Hot Seat... Week 1 .... VANZACK

Quote Originally Posted by pucku27:

AS MUCH AS YOU BET ARE YOU DEALING WITH RUNNERS AND DO YOU GET 10% BACK ON LOSING WEEKS.

Hilarious question coming from you Puck.

Quote Originally Posted by pucku27:

  WHY   IF HES DEALING WITH THAT KIND OF MONEY HAVING TO WIRE MONEY BACK AND FOURTH IS CRAZY. I WOULD GUESS ATLEAST HALF THE ONLINE BOOKS HAVE RUNNERS WORKING FOR THEM ALL OVER THE U.S.

My guess is, based on my conversations with V, money stays where it is except for the very occasional withdrawal. A bit easier in the electronic age especially with the ability to transfer book to book.

When you go on the hotseat, I will have some questions about why runners aren't obsolete in this age.

1. whats the most you won on a middle?

2. why do you think people are dumb enough to bet a if bet if they can make more on a 2 teamer?

3. why do you think people think locals will pay you if you get em for 50 k (im talking % not all street guys, gotta guy who has had (4)  800 numbers since the 80s and pays like a rocket) ?

lets just skip right to my questions, thanks

bonus question * how much did you win or did you win on the 49ers vs chargers superbowl?

I'm under siege right now by the IRS because I gamble.  I was notified in the fall of 2010 about my tax audit for the years ending '08 & '09. Damn near every law is stacked against the player. In the courts eyes the petitioner(gambler) bears the burden of proving error in the respondents(IRS) determination. The IRS's acceptable methods to deduct gambling losses is so fucked up, it's scarry. These motherfuckers are a nightmare.

Sorry to hear about your tax troubles.  Long ago, I hired a high priced attorney and tax specialist that are experts in the area of gambling - the same people that folks like all of the poker players you see on TV use.  I dont talk publicly about my personal tax issues / non-issues, just advise everyone who gambles to learn the tax code and be wise about your decisions.

Today, what happened w/Bookmaker is a result of the efforts by  the US Government...player beware.

Not sure what you mean by this.

Have you ever gone through a Tax Audit?

One of the very few things I wont talk about here.

Vegetarian man.

Havent had a bite of animal flesh for at least 6 years.

Take a trip to a slaughterhouse.  You wont eat meat ever again.

I wore ankle socks before it was cool to wear ankle socks.

Remember when everyone was rocking the high striped tube socks?  I was in ankle socks getting beaten up for being fem.

Van ,

Do you own any Exotic Cars like a Ferarri , Lamborghini?

Originally Posted by Spitfire15 2 VERY important questions here.


The first one isn't a question.  Wait yes it is...


Did you know that a pack of sugar is 2 to 4 grams of sugar?  Now put that in perspective... some cans of soda/pop have 60 grams of sugar... thats about 20 packs of sugar.  How fucking absurd is that?  And how is it that nobody knows how many grams of sugar are in a little paper pack of sugar?  Blows my mind.  Everyone looks at the # of grams of sugar that are in things, but nobody knows how much a gram of sugar actually is.

If you have been reading this thread up til now, Im sure you realize that I dont eat much sugar, other than naturally occuring sugar that is in fruits and veg.  So I dont worry about it all.  My opinion is that if you drink sugar, you are nuts.


2nd question... this is extremely important, almost life and death...


How the fuck do birds react to each others movements in mid-air?  Like when they chase each other, you will see birds move almost simultaneously with each other like fucking magic!  How do they do that????  Do you believe that some things perceive time at different speeds?  That would be a pretty cool explanation.

I dont think they perceive time differently, I just think they are better equipped to deal with subtle changes and react quicker than we can.

Which brings me to a third question that I wasn't prepared to ask until now....


How is it that WE can perceive time at such different speeds?  Some work days fly by, others drag on for half an eternity -- and if time flew by for you and you ask the person next to you if they thought it went fast guess what -- they almost always feel the same way!  What is that?!?

Perception is usually wrong.  People think perception is usually right.  This cause all sorts of inconsistencies in our society and how we view the world.  Smart people rely less on their own individual perception, and more on replicable evidence.

[Originally Posted by be easy

Be easy is one of my favorite posters.  Not because I agree with a lot of what he posts (because honestly I disagree with a lot of it), but he is a smart, thoughtful person who can clearly state an opinion.  He is on my short list of people here that I read everything he posts.  He also turned me on to a book called "Fooled By Randomness" - which for the most part - is a must read for gamblers.   It is one of those books that said everything I think in a concise eloquent way -  and gave up examples to back up what I thnk about life.

The basic premise of the book is that expertise is often just randomness disguised as expertise - and the masses are fooled (perception again) in to believing expertise because they are not experts.  This happens all the time.  Take 100 similar skill level poker players, put them in 5 tournaments against each other.  At the end of the 5 tournaments, there is going to be a top 3 that will be crowned experts, but the truth is that by definition there had to be 3 that were the best - so it is a self fulfilling prophecy of expertise - and in fact they are not experts - just variance.

