- The P.O. Box
- Posts
- đ§ Hard Truths About Finding An Edge
In this week's P.O. Box:
Stories from Billy Walters & Spanky
Stream roundup: Weâre drafting again
Offszn Book Club: The Devil In The White CityâŚ
On my radar: An anniversary
On tap: Best Ball After Dark w/ JJ
I finished the Billy Walters book this week and the biggest thing that stuck with me was his dogged perseverance.
No matter what he was doingâplaying pool, selling cars, making sports bets, flipping golf coursesâhe was going to outwork you regardless of what roadblocks where put in his way.
One of many interesting anecdotes from the book involved the extents he would go for early sports betting edges. Check this out:
I made a deal with the head of the crews who cleaned the passenger planes that landed at McCarran International Airport day and nightâat least sixteen hours a day. Why passenger planes? Because each plane was littered with newspapersâand the local sports sectionsâleft behind by travelers. My crew went to the airport multiple times each day to pick up all the newspapers from across the country. They got papers such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, and The Chicago Tribune. Then we had another team of guys who did nothing but read the sports sections of those newspapers to glean any and all information on teams, players, and coaches.
What a hilarious (and smart) hustle.
It got me thinking about what it actually means to be an âedge seekerâ or an âadvantage player.â
We are all so spoiled with how much good information, resources, and tools we have at our disposal.
This results in there being very little information asymmetry. You might âunearthâ an interesting nugget from The Athletic about the Bengals backfield that you want to press in a draft (âChase Brown is totally gonna be the lead back, broâ), but the entire fantasy world is going to know about it in a couple hours once Rotoworld picks it up.
I think this dynamic has resulted in some disillusionment from fantasy players and sports bettors who feel like they have uncovered an edge simply because they sub to a good site or consume a ton of information.
Reply