morn of lots of football and basketball games.Ive been pretty lucky bc when things go sour I usually take a nice hiatus..Now,Im just a grinder who is getting close to just grinding all the time.Its not something Im proud of,but its been good to me.Its still tough to balance things out and when I cant gambling is usually 1st to go..like everybody that has done it for yrs ..its a rollercoaster..there is no system,but to put the time in watching the games and studying teams...thats how it started for me.

Grammar school. Bet a low of $1 to and a high of $4 on NBA games.

Like many of the Cover's Brothers, I too have a pedigree for gambling.

I started gambling in 2009 when I heard you could sports gamble online.

Shooting craps in the bathroom when I was in 3rd grade.

my first girlfriends father at around age 17 got me betting on football andi have not stopped ever since... biggest MISTAKE of my life... and i would never get a kid into a bad habit that he got me into

Stock market put into full hardcore degenerate mode. Splits, straddles, longs,..... 70% margin on my account. I had two portfolios running for 4 years. Then Microsoft got hit with an anti Trust suit and was holding 14,000+ shares. Phuckin nightmare paying down those margin calls.

Cashed out and went heavy in sports. Lost even more.

I should be dead but I'm not.