Jonathan Duhamel was raised in Boucherville, a neighboring town 10 mins drive from Montreal, Quebec. From a comfortable middle-class family, his father, an aeroplane engine mechanic and his mother, a bank cashier, brought him and his younger sister up in the security and space of a suburban ‘white picket fence’ childhood.“ As a big brother, I fought with my sister all the time. I remember my parents didn’t like it, so whenever I hit her” says Jonathan “I would get grounded. If she was hitting me though, it was all fine. I’ve learn a lot from that!” Both Jonathan’s parents were fairly strict, ensuring he understood the value of money from an early age by encouraging him to take part-time jobs outside of school. His first job, as he recalls, was at age 13, picking strawberries. This tough-love gave Jonathan a strong work ethic and the insight that with hard work he would reap his own rewards. Duhamel makes no secret of his love of sport – playing ice hockey, baseball, soccer, etc… as a child and a fervent supporter of his local Montreal Canadian’s ice hockey team, he really relishes sports which has taught him the importance of working in a team. “I’m always going to remember the first Montreal Canadian game I saw. My dad brought me, and they were playing Boston. At the end, we lost 4-3, but it was an amazing game, amazing experience. On the ice, myself, I’ve always been very competitive. Even though I wasn’t the best, the desire to win was always there, and it is something I still have, in everything I do in life. When I do something, I always do it 100%.” The next step, obviously took the young Canadian to college and university. Studying Business Administration and Finance – it was the numbers and maths that really challenged him into this path. After about a year at university, his friends and he started playing poker home games and this suddenly became an overnight passion. Unsure of his vocation, Jonathan decided to take a year off to think about his future. He used this free time to travel around the world with friends and rediscover his own life objectives.

It’s also during this time that Jonathan had the chance to focus on his new passion, and this materialized in his first major cash at EPT Prague in 2008 where he placed 10th. His strategy improved mainly by interaction, rather than reading, for Jonathan “There are a lot of very good poker players in Quebec, we all talk strategy together, and I am the player I am now because of them!” A self confessed cash games player, it is only after his initial successes to build a healthy bankroll, that he turned his attention to tournaments. Several other tournament cashes were however dwarfed, by what has now lead to Jonathan Duhamel’s fame in the poker world – winning the coveted WSOP 2010 Main Event Championship.

From there, Jonathan’s life transformed, becoming a member of Team PokerStars Pro, touring tournament after tournament with a close group of friends and poker players (winning EPT Deauville High Roller shortly after the WSOP) and writing a book on his life ‘Cards on Table’.

Before Bryce Harper was the top pick in the Major League Baseball draft, before he signed the sport’s biggest contract ever for a first-year pro, he gambled his future on one make-or-break season.

The Las Vegas High School sophomore already had dominated the competition like Mickey Mantle on the playground and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which dubbed him the “most exciting prodigy since LeBron James.” Seeking greater tests as a hitter, the precocious phenom got his GED and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada, where he could face pro prospects in a challenging wooden-bat league that prohibited the hitter-friendly aluminum bats used throughout college ball. Harper shattered the school’s home run record with 31 (the previous mark was 12) and compiled a startling 1.513 OPS while leading his team to the Junior College World Series. For his heroics, the 17-year-old became the only position player from a junior college to win the Golden Spikes Award, given to the nation’s best amateur baseball player. 

Las Vegas sportswriter Rob Miech was “embedded” with the Southern Nevada Coyotes team and brings us along for the ride—into the dugout and locker room and on team buses and in motel rooms, from the scorched fields to the snow-capped horizons of the Scenic West Athletic Conference—to deliver a warts-and-all account of a boy among men playing like a man among boys. Amid the media circus that descended upon team and town, we read fascinating personal stories including the dynamics between veteran coach Tim Chambers and Harper’s protective father, the camaraderie with—and jealousies of—other players, the fans and autograph seekers (and girls) who all want a piece of the young star, and how Harper is suspended from the World Series after protesting an umpire’s call, and the role his faith plays in his life. 

