Do you think you're a good gambler? Okay, imagine this scenario. You're sitting in a hotel lounge. Nearby is a happy-sounding well-dressed group of people. One of them is a tall and lanky man who is especially fashionable; he has an easy smile and a smooth way with words. Gradually, you are drawn into his conversation. The two of you chat as he casually shells and eats the free peanuts at the bar. The subject gets around to betting, and before you know it, the man proposes that he can throw a peanut right over the top of the hotel. He'll do it for $500. Would you take that bet?
Let's say you're a very good golfer, and you meet the same man in a clubhouse. He says that he can hit a golf ball 500 yards. That is over one-quarter mile! And he'll do it for $1,000. Would you take that bet?
Admit it. You would be tempted to lighten the blowhard of his money. But if you took those bets, then you would lose.
Titanic Thompson was the tall well¬dressed man. Over the course of his gambling career (which spanned the early decades of the twentieth century) he earned millions from suckers who accepted his proposition bets. Yes, he could throw a peanut over a hotel, because the legume was filled with lead. And yes, he could hit a golf ball 500 yards, because the ball was skidding on a frozen lake in the dead of winter. Tricky? Yes. Honest? Just barely. Beguiling and entertaining? Always. Thompson had an endless number of propositions that were enticing.. .and illusory.

Ti's Formula for Winning

Gamblers called him Titanic became he was so good at sinking opponents. His friends called him Ti, but his real name was Alvin C. Thomas. Born in 1892, he grew up in rural Arkansas. Daddy was a gambler who abandoned the family. Betting was in the boy's blood, and he was earning a living as a rounder while he was still a teen. Thomas' last name morphed into Thompson after a gossip columnist wrote it incorrectly. That was fine with Ti. He preferred the anonymity of a made-up name because it allowed him to find suckers more easily. Of course, Ti eventually became famous, but we're getting ahead of the story.
He could play just about any game well, but his favorite games were propositions, the ones that gave him a maximum edge. Here's a bet that happened in Evansville, Indiana around 1940.
One summer day Ti was with some of his fellow gamblers. They were on a porch at the old McCurdy Hotel when a truck loaded with watermelons drove past. Ti offered to buy a watermelon to split with his friends. What a generous guy! As the driver was unloading the melon, Ti eyeballed the truck.
He pushed back his hat and said, "You know, when I was a boy back in Arkansas, folks used to say that I was pretty good at guessin' the number of things in a bunch. I got $100 that says I can come within five melons of the total on this truck."
The gamblers could see that there were hundreds of watermelons, seemingly impossible to estimate, so Ti got multiple takers for his proposition. He then proceeded to "guess" 413. When the watermelons were counted... Well, shucks! It was 415!
How did Ti do it? He paid the driver to count the watermelons the day before, then asked him to drive past the hotel at just the right time. It was a sucker bet!

Ti was a golf prodigy, in fact he beat many players who would later go on to professional fame

Golf Gamester Ti was a golf prodigy, he easily could have been a pro, but back then (before the days of big purses and million-dollar endorsements) there was more money to be earned betting against suckers with deep pockets. Ti convinced wealthy magnates to finance private matches. Sometimes the rich guy The Real Ti Titanic Thompson didn't drink or smoke. He didn't welch on bets that he lost fair and square. He didn't cheat outright (depending on how you define cheating), but he did bend the rules, far enough in some cases to get himself into trouble. Ti was a player at one of the most infamous poker games in gambling history. It happened in 1928, and the big loser in that game was Arnold Rothstein, the man who was reputed to have fixed the 1919 World Series (known as the Black Sox scandal). Rothstein lost $322,000 in the poker game. He subsequently welched on the debt, claiming that he had been scammed. When Rothstein was killed a few weeks later, Ti was a suspect. Another man was eventually tried and acquitted, but Ti was forced to appear at the trial as a witness. The notoriety put a damper on his business and made it much harder for him to find willing suckers.
As Ti grew older his action diminished, but his legend grew. Younger players (including Amarillo Slim) picked up his tricks. Magazines such as Sports Illustrated published articles about him. Damon Runyon immortalized Ti when he created the character Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls (Marlon Brando played Sky in the movie).
Runyon wrote, "Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the jack of spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider." That was Titanic Thompson.
He died in 1974. Ti's bills were paid in the end by various friends. His own fortunes had long since disappeared. He married a few times, and his children are quite interesting in their own ways. One son became a gambler and then later a preacher. That is a story for another time.
When news of Ti's death reached some would play himself, or maybe he might bring of his gambling buddies in Dallas, they in a ringer. It didn't matter. Ti usually won. In were (appropriately) on a golf course. fact, he beat many players who would later After a moment of stunned silence, one of go on to professional fame including Byron the men asked the messenger, "You say Nelson. Ti beat him in 1934, and Nelson he's dead?" won the Masters in 1937 and 1942. "That's what I was told," came the reply.
For a while, golf-legend-to-be Lee Elder "Well son, let me say this to you. I knew ol' was Ti's caddy. One of Ti's classic golf bets Ti for many years. Likely he is dead. But take involved beating a player, then making a my advice and don't bet any money on it" • second bet that the player couldn't beat Ti's
caddy. Basil Nestor is author of The Smarter Bet
Another typical Ti bet was to win by a few Guide to Poker, The Unofficial Guide to strokes, then go double-or-nothing on the Casino Gambling, and other comprehensive condition that Ti would play left-handed. The gambling guides. Got a question? Visit
suckers didn't know that Ti was a natural SmarterBet.com and drop.