The Gambler Returns, Jovial John

After going dark for several years, and by his own account coming close to death, John Tuohy, aka The Gambler is back. Some of you may remember John from years back. His blog was one of the original betting themed blogs, (though it was comprised more about food and frequent trips to the pub than anything too insightful) but if I remember rightly, he went on tilt one Saturday afternoon on Betfair, and lost enough money to cause him to self-exclude, and he then spent the next few months whining about why he couldn't re-open his account, rather than recognise that he might have a problem.

So I'm not sure if I should be pleased that he is back blogging and betting or not. I'm pleased he is alive of course, if not in the best of shape, but it's disturbing to see him repeating his former pattern of betting which seems to be to bet on whatever is on TV at the moment, with no consideration about finding value. Horse racing, cricket, pre-season football friendlies...  time will tell, but I fear we're witnessing a train wreck.

John featured in a Cigar Aficianado article back in 2004 which, unsurprisingly given that it is exactly 10 years old, looks very dated now, but might interest some of you. It includes this:

Only 20 percent of Betfair's customers are drawn to this rarefied form of wagering, [trading] and it has attracted a coterie of mathematically inclined players who've left their jobs in the city for a run at professional gambling. Such is the case with John Tuohy, a former IT consultant who's gone from being a regular day-to-day punter, with a 9-to-5 job, to gambling full-time on Betfair. He's a jovial guy, sitting on a couch in the study of his luxe waterfront high-rise apartment, watching races on TV and casually punching wagers into his computer.

I wrote a post triggered by this article more than five years ago, which is just as relevant today as it was then, and will interest all of you! The comments are particularly interesting. The article featured a “supersharp advantage player”, or a “nerdy-looking guy with a PhD in mathematics” by the name of Glenn Alcoe, (not to be confused with anywhere in Scotland) and a little Cassini research uncovered an interesting tidbit.

I suspect you're wrong... not to ruin the story, but there really IS a Glenn Alcoe who is involved with horse racing. He took part in the 2005 All Party Parliamentary Betting and Gaming Group inquiry into inside information and laying horses to lose. It’s an unusual name, so if I were a betting man, I would put money on him being the same guy. Incidentally, if you actually read that report, no one without inside information, and with an ounce of common sense, would ever bet on horses again.

Glenn still is active in the horse racing world (@rhillsisgod for those of you on Twitter)
There are still places in the FTL available - we have a quorum, but if we can fill 32 places it'll make things much more interesting. Still waiting to hear from Peter Nordsted or Skeeve regarding the sponsorship opportunity, but Football Investor Stewboss has offered to match Football Analyst Graeme's offer of a £25 bounty to anyone finishing ahead of him in the table (up to £500).  

£52.50 for the chance to pit your wits against the big boys and win their money.

Finally, a reminder that the early bird price of £129 for the Cassini Service next season expires at the end of July, and we are nearly at the end of July.

PayPal to calciocassini @ aol.com for either the FTL, Cassini Service or both, and if you haven't read my article on Betting Expert regarding updating ratings, check it out here.