Sunday, December 18, 2005
Beating odds as football prophet Vegas man, 74, hits it big, as contests grow in Las Vegas
You could say that the 74-year-old Las Vegas man who earned one of the biggest prizes ever in the history of football handicapping contests came by his prognostication acumen honestly. Well, sort of.
Gary Garramone, the winner of more than $246,000 in the Las Vegas Hilton's football SuperContest last season, has a resume as a longtime handicapper and gambler -- which also happens to include a conviction for a federal gambling rap in Philadelphia about 30 years ago.
"Hey, it's a matter of public record," conceded Garramone, who said he moved to Vegas in the 1970s after his accountant suggested a change of scenery might simplify his life, considering his chosen avocation.
Last football season, Garramone made the score of a lifetime when he successfully selected 61 percent of the required NFL games (52-32-1) to win the Hilton contest, the most prestigious in a slew of events all over Las Vegas.
Actually, Garramone tied with two other entrants but wound up winning on a tiebreaker rule that the casino noticed several days after the first-place money had been divided three ways. The other two winners each received, and got to keep, $131,520.
"The Hilton took it real good, they were gentlemen about it," Garramone said. "They swallowed it because they realized it was their mistake."
Football handicapping contests have been an autumn staple in Las Vegas for more than a decade with the Hilton's considered the granddaddy of them all.
For that one, participants ante $1,500 apiece at the beginning of the season and are required to select the winners of five NFL games against the point spread each week. This year, the contest has a record 505 entrants, a 23 percent increase over last year's 411 hopefuls. The top 20 finishers will cash in with the winner expected to get $303,000.
"The popularity of tournaments with big prizes, like the poker tournaments, has seemed to really excite people," said Jay Kornegay, a veteran of the casino sports wagering business who runs the Hilton's sports and race book.
The Station casinos, a chain of mostly midrange gambling halls that cater to Vegas locals, have a contest for which the entry fee is $1,000. And there are a bunch of others, some charging as little as $25, and even a handful that are free, attracting thousands of would-be Jimmy the Greeks.
Kornegay said it looks a lot easier than it is.
"When you look at it, you have to go 3-and-2 every week to be in contention," Kornegay said. "But that means staying away from those 1-4 and 0-5 weeks."
Russ Culver used to be a fixture on the Las Vegas sports wagering scene, helping run the sports book at the swanky Mirage Hotel & Casino. He also won the 1999 Hilton contest and pocketed about $137,000 when there were 229 entrants. Culver said he won an additional $66,000 that year in other gridiron pick 'em competitions, mostly because he zeroed in on a surprise team.
"The biggest factor that year was Dick Vermeil and the St. Louis Rams," said Culver, who left the glitz of Las Vegas and now lives in Indiana. "Everyone said they were a terrible team. Well, they had been a terrible team, but they weren't going to be in 1999.
"Vermeil did with that team what [Bengals coach] Marvin Lewis did in Cincinnati and [Chargers coach] Marty Schottenheimer did in San Diego last year. And every year, there will be a St. Louis Rams, or a Green Bay Packers going the other way, but [bettors] are slow to change."
Nevada and more Football handicapping contests -- big brother to the garden variety office football pool -- are offered legally only in Nevada. However, out-of-towners still can participate. In the Hilton contest, for instance, non-Nevada residents can enter with the aid of a local proxy who, according to Kornegay, is required to show up weekly to make the five selections.
Bill Brennan, a former resident of Buffalo, N.Y., who now lives in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, is one of those contest players who has an out-of-town partner, his former accountant back home. They split the entrance fee and the handicapping chores.
Every Thursday, they go through that week's NFL games and come up with their favorites. Last year, Brennan said, they hit about 58 percent of their picks and finished around 40th -- in the top 10 percent but not good enough to make any money.
As an amateur, Brennan said he keeps track of what the professional football handicappers have to say about injuries and lineup changes but doesn't put too much stock on the touts' selections.
"I know 15 to 20 handicappers in the Hilton contest," Brennan said, "and believe me, if you're a serious sports person, you're as knowledgeable as any of them."
The business of football handicapping has gotten a bit of notoriety lately with the October release of the Al Pacino-Matthew McConaughey movie Two for the Money. Expert football picker McConaughey plays the protege of Pacino, a fast-talking football handicapper with a high-pressure telephone tout service.
In real life, the Hilton contest has served as a career launch pad into the handicapping industry for some.
"It's a fair-and-square contest, and everyone is picking against the same line," said Culver, who along with partner Keith Glantz still sets a football point spread that's used by several major newspapers. "The results are authenticated, and if you have a great year, that's something that can be marketed."
Try it once, for free For Vegas visitors who simply want to dabble in football handicapping, there are contests that allow folks to participate for just a week, and the one offered at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is free. There, contestants are required to pick every NFL game against the spread. The winner earns $2,000 and other top-10 finishers get cash, free slot machine play and concert tickets. Not surprisingly since the contest is free, about 1,000 people play each week making odds of winning long.
