Professional Gambler - Alan Woods

It's intriguing to consider the man behind the story. Especially when that story is about having it right off. I must apologise for my vernacular. 

You beast. 

Alan Woods. I'm sure if you have the slightest interest in professional gamblers you have heard about the Australian mathematician. Some have regarded him as the biggest gambler in the world. If he isn't, he's up there with the big boys, the likes of Bill Benter, Tony Bloom and that secret gambler. 

Alan Woods was born in 1945, New South Wales, Australia. Sadly, he passed away in 2008 at the age of 62 in Hong Kong. 

I've been writing a few articles about the man himself. Mainly inspired by a chapter in Mike Atherton's publication (2006) titled: Gambling - A Story of Triumph & Disaster by Hodder & Staughton. To be fair, the story about Woods was brief but insightful. Atherton, a top-class cricketer and a man educated at Cambridge visited Mr Woods at his office and had the opportunity of chatting to him and watching a few bets placed. 

Woods had won several hundred million from gambling. But he wasn't always a winner. In fact, like Bill Benter and Tony Bloom, they were inspired by blackjack and card counting which was a topic of great interest after Edward O Thorp published his masterpiece Beat The Dealer - A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One, published by Random House (USA) in 1966. Until this time, it was considered the casino house edge was akin to an impenetrable wall, which had a laser on the top to zap any would-be gambler who thought they could play Las Vegas at their own game. Thorp had found a way to turn the odds in the gambler's favour. 

Like any savvy gambler, Woods was interested in this new-found angle. In fact, he used it successfully to win $100,000. And, interestingly, he bumped into his old mate and adversary Bill Benter. You could make good money card counting as an individual but their was strength in working as a team. 

Anyway, there was money to be made in this professional gambler game. 

Woods wasn't just interested in blackjack but horse racing and his use of statistics and computer technology to create a software which churned the numbers and spat out winning horse tips. I'm not sure if the software had a name but it was Woods' passion and he even got Bill Benter in on the act. 

I'm not sure what the connection may have been with Honk Kong and horse racing but there was no mistake in targeting the two racecourses at Sha Tin and Happy Valley. Both basic courses and a limited number of race horses. It was a statisticians dream. You see it was all about control and limiting confounding variables. Basically, his team would put all the data into the computer and it would deliver value bets. That may be a number of selections in the same race. As long as the profits rolled in, the syndicate (or team) were happy. 

However, those early days of making the software pay wasn't going to plan. In fact, they were losing money fast. 

Shock horror. 

This is when Woods looked for investment from his Las Vegas gambling friends and foe. Amazingly, he couldn't get anyone interest even giving prospective investors 70% of the profits. 

It may have been at this stage Bill Benter put his hand in his pocket. However, it wouldn't be long before the two had a falling out.

I imagine this was enough to give Benter the same idea about building a revolutionary computer software in competition to Woods. Clearly, there was enough money for all. Although I was surprised to hear that 95% of all the massive money in the betting pool (which is a Tote system rather than bookmakers) was from rival syndicates. 

Woods said he wish he had kept his mouth shut about the computerised system as it would have been a better secret. 

However, there was mega money to be made. Both Woods, Benter and the other syndicates made hundreds of millions if not billions (Benter). 

Atherton visited the Woods office and watched the team in action. 

The room was very calm and calculated. No emotions. No high-fives. No boozing. 

Woods told of a day when they won £8M. Although he remembered the day they lost £3M. 

If there was one bet they wanted to come in it was the Triple Trio, picking the top three horses, in any order, for 3 races. 

Sadly Woods wasn't to live a long life and passes away of pancreatic cancer at the age of 62.