The Intro

Catching Up, The Intro
(Updated for 2020)

March 2020 will be my 22nd year of a pilgrimage from my home to Las Vegas for March Madness' opening weekend.   Over those 22 years, I've learned a few things along the way and so over the next month, I'll share what I've learned along with a considerable focus on gambling concepts, mostly sharing data and helping to dispel myths and half truths.  

But before we get too far into the hard core stuff, let me just walk through the basics. 

22 Years.  Here is a run down of the From -- To

As best I can remember, I have stayed at the Riviera, Ballys, New York/New York, Caesars Palace, Belagio and now consistently stay at Vdara.    From 5 guys to a room to my own bed/bedroom; this is the area that probably has changed the most.  Well that and the fact that now I actually sleep.  

Although most commonly I have gone with Rick Donegan and Chris Iannuzzi with my brother Andrew Husted in many years; it started with Darin Lowe, Brock Mitby, Eric Smothers and a cast of many others.   Now we know people who are there every year as well, almost like a reunion or summer camp if you will.  

In the early days, we bet into Leroy's lines on chalkboards at Riviera; placed many of a late night bet at the 24/7 Frontier and Stardust books or waited in lines all day at the Hilton but now I bet by telling a guy to input the bet into his cell phone.    

One consistent over the years is the seating in the books,  I've really only done true planned seating in 3 locations, early on it was mostly the Superbook at Las Vegas Hilton but throw in a few Bally's years in the middle and then the past 9 years at Lagasse at Venetian.  One year we went off book and didn't get seats in a sportsbook, that was a mistake.    The big change here is we used to have to have someone wake up (or not go to bed) and get there at 4:00 AM to save seats for the 9:00 AM tips.    Now we have reserved seats, that we have to pay for... but at my age, I'm not waking up at 3:00 AM to get a folding chair.  

And the biggest change, back when I started; I was a Square.  We all were though;  I watched games, read the USA Today, listened to other people and blindly bet into games just to root and cheer.  It was fun, but not profitable.  Every year, I lost money; and most all my friends did as well.  Some were done by Thursday, others made it to Sunday with some extra cash, but we all lost.  

9 years ago, I decided to start focusing on data and analysis.  Stop betting with my USA Today and start betting with a betting strategy & conviction on bets other than confirmation bias.   And that has been fun for me.  

Most will prefer the Square approach, and I get that...  but for me it has been fun to determine the best profitable approach realizing I'm trying to crack an "equation" that is slightly random, highly unpredictable while competing against the best, brightest minds with the best inside and public data working for the sportsbook.  

So although slightly hyperbolic, I have been doing March Madness in Vegas since before it was a thing, before it was March Madness Viewing Parties and before it was one of the busiest weeks in Vegas. Now don't get me wrong, others were on to it earlier than I was and I wasn't the only one there... but it was small then -- now it is huge.   

I love that I experienced those times and also love March Madness in Vegas now.   My love of that should come through in this blog if I'm doing it right.   Enjoy! 

TJH