Meanwhile, Gary Garramone -- last year's Hilton winner -- is back despite the long-shot chances of repeating. He said he's participated in what amounts to the Super Bowl of football handicapping ever since it started and had cashed in a few times, but certainly nothing came close to the record jackpot he hit last year.
"Yeah, a record," said Garramone, who's been analyzing point spreads most of his life. "It only took me 74 years to do it."
Handicapping acumen gives St. Bernard man shot at a million
Sunday, December 18, 2005 By Bob Fortus Staff writer Times Picayune
Like many New Orleans-area people whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina, Bill Gonsoulin Jr. could use an extra $1 million or so.
Because of his handicapping skill, he has a chance to get it.
On a trip to Arkansas this month to look at a trailer, the 68-year-old retired New Orleans firefighter decided to make a side trip to Louisiana Downs for the annual handicapping contest held during the Fair Grounds season.
The decision paid off.
Besides winning the $14,000 first prize, Gonsoulin qualified for a national handicapping contest in late January in Las Vegas. The winner's prize in that event is $225,000. Also, because Gonsoulin qualified at a Churchill Downs-operated meet, he's eligible for a $1 million bonus from Churchill Downs.
New Orleans resident Bryan Wagner finished second in the Louisiana Downs contest and qualified for the national event.
Gonsoulin's house in St. Bernard took six feet of water and was 60 percent destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. He plans to tear it down. His five children, who lived within two blocks of him, also lost their homes, and a granddaughter lost her home.
Picking a long shot in the Louisiana Champions Day Quarter Horse Juvenile put Gonsoulin en route to Las Vegas. Gonsoulin picked Chicks Can Streak, who paid $94.60 to win.
"I've been playing horses a long time," Gonsoulin said. "In any game you play, you learn the tricks of the trade. In quarter horses, I look at previous odds, if they were in contention, how far they got beat."
The contest was based on five mandatory races at Louisiana Downs, and 10 other races at Calder and Aqueduct, or Louisiana Downs. Players had to wager $2 to win and place on their selections, and the winner was the player with the highest total. Gonsoulin said his total was about $156.
He will be making his second appearance in the national event. His wife, Judith, also reached the national event twice.
He said information gained from watching races is the most important element of handicapping.
"If you watch the races and see what actually goes on, you can't read that in the racing form," he said.
He said he has been to at least 140 racetracks.
"You can only name 10 to 15 in this country that I haven't been to," he said.
BARGAIN 2-YEAR-OLD: Hyte Regency, a handsome 2-year-old colt bought for $65,000 in April by trainer Jeff Trosclair for owner J. Mack Robinson at a sale in Ocala, Fla., has Trosclair excited.
"He's the best 2-year-old I've ever had, potentially the best horse," said Trosclair, a former Bill Mott assistant who has been on his own as a trainer since the early 1990s. "That chapter has yet to be written."
A gray son of Diligence, Hyte Regency already has covered his purchase price. He has won two of five starts, including the $125,000 Harrah's Juvenile in October at Louisiana Downs. In his last race, he finished third, four lengths behind winner Private Vow, in the $200,000 Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Trosclair, who said he was using that race as a gauge to see if Hyte Regency belongs in that level of competition, intends to run him next Jan. 14 in the $250,000, Grade III Risen Star, the only Kentucky Derby stakes prep at the Fair Grounds at Louisiana Downs meeting.
It's possible to acquire a high-class horse for a modest price.
Afleet Alex, the Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner who likely will win the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old of 2005, sold for $75,000 as a 2-year-old. So did Funny Cide, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003.
"I think that's a comfortable range to buy horses," Trosclair said. "You don't have as much to recover."
He said he looks for athletes at sales, and Hyte Regency, who ran one of the fastest quarter-mile workouts at the sale, fits that description.
"I wondered what the hell did they (others) see that they didn't like that I didn't see," Trosclair said.
FAST START: Veteran jockey Roman Chapa, who came into the weekend with 24 victories, is leading the jockeys' standings at the Fair Grounds at Louisiana Downs meeting.
"My riding is getting a lot more mature now," said Chapa, a 34-year-old native of Charlotte, Texas. "Riding for Steve (Asmussen) is a big plus. My agent (Bobby Kelly) has a lot to do with it, too."
Chapa, who was a rodeo bull rider before he became a jockey, has won riding titles at Sam Houston and Retama Park, and he led the standings at the 2004 Breeders' Cup meeting at Lone Star Park.
Chapa didn't ride last Sunday because of a bruised kidney. While walking out of a barn that morning, he was kicked in the lower back.
"I got kicked on my good side, where I have the good kidney," he said. He's missing the other kidney -- which was removed after he was injured in a spill in 1999 at Retama.
Asmussen, with 20 victories, leads the trainers' standings. He said he had success with Chapa in Texas in the past 12 to 18 months.
"His win percentage for me has always been extremely high," Asmussen said of Chapa. "That's a big plus for me. Another plus for me, (his) weight is not an issue."
OFF ON CHRISTMAS: There won't be racing next Sunday, Christmas Day. The track will be running Dec. 28, the only Wednesday card this season.
