Yo, have you heard about Ed Thorp's new page-turner? It's called 'A Man For All Markets: From Las Vegas To Wall Street, How I Beat The Dealer And The Market.' This thing is lit!
Back in the day, like when JFK was calling the shots, Ed dropped 'Beat The Dealer,' and let me tell you, it turned the blackjack world upside down. He came up with this killer way of playing just by crunching some numbers and keeping track of the cards. Total game-changer.
Then, this legend decides to take on Wall Street in the late '60s, setting up Convertible Hedge Associates https://besteonlinecasinoer.com, which you might know as Princeton Newport Partners. Dude was ahead of his time, throwing math at the market and making it rain long term.
Ed's latest book is like a wild ride through all the boss moves he's made. I got lucky and got to shoot the breeze with the Professor about his book, and he was all in for answering my questions.
John Navin: So, you're known for your 'how to' magic, but 'A Man For All Markets,' that's a whole other vibe cbc. Sure, you got some of that classic Thorp wisdom near the end, but it's real talk, like your life's story. What made you spill the beans?
Ed Thorp: Listen, my life's been one heck of an adventure – math, science, hitting up the casinos, and playing the market. I figured folks might dig the tales of the peeps I've met and the dragons I've slain.
But as I was spilling the ink, I realized my way of doing things – thinking for myself, testing the BS with facts, and proving stuff by actually using it – wasn't what most folks were doing. So, I thought, ""Hey, maybe I can school others to do it too.""
Navin: You've got this subtitle, right? 'From Las Vegas To Wall Street: How I Beat The Dealer And The Markets.' You've been knee-deep in both these American playgrounds. Can you break down how they're like twinsies but also totally not?
Thorp: Man, mastering those blackjack tables, keeping tabs on the cards – it was like the ultimate prep course for killing it in investing. When the odds were in my favor, I'd go big, but never crazy enough to get wiped out.
If the house had the upper hand, I'd play it smart, play it safe. Same rule applied to Wall Street: more edge, more cash on the line, but always with an eye on the risk. In both games, you're putting your money out there, and you can either hit the jackpot or lose your shirt.
Gotta say, though, there's a sneaky side in both places. In blackjack, it's all about the tricks – marked cards, shifty dealers, the works bbc. On Wall Street, it's the cons – Ponzi schemes, insider trading, all that jazz.
But here's the kicker – in gambling, you can pretty much crunch the odds, but in the stock market, it's way murkier.
Navin: You've got some mad guts, based on your Vegas stories. You had the math down cold, but what about your head game? How'd you psyche yourself up to walk into those casinos?
Thorp: At first, casinos were like an alien planet to me. But as I got my feet wet, I started seeing the shady stuff – mob bosses, muscle men, the threat of getting knocked around. I didn't make waves when I got cheated or got the boot. I figured it'd all come out in the wash when 'Beat the Dealer' hit the stands and the casinos had to deal with a whole army of clued-up players. Till then, I made sure I had my crew watching my six.
Navin: That time when Rudy Giuliani's goon squad rolled up on your Princeton spot and started grabbing documents... you got a kick out of getting the boot from the Sands back in '62, but you weren't laughing about the Giuliani shakedown. So what's the diff?
Thorp: Look, I never expected the casino minions to play nice or fair. It was a free-for-all. But when Uncle Sam's enforcers get involved, I'm thinking we're owed a fair shake, some real justice.
Navin: Looking ahead, like the next 10, 20 years, what kind of investment strats do you think humans will still have the upper hand in, compared to all these fancy algorithms and AI?
Thorp: Computers are already boss at chewing through data and making trades at the speed of light. And AI's just getting better at sniffing out patterns we can't even see.
But don't count out human smarts – we're the ones who can call BS on a wonky quant model and shut it down. We've seen what happens when humans get lax and let computers run wild – it's not pretty.
Navin: If you had to pick a time in history that today's market is vibing with, what would it be? I know history's got its own rhythm, but what's your take?
Thorp: There's no single era that's a dead ringer for now, but one thing that's got that vintage feel is the crazy gap between the rich and everyone else. We're talking levels that we haven't seen since the days of fancy mustaches and flapper dances.
Navin: Thinking about the future cnn, what's got you pumped about humanity? And what's keeping you up at night?
Thorp: The big dream? That we crack the code on staying young, turning back the clock on aging, and maybe even hitting the pause button for folks until science can fix 'em up and bring 'em back. That's the stuff of sci-fi.
But what really worries me? The super-rich running wild, scooping up all the chips for themselves and leaving the rest of us high and dry.
Big shout-out to Professor Thorp – your book helped me score some dough when I was hanging in Vegas in the wild '80s and '90s. I've got the stories to prove it, right here and here.
Props to Nic Colon from Alea Consulting Group for hooking up the chat. Nic's got the scoop on the 2016 Blackjack Ball right here.
And a tip of the hat to Daniel Yu from Gotham City Research for helping me cook up those questions.