Viejo Dinosaur
EOG Master
As some of you know, I was on the ground floor of Offshore wagering and one of my good friends asked me today at lunch what changes have been made since Offshore took off in 1987.....Took me a couple minutes to collect my thoughts and tried to answer honestly....let’s start by saying all we had back then was a desk or cubicle with pen, paper, and a telephone....
There was no post up....everything was done through agents and they were responsible for their players....if the player stiffed, the agent would have to make good on the debt....it wasn’t that easy to get put on a sheet without reference from others....
Books were closed when the first game started....if you wanted west coast games you had to have them in by the first game tip...lots of deals with professional players at closing to try and balance the books....there were no halftimes or 5 inning betting back then....
There were no bonus whores....that changed with the many books opening up....I hear both good and bad arguments for giving bonus’s.....very debatable....
Definitely no in game betting.....you really have to hire sharp employees for that nowadays....
Back then nobody got booted for wagering.....you just used the sharps knowledge and used it to move your lines....back then you might not give full limits early....too many followers chasing steam especially with the opening lines....you had to know your players...
Don Best came along and made bettors more aware of what was going on....IMHO Don Best was most sharp during the early days....books for the most part had info before the players...nowadays I think it is the other way around....
Back then everything was graded by hand and figures were posted the next day.....In today’s world the computer geeks have all the answers five seconds after the game is over....
One final thought....there are way more crooked individuals working on both sides of the counter....in the early days books were trusted to give you a fair shake....greed and incompetence have changed that.....
Would love to hear others comments and thoughts about the industry...any questions feel free to ask....I loved what I did and the many friends I made....
There was no post up....everything was done through agents and they were responsible for their players....if the player stiffed, the agent would have to make good on the debt....it wasn’t that easy to get put on a sheet without reference from others....
Books were closed when the first game started....if you wanted west coast games you had to have them in by the first game tip...lots of deals with professional players at closing to try and balance the books....there were no halftimes or 5 inning betting back then....
There were no bonus whores....that changed with the many books opening up....I hear both good and bad arguments for giving bonus’s.....very debatable....
Definitely no in game betting.....you really have to hire sharp employees for that nowadays....
Back then nobody got booted for wagering.....you just used the sharps knowledge and used it to move your lines....back then you might not give full limits early....too many followers chasing steam especially with the opening lines....you had to know your players...
Don Best came along and made bettors more aware of what was going on....IMHO Don Best was most sharp during the early days....books for the most part had info before the players...nowadays I think it is the other way around....
Back then everything was graded by hand and figures were posted the next day.....In today’s world the computer geeks have all the answers five seconds after the game is over....
One final thought....there are way more crooked individuals working on both sides of the counter....in the early days books were trusted to give you a fair shake....greed and incompetence have changed that.....
Would love to hear others comments and thoughts about the industry...any questions feel free to ask....I loved what I did and the many friends I made....