It is a critical concept to try and understand.  He uses examples of the stock market where guys who were genius for 5 years were bankrupt for the next 5, only because of randomness.  I highly recommend this book, and I highly recommend reading this cantankerous bastard BeEasy's posts.

i dunno, i could argue that the penalty box was some fun times before wall got all cranky and banned some people

vanzack

- have you delved further into betting "action points" or "lightning" at all?

I havent been able to, mostly because of limits and vig.  I cant imagine that similar to a parlay, you get worse odds as the payout gets bigger, and that just hurts me overall.

When  was the last time  you were in Vegas and what sports books did you visit?

I havent been to vegas for years.  When I was there I made the rounds, but as I stated earlier in this thread, I have heard a lot about the M sporstbook and would like to go there.  Maybe in a couple of weeks for March Madness, might be a fun time to be there.

What do you think of Teddy?

Teddy who?

do you miss the PBox Nation?

Absolutely.

At the risk of sounding like a grandfather telling his grandchildren aobut the good old days - those were the good old days.

Good guys, good fun, great covers days.

Originally Posted by Rotchburns Hey Van,

 First off, thanks for taking your time to answer all of these

Would you say you cried more when the dolphins were killed or when you first told your dad you were a vegetarian?

Be honest.

As a matter of fact, my dad was a lifelong meat eater, and at the age of 79 became a veg after I did it years earlier.  He is now 82, and never felt better.  So no crying there.

I challenge you to watch the dolphin slaughter in the movie the Cove and not cry.  I would say there is something wrong with you if you dont find that disturbing.

Im always honest.

Van,

1) ~ Have you ever played any sports?

I played all of the high school sports, but varsity hoops and baseball.  Never took it further.  These days, I play tennis and I row from time to time.

2) ~ How many different forums have you been a member of (best guess), and how many do you visit at least a couple of times a month?

I keep my eyes on all of the gambling forums.  But I primarily post here.  But I know what the different forums are for, and what they specialize in - so I know for example the other night when MB closed for Americans that there would be a ton more action on SBR than here, but when a new Fleshlight comes out there will be much more action here at covers.

3) ~ As a fellow vegetarian I'm curious as to how you accommodate your dietary needs on Thanksgiving if you are celebrating with family/friends away from home. After years of refining my gameplan I can endure if not actually enjoy Thanksgiving now.

Alright, you are digging deep in to my secret stash of recipes, but here you go:

Thanksgiving menu:

1.  Cornbread stuffing with sage and Soyrizo.  This stuff can be eaten by the gallonful - basically similar to sausage stuffing but with soyrizo.

2.  Mashed potato with veg gravy

3.  Sweet potatoes without marshmallows (believe it or not, marshmallows are not vegetarian - anything that contains gelatin - ground up cow hooves, joints, and skin (yummy) - is not veg.  Be careful, gelatin creeps up all over the place.

4.  A nice big salad.

Did you know that Lays potato chips are not vegetarian?  They contain porcine, a pork flavored spice.  How about McD's french fries?  Not veg either, they contain beef.

Originally Posted by 1pumpchump

Van....Is your favorite nickname really Mansack?

You cant beat mansack.  I have heard them all, vanballsack, vansack, vanmeatsack - but mansack is clearly the best, and when I read a thread with mansack addressed to me, i laugh like a schoolgirl.

Whats your opinion of Mrbator?

A very interesting character indeed.  A feel a certain kinship with him.  I believe him.  I think he wagers what he says, and I think he is an honest guy.  I also think he is good at what he does.  I was particularly moved by his post about how his friends have sucked him dry of LOTS of money, because I think this can happen easily and is also believable.  I disagree with him on his stance that betting -110 is doable longterm - at least I want to disagree with him - because I couldnt make that work for myself.  Is that me placing judgement on something I dont understand (discussed earlier in the thread)?  Probably.

You have been honest so far, who's threads do you read daily? thats a question that needs to be answered!

Will think about this one and answer later.

Originally Posted by Rocafella

 top 5 favorite movies of all time?

Im not good at these off the top of my head questions, just like the poster questions I have avoided so far....  But let me give it a shot:

Pulp Fiction, Magnolia, Fargo, Pi, and True Romance.  If those arent the 5, they are in my top 15 or so with others I cant come up with off the top of my head....

would you put it in your old ladies butt?

Never really was in to this.  Not knocking it, just not my thing.  I think it would be hard to respect a woman (possibly) after doing this because it is probably a dominance type of thing - not judging anyone - but when you live with a woman it might not be the best idea.  I guess maybe for a fling it is fine, but a longterm maybe not.

Braveheart or Gladiator?

Is that a real question?  No comparison.  Braveheart.

What "common" restaurant chain offers the best vegan cuisine?

Great question - I am not a vegan - but there are restaurants out there.  Not really chain restaurants, but individual ones - there are more vegans out there than you think!  Mike Tyson and Daniel Negranu to name a couple.

Quote Originally Posted by Iw1nBets:

Vanzack. Whats the most important trait in a person  you feel

Trustworthyness.

Nothing gets me angrier than people who dont pay their debts or take self responsibility with their commitments.

But honestly, we are ruled by only one thing - love.  Love is the only thing that matters in life.  Everything else is meaningless.