The Last Natural shows us a season in the life of baseball’s top rising star, culminating in a dramatic conclusion when Harper is drafted #1 by the Washington Nationals and, after tense negotiations that go up until just seconds before the midnight deadline, signs a $9.9 million contract. Even more than this, Miech’s book is the story of a team and its community, the hopes and aspirations of its players and coaches, and the spirit of pure baseball that lies at the heart of the American dream.

Bio: 1983 Born in Dundee Scotland. I dreamed of being a cross between James Bond and Gordon Gekko. 10 years old I stumbled into my first entrepreneurial adventure. I spotted some old vintage star wars figures in a model shop next to my school, they were the same as ones I had at home. I talked with the owner and he said he would pay me 50pence (80 cents) per figure. I went home and ripped the attic apart to find as many as I could, I sold him like 20 figures for £10 ($15) a decent sum for me at the time. I instantly bought a black widow catapult (was confiscated less than a week later !!) from the same store and gambled the rest on slot machines. I later discovered through some research that the figures I sold for 50p each were worth in the region of £5-£10 each, that was the first time I was on the wrong end of information asymmetry (in English, the guy knew what they were worth and I didn’t!) But it taught me a valuable lesson and started me on the path to Star Wars and Toy Dealer extraordinaire! I would spend the next few years searching for these figures from people who did not know what they were worth, and then sell them through local papers/collectors fairs and to antique/collectors shops. I did this for years, and regularly made the odd £1000 ($1500) great pay for my years as a 12-15 year old. Again, I spent this money on clothes, eating out and gambling! (slot machines and now horse racing and football and boxing bets I would get adults to place for me!). 1999 was my first major score in the international vintage toy game . I noticed an advert in the local paper that said “38 star wars figure for sale, £10 each” Now some of them are only worth about that, but some of the rarer ones can go for £90-£100 ($150), so I thought if some of them are there, then I’m laughing! I phoned the guy up and I asked what condition they were in, my jaw nearly hit the floor when he said they were all unopened, he had bought them in the 70's and 80's and just put them in his attic. Straight away the minimum price now jumps to around £30 ($50) He wanted £10 each, so £380….This was £380 I didn’t have, I was never a saver I did however have an asset, my PC! I sold it on the Saturday for £430 and now had enough for the toys that I was sure I was going to treble my money on at least (plus expenses to get to the guy to buy them!) The toys were in a little coastal town in Scotland (UK) about 4hrs train journey from my house, so I paid for my little brother and his friend to come along for the ride! We arrived at our destination and what did I do? I headed straight for the fruit machines! (degenerate gambler gene pops up again!) I lost until I had £350 exactly left (lucky I bought return train tickets!) So I gave myself a kick and headed for the guys house to buy the toys (what we were there for in the first place!!) I knocked on the door and he opened it, Albert Soden was his name (I will always remember Albert!) He was a World War 2 veteran, with medals on the wall and several missing fingers! (GENUINELY) He showed me the stuff and it was all amazing and in pristine mint condition, I was looking at several of them thinking “They are worth £500 each ($800) shit that one is worth over a grand!!! I explained to Albert that I had to get the train down etc and I only had £350, and he was delighted to sell them to me for that price. Some other dealers/collectors at the time said on various forums that they would have told the seller how much they were worth…..I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy that! Who is going to say “You want £10? no, no no, that is worth £500, I will give you £300!!” He paid pennies for them in the 70's and 80's and was delighted with his return on investment! He was so old school and gave me a handwritten receipt for my purchase, I have it framed now and keep it as a reminder of my first major deal. So for the £350, ($500) I sold the entire 38 figures for in excess of £15,000 ($25k) I sold most of them on eBay and some to major collectors in the U.S, Japan and Ireland. Left High School and went to University to study Economics (I figured that was the closest thing related to my fields of interest!) While at university I continued to wheel and deal in he vintage toy and antique market and it provided a great income for a student!!, I never had to take a job and it allowed me to indulge in eating out at restaurants and travel. It was also at this time in my life that I really started to dabble in trading stocks/shares, commodities and foreign currencies. I would do this through spread betting and also buying the shares. I graduated from university in 2005 (I got a first by the way ). This was a great time in my life, I started importing goods from Hong Kong and mainland China and selling them online and to companies in Scotland and the UK. I started off buying the items through a contact I’d met online, but then I decided to cut out the middle man and fly direct to Hong Kong and buy it all myself! I’ve been to Hong Kong 7 times and although every trip apart from one was for business, not one felt like a business trip! I was young free and single and making tons of cash, so I did what young free and single guys do… 5 star hotels, tons of women, tons of alcohol and tons of ego! Sadly my import business collapsed due to a combination of factors, namely price drops in the commodities I was selling and also more and more people starting to compete in the same market………Oh yeah, my excessive spending did not help either!! I found poker in 2008 and I love it, I have a true passion and it seems to have a bit of everything I love. It’s a strategy game, there is a lot of skill in it, but also that element of luck/chance that you have to accept and negotiate! I feel poker satisfies the degenerate gambling beast part of me, and to an extent, almost tames the beast! I aim to become as good a poker player as I can be, and hopefully by interviewing many of the games greats, it will help both me and you in the quest to become a great player.

