Phil Ivey gets peeved at me.

[jonathankaplan]

I’m walking through the Bellagio this past Friday and I get to one of the main intersections. It’s like an old-time Hollywood and Vine for craps and BJ players, a bunch of bigger games are situated there, near the main cage and the safe boxes. It is a good place to be seen playing if that is what you are into

Comments

[pb9617]

You should know by now that interventions from the rail are rarely met with anything other than anger.

[jonathankaplan]

I've played craps a few times, most of those before I learned poker. I was a don't side player, which kind of summed up my view at the time.

The few times I have played craps in the last 20 years, it has only been with friends, as (pretty much, just) a source of entertainment. I don't play the don't anymore, now I want to be with a happy crowd. The last two times I played dice was with tables of friends, both times the shooter held the dice about an hour, both times whole tables made alot of money.
I think the numbers I rung up won't ever be topped by me.
I might never play the game again.

[jonathankaplan]

smile....yep.
He probably was having a rough day, by most standards. At the pace he was playing, it wouldn't have been difficult to drop a quarter million in about an hour. But who knows what is "rough" to him?

I think I don't want to reassure him about me. If I offended him, well, it wasn't in a hurtful way. I would say I was being friendly, but I guess I did actually lie to him, I didn't answer straight. I DO think he shouldn't be playing craps like that. What is the point?
I know he is smarter than that. He can (and does) play in the biggest poker games. That isn't enough action? He could play backgammon or gin or even trade and have action and still be not taking that obvious negative EV from craps.
Action with such negative EV doesn't seem like much fun to me, and not smart, but then, maybe there is more to this story than meets my eye.

[anonymous]

I would have been offended too. In front of everyone you make a statement that is very obvious that you don't think he should be playing craps and you are trying to get him off the table.

Who the heck are you to pass judgement on what he does with his money -- let alone act on it. I don't that you are such good friends with Phil Ivey that it is your responsiblity to regulate what he does or doesn't do with his money.

[jonathankaplan]

You make good points. It's his money to use as he wishes. It isn't my responsibility in any way. I am who I am

[fun160]

Here's another Ivey and craps tale: http://tinyurl.com/dgd99

The other night, we were playing craps at a $10-minimum table when Phil Ivey approaches. Before he even places a bet, the table minimum is jacked to $500. Fortunately, we were grandfathered so were able to share the table with Ivey. While my friend and I had about a thousand dollars on a particular roll, Ivey was nonchalantly tossing flags ($5000 chips) and worthless $1000 chips onto the table. He was in a jovial mood, although he is famously known as an unemotional individual. At one point, Ivey had about $150 thousand dollars on a roll, which eventually lost, but he simply uttered, 'Oops' with nary a negative reaction. When my friend and I thought about what had just occurred, we found it extremely sick that a 28-year-old kid whose wealth is completely self-made had what amounts to a house for the average American family on a shot of dice. Again, it was incredibly sick. I repeat, Ivey is a poker player, not an old

[jonathankaplan]

Of the many traders I have seen who gambled in casinos, most of them understood the edge in non-mathematical terms, like, buy on the bid, sell on the offer. Not many of the math-based traders I knew gambled in casinos more than rarely.
I wouldn't think of backing Ivey the trader, but I would be interested to watch his learning curve and see what happens.

He wins money in poker rooms then dumps on the craps table? Maybe this is some elaborate scheme to launder money or something.
This just seems that stupid.

[roswell_42]

Maybe your timing was just bad. It seems like you started talking to him right after he lost. People are always testy right then.