Smart Money

How the world's best sports bettors beat the bookies out of millions

When journalist Michael Konik landed an interview with Rick 'Big Daddy' Matthews, the largest bet he'd placed on a sporting event was $200. Konik, an expert blackjack and poker player, was no stranger to Vegas. But Matthews was in a different league: the man was rumoured to be the world's smartest sports bettor, the mastermind behind 'the Brain Trust,' a shadowy group of gamblers known for their expertise in beating the odds set by the big Vegas casinos. Konik had heard the word on the street - that Matthews was a snake, a conniver who would do anything to gain an edge. But he was also brilliant, cunning, and charming. And when he asked Konik if he'd like to 'make a little money' during the football season, the writer found himself seduced...

Konik takes readers behind the most successful sports betting operation in America, bypassing the myths and the rumours to reveal how they got rich by beating the Vegas odds and, ultimately, the multimillion-dollar offshore betting circuit. He details the excesses and the betrayals, the horse-trading and the paranoia, that are the perks and perils of a lifestyle in which staking inordinate sums of money on the outcome of a single event - sometimes as much as $1 million on a football game - is a normal part of doing business.