Jesus Slim, I wasn't expecting to do this until you landed ashore on the year anniversary of you losing your mind and taking redundancy at the start of September 2016. When we caught up with you in February you were very frank that betting for a living is hard and you hoped to survive, have you?
I'm not looking for a job if that's what you mean. I'm not in the best of moods so your questions need to be sharper.
Ok. I apologise, can I ask as to why your mood is not the best?
Look I've read a few interviews lately with pro punters and they've been absolute bollocks and I mean absolute bollocks. They have spouted absolute cliche bollocks and the Twitter lemmings ******* lap it up. Why the **** would you do these things unless you tell the ******* truth.
I get the distinct impression that it's not just some pros picking up cheques that is annoying you?
Correct. One of them wrote a ******* monologue about people around him not being able to tell whether he is winning or losing and reckoned that was something to be proud of. I can assure you that everyone around me knows if I'm winning or losing. There are a few clues. If I'm liking your **** photos on Facebook, I'm ******* winning. If I 'm sending you pictures of the canal in Dublin saying "its a lovely night for a walk" I'm ******* losing. It's bollocks to pretend that a professional punter is some sort of ******* zen master, we're not, we just place more good bets then bad.
I'm also guessing you lost today?
No. I won €600 but I did make a monumental **** up yesterday where I completely fucked up a bet that cost me and someone who had 50% equity about £1k.
This is new ground for me. You've never spoke of mistakes before.
Did I not mention the mother of my child to you?
(audible laughter)
Your awful choice of partners aside, explain why this **** up annoys you.
To be good at what I do people have to rely on you to execute bets correctly. The bet we had was an amazingly good one but our window of opportunity was small and I bottled it and mixed up two horses. The money doesn't matter, it never does, its that you made a schoolboy error. It ******* killed me. You want a reputation as the man that does things not the man that might.
Did you have the same mantra when you worked for Paddy Power?
**** Paddy Power, lets talk about me, I'm sick to **** about talking about working there, it doesn't define me in the same way no job defines any man.
Well lets talk about you, tell me about February through July since we last spoke?
Where do I start? I've ******* crushed it. Anyone holding a ticket on me going skint inside a year better burn it. I'm better than I thought myself.
So you chopped it off?
No. I've survived. Sometimes not losing is winning. You know I got my haircut today and the girl cutting my hair said "Oh you work in Paddy Power, I cut your hair in March". Now firstly I want to have this girls babies so there was no chance I was correcting her but I walked out of there thinking I'm not hiding this anymore. In future when anyone (bar the social welfare) asks me what I do for a living I'll answer honestly, I'm a professional gambler.
So there is a big stigma to saying you bet for a living?
Of course there is. It's like saying you're going studying arts in college, it's not a real course or job. But **** them. I have **** to do in shops in the mornings and I've the misfortune to be on buses and walking around the city a lot. It's a **** show. People are ******* zombies going to their 9-5 jobs in their navy slacks, white shirts and **** beards. I'm depressed for them. I'm going out in the morning thinking about winning 100k and they're walking around with their latties and earphones pretending life is good. But say you're a professional gambler and you're a degenerate gambler.
So for you the freedom to be able to walk around the city is a good thing rather then being cooked up in an office?
Is it ****. Dublin is really a horrible place. Peel away the tourism and the zombies going to work and you are left with people with the IQ of a lamppost, the destitute and the homeless. This is something that washed over me before but I see it everyday.
So when you win do you donate winnings to the homeless?
Do I ****. I'm appalled that its the society we live in but they can **** off and get a job or find an income like the rest of us. I walked passed kids on the street the other day trying to sell lemonade. had I known I had a loose tenner in my pocket I'd have given it to them. At least they're showing initiative.
So lets get back to the betting. we've mainly got the darker SlimChance tonight so we've probably lost our readership!
Look. Its very simple. I have my edges and I'm drilling them everyday. I've not hit banco yet but it's only a matter of time. The rent is getting paid and I've not got close to running out of cash. After 10 months that's victory for me. I'm like the amateur golfer that makes the cut at the Open. I've shown my potential and I'll be back for the trophy in a few years.
That's a fun analogy. So you're Rory McIllroy's 68 at Carnoustie in 2007 to his Claret Jug in 2014?
It won't take me 7 years to reach the top pal, that I can assure you.
When was the last time you looked for a job?
I'm going to say April, but the firm approached me to do an interview. They thought my salary expectations of €40k a year in Malta were extortionate. They gave the job to a lad I know for wy less. He wouldn't lace my boots but he's 23 and less cynical then me so probably a bargain.
Do you miss working?
With the help of God I'll never have the misfortune to be in the rat race again. I got some laugh the odd times I've had to collect unemployment benefit from a Post Office at the back of a shop in the centre of Dublin. 40 people lined up in navy slacks, white shirts and **** beards, like feeding time at the zoo. All the place is missing is a "Victory Gin" stand from George Orwell's 1984.
So come on Slim, come out of the darkness, give us the light.
No this is a reality check. Punting is ******* hard. I like some of what others professionals say but they need to be more honest as to the actual stresses of betting for a living. We all love it but if you go skint you're fucked, there's no going back.
So the Will Win thread died?
Look, there is rent to be paid. I can't give away my card for nothing anymore, it's retarded. I need people to get me a bit on. People are welcome to join our Whatsapp Group where the mantra is help me to help you win.
Has it gone well?
I think we're only starting. Anyone in the group will make money once they're not retarded.
Anything coming up?
I've got an absolute certainty coming up in a maiden in the next week. Watch this space. Now **** off its 3am and I need to be in the shops at 9am.
Right. Slim, thanks for the chat but to be honest the darkness had descended upon you and you have told us nothing you ****.
Similar to Matchbook so?
Fair point...
Now **** off but I'll be good enough to answer any questions from the floor.