My pod casts and more information are located at : www.Oneouter.com  

Are You Winning at Craps? If you are looking for a consistent method of walking away from the craps table a winner, your complete guide to succeeding at the craps table is here!

Wholly Craps! by David Medansky, a word class authority on the game and trusted author, serves as a teaching manual that delivers the course material you need to achieve your goals in craps. This instructional book contains the essential information on the techniques as well as addressing the mental discipline that is required to master the proven strategies. Medansky takes a profound look into the game and breaks open not just one - but several betting methods that allow you to consistently win at the craps table. The "Medansky Methodology" is proven to give you the mental, psychological and emotional advantage to overcome the casino's hypnotic techniques to accomplish their mission - separating your money from you. Industry experts are calling 'Wholly Craps!' the most comprehensive manual to play and win at craps. Students applying the methods are calling it, "far more rewarding than our wildest dreams."

David Medansky is a practicing attorney who has studied a number of "games of chance" for more than 20 years. Medansky has worked with several professional gamblers to help develop his techniques and philosophy, and goes to casinos on a regular basis to refine his skills. Medansky shares his techniques at public and private events and personally teaches the game of craps on a full size craps table obtained from the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas.

Playing craps professionally requires you to avoid distractions, maintain mental discipline, adhere to precise rules and techniques, and to control your emotions. The greatest reward as a professional player is the freedom to “work” your own hours and to be your own boss. Playing craps as a business avoids typical problems and/or costs. For example, it requires no accountants, bookkeepers or attorneys to operate. You will have no collection problems with receivables, no inventory, no advertising, no “customers” and no employees, which means you do not need to contribute to employee benefits or taxes. Playing craps as a business requires no insurance, licenses, dues or registration. There are no “competitors” playing craps professionally. If anything, you have a commonality with other players at the craps table - to take money from the casino, not each other. Caveat: Playing Craps is Gambling! There are no fool proof systems, strategies or methods. You will not get rich overnight. There will be times when you will lose money. How you handle these loses will determine if you will be successful or not. Success requires a lot of patience.
All of this sounds great right? Wrong. Here are some problems with the logic.  First, unless you live in Las Vegas, Laughlin or Reno, Nevada or you need to live in a geographical area where the local casinos operate craps tables. So there is a cost and expense to travel to Vegas to play craps.
Second, you will not win on every shooter. So you need to have a large enough bankroll to withstand some losses. An adequate bankroll is $3,500 of money you can afford to lose. Having an adequate bankroll is a must to ensure you have a proper psychological attitude. Herein is the problem because most people play not to lose instead of playing to win. Third, the majority of people who play craps do not have the discipline to stick with a betting strategy or to be satisfied with earning $200 per day, let alone per hour. Greed has turned many winners into losers. Fourth you need to have a betting strategy wherein you can make $25 on each shooter while minimizing your risk of loss. So you need to understand the basics of the game and then some. There are many different betting strategies that will allow you to win $25 on a shooter. Some are better than others. Again, the method I use is very simple and unique.

If you play poker in various casinos, you know that each one seems to have unique rules and procedures. This book tries to create a standardized set of rules for the benefit of the house and the player. Divided into 17 chapters, it covers general rules, dealing procedure, ranking of suits, betting terms, button procedures, stud-type games, draw-games, kill games, and Chinese poker. 74 Pages Paperbound 1998. Updated 2011.