Don’t Say It’s Over, Don’t Count Your Money, And For The Love Of God, No Peanuts

I truly hate the fact I’m superstitious. I consider myself smarter than that.

Yet … I will not get on an airplane without a 35-year-old pair of orange Hawaiian print boxer shorts that have zero elastic and more holes than cloth. I wore them once on an airplane when they were still functional, and the plane stayed aloft, and so … yep. I fly with them stowed in my carry-on. Every single time. Even though they are no longer usable as underwear.

Additionally — and clichés be damned — I avoid cracks in the pavement, won’t pick up a coin on tails, and if someone spills salt anywhere near me, I make sure they toss a pinch over their shoulder. I’m quite confident there are more, but I either can’t think of them at the moment or don’t want to admit them in this public sphere. You already have my underpants to deal with.

I wondered if I might be alone in this mathematically driven world of ours, if other gamblers and members of this industry would scoff at the idea of superstitions. As it turns out … even the people who said they aren’t superstitious betrayed themselves. Sometimes in the same sentence.

A sampling …

Very superstitious 

Alex Kane, founder and CEO of Sporttrade: I like to orient my chips in a certain way when I’m playing blackjack. For example, the exact center of the circle, face up, facing toward me.

David Hill, writer and author: I learned all my superstitions at the racetrack. Never cancel a ticket. Never accept $50 bills. Always keep your tickets in the same pocket. Never celebrate a race before it’s over and official. Never take a picture of a horse before it races. If you’re alive to the final leg of a multi-race wager, never tell anyone who you need in the last leg. And most importantly: Never under any circumstances eat peanuts at the racetrack.

Matt Perrault, host of The Bostonian vs. The Book: I’m super into numbers, especially my numbers of 2, 4, 7, 14, and 21. I seek them out in everything from flight numbers (the route I take from Vegas to Boston on JetBlue is 777) to apartment numbers and license plates. I was born on 4-4-77. Two 4s. Two 7s. I got married at 4:27 for instance. I’m divorced now, so maybe that wasn’t good luck. … 14 was my high school sports number and 21 was Roger Clemens, my favorite pitcher growing up. I play those numbers in roulette and lotteries all the time.

Brandt Iden, vice president of government affairs at Fanatics: I’m a craps player. I won’t roll the dice unless I’m wearing my lucky Breitling watch. Even though I’m right-handed, I have to wear it on my right wrist while I shoot. And I always set the dice, hard 6.

Davis Mattek, best ball/DFS influencer: I normally ask my wife a couple of golfer names before every major and whichever name she likes, I’ll throw a bet on them.

Isaac Rose-Berman, gambler and advocate: If someone is running hot at a blackjack table I put money behind their hand in addition to my own, I only bet black (not red) and tails (not heads), and seek out dealers with accents (although part of that is for the entertainment value).

David Payne Purdum, ESPN writer: I completely stay away from saying “it’s over” until the bet is settled in my account.

Joe Maloney, president and CEO of the Sports Betting Alliance: I’m an anti-public sports bettor. It doesn’t matter what I “think.” It’s what the book needs. That’s the side where my bet lands. Keeps my emotions in check with sports betting, and that way my rooting interest in the game itself is never truly affected. Even if it means I have to take the New York Jets more than I would ever care to …

Joe Brennan, co-founder Prime Sports: Stay away from $50 bills. Unluckiest bill around. I’d rather have fifty $1 bills than one of those cursed rags. (But if you owe me 50 bucks and that’s all you have, I’ll take it, then break it immediately.)

Adam Levitan, co-founder Establish The Run: In DFS, I can’t go to the DraftKings or FanDuel app for standings until I’ve looked at box scores. So during a game, before I look at my contests, every time I have to go to ESPN and look at the stats first. And in poker I used to close my eyes during all-ins deep in tournaments, then open them after to see if I won. But I stopped doing that out of fear of somehow getting cheated.

Kevin Roth, sports/fantasy-focused weatherman: If I’m sweating a baseball bet and watching results on ESPN Gamecast, I think if I look away, something bad will happen. So I stare at that page with full intensity, barely blinking, until the at-bat is resolved. Works every time. Sorta.

Gina Fiore, noted gambler: When I lose something, I ask St. Anthony to help me find it, even though I’m not religious.

Brian Hooper, Endgame Syndicate: When I played online poker for a living, I covered up the screen if I went all in. That way I could concentrate on the other tables I was playing. Now I do that for way too many things. Like leaderboards or scores.  Anything you can squeeze out a sweat.

Robert Walker, oddsmaker: Bettors have many. They don’t want a $50 bill in change. Some don’t want you to say “good luck.” Bookies have many as well. The obvious one is not counting your money before the game is finished. One Sunday, we had a Diet Mountain Dew. We got crushed and of course that was the last Dew we drank. I’m sure there are more.

Not superstitious, but superstitious

Justin Herzig, Best Ball champ: I’m not a superstitious person at all. But last time I was at the craps table, I held an empty beer bottle for 30 minutes. No chance I was setting that down while she was still rolling. 

Dillon Borgida, vice president at Underdog: I might be bad for this, but my superstition is to be anti-superstitious. I want to step on the lines in baseball, never knock on wood, etc. As a fan, I’ll consider re-wearing a shirt (washed) based on previous results of a win or a loss. But that’s about as crazy as I get with superstitions. 

Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos, noted gambler: Unfortunately, I have none. That being said, I would always walk around a ladder instead of under it.

Roxy Roxborough, oddsmaker: For a man who spent his whole life mathematically looking at sports betting, bookmaking, and oddsmaking, it ‘s strange to have nonsensical superstitious habits. But up until about 10 years ago, I wouldn’t touch a $50 bill, a very old gambler’s superstition of being bad luck, although I believe it’s dying with my generation. And I never left the house with $13,000 or $1,300 in C-notes. Still do that in Thailand. Never leave home with thirteen 1000-baht notes.

Peter Overzet, creative lead, Fantasy Life: I’m not too superstitious, but I refuse to look at actual lineups when I’m sweating teams on a Sunday. I look at box scores and exposures and try to reverse engineer if I think I have anything good, but I refuse to look at actual teams until the slate is near finished. It’s my version of slowly peeling the hole cards until they’re fully revealed

Chris Dierkes, NoVig head trader: Don’t really have any superstitions, other than I don’t bet against the New York Jets making the playoffs, because I am a big fan of them, regardless of how good the bet is.

Captain Jack Andrews, co-founder, Unabated: Superstitions aren’t real — but jinxes are. If you don’t believe it, text any sports bettor and prematurely congratulate them on winning a bet. You’ll instantly end that friendship, but it’ll show the power of the jinx. Pretty sure one day archeologists will uncover that as the true cause of the Patriots 28-3 Super Bowl comeback.