Chuck went to vegas with his family and while he was there he made a $100 sportsbet. He won, but decided he'd been lucky. Still he found a fascination with it.
So he decided he'd learn a little, and before he got done with the book he'd checked out at the library about it he was hooked. It was all he could do to finish it before he rushed out to find a bookmaker.
Pretty soon he had a place to make bets, and so this time he placed two. $100 each on two football games. The book he had read had given him some tips on finding the edge in football, and he'd watched quite a bit of the game himself, so he thought that'd be a good place for his money.
Well Sunday came around, and once the games were done he had lost both bets. So he was out the $100 he'd won in Vegas, plus a hundred more dollars. Dejected, Chuck thought and he thought about what he was going to do. Finally he thought, 'In Vegas I got lucky, and here I got a little unlucky. But before I put down any more money, I'm really gonna figure out this sportsbetting stuff.'
So he went back to the library and checked out a few more books. He learned about statistics, off-nights, and home field advantages. And then he watched games, this time basketball. It was his favorite sport, and one he thought he could learn all about. For a whole basketball season, he watched every game he could. And then, just when the time looked right, he placed his bets. They were sure fire he thought - 4 bets of $100 each on 4 different games. But when the games came around, he'd lost all four bets, and was now out $500.
This time Chuck was upset. He knew he'd gotten very unlucky, and was determined as ever to get his money back. This time he'd choose his ace in the hole - baseball - a game he'd played himself. He knew it inside and out already - but this time it wasn't enough. Without rest, Chuck studied the game like a religion. He taped and rewatched them all. He barely ate, he barely slept. He made charts, built computer programs to calculate probabilities, studied statistics, and more. And then finally, he knew he was ready - so he placed 8 bets of $100 each on 8 different games.
He had been so consumed and so was now so emotionally invested that he couldn't watch the games himself. But the day after his final bet was over, his bookie called him.
'Chuck, I've got bad news. You lost all your bets and you owe me $1300.'
'Damn,' Chuck said. 'I was so sure of those bets! I'm the unluckiest guy in the world. Give me one more bet, double or nothing. Put it all on one more baseball game - tonight. If I lose, I pay you tomorrow.'
'There's no baseball tonight. And besides, you lost 8 baseball bets, you really wanna bet baseball?'
'Alright basketball,' Chuck replied.
'No basketball either. And besides, you lost 4 basketball bets. You really wanna bet basketball?'
'Alright make it a football bet then,' Chuck said.
'It's wednesday, there's no football. And besides, you lost the football bet. You really wanna bet football?'
'Fine.' Chuck said, 'What else you got?'
'Well, there's 3 hockey games you can bet on.'
'HOCKEY?' said Chuck, exasperated: 'WHAT THE HELL DO I KNOW ABOUT HOCKEY?'