The Gambler's Game

It's a little complicated.

This is where I may stick my foot in my mouth.

I might run the risk of insulting the author, but you know what would have been really cool? Now, again, I'm a finance guy.

I'm a longtime finance guy.

You know what would have been really cool at the beginning of every chapter or end of each chapter during the Monte Carlo era? Of course, you're going to say, I have no earthly idea what you're going to say, but It's like, at the end of this chapter, what was his wealth? What was in the bank account? I would have found that very fascinating.

Now, we got glimpses of some of his winnings, and I just thought it would have been neat.

At the end of each chapter, here's how much was in the bank, or here's how much...

And then, again, he started accumulating diamonds, and we don't really have time to get into that, but...

Am I insulting the author by wishing we could have seen what was the net worth at the end of each chapter?

OK, well, there's two things here.

First of all, that would require an awful lot of speculation on my part.

I understand.

Because, you know, there are family rumors about how he was going over the Andes with gold.

So, you know, I didn't have enough.

I didn't want to put things in the book that I couldn't actually validate.

Fair enough.

I could have turned it into a complete work of fiction.

But the other thing is, and I think we might be about to talk about this, is that this is not by any means a way, I don't want to promote this kind of lifestyle.

You know, I don't want to glorify gambling at all.

You know, this was his chosen profession, but it doesn't mean that anyone should try and follow in his footsteps.

Well, let me just jump right in because when people approached him, I think it was two different people.

Not the same person twice, but was it two different people? One person especially.

I want to do exactly what you're doing.

And here's one of his quotes.

and I'll give you a break and you can jump in anytime you want.