Festus Ezeli

Iguodala and the Warriors Trick Festus Ezeli Into Thinking He’s Been Cut

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• published: 01 Apr 2016
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Warriors owner Joe Lacob—the man who will forever be known as the guy who (probably) did some very, very inappropriate things with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after Golden State won the NBA title last year—may be the luckiest man in the world. He's worth somewhere in the range of $300 or $400 million. He owns the most successful NBA team at the moment, and it looks like it’s going to be that way for awhile. And he’s also apparently one of the best blackjack players in the entire world. The New York Times just ran a really, really long—and really, really good—piece about Lacob and the way that he runs the Warriors. It focuses on how Lacob, a venture capitalist, has taken a different approach to running his team than NBA owners have in the past. And towards the end of it, he randomly reveals that he believes he’s one of the 10 best blackjack players currently walking the earth. He says he’s basically made a habit out of raking in large amounts of money in a single night. “I shouldn’t say this,” he tells the Times, “but I’ve won over $1 million at one sitting nine times.” That’s a lot of money. Although, we should point out that, just one paragraph later, the NYT explains why he’s so good when it comes to blackjack. As an undergraduate at Irvine, Lacob took a calculus class from Edward Thorp, whose 1962 book, “Beat the Dealer,” proved that a blackjack player could gain a slight edge on the house by counting cards. Thorp was banned by casinos, so he taught his students the system, backed them on trips to Las Vegas and shared in the rewards. Lacob was one of those students. When he goes to a casino now, his blackjack sessions aren’t certainties, but Lacob has far better odds of succeeding at them than anyone else at the table. His purchase of the Warriors, I realized, was the same way. He counted the cards and played the odds. And he won. You can check out the entire NYT piece on Lacob here. Lucky guy. Subscribe to Complex for More: http://goo.gl/PJeLOl Check out more of Complex here: http://www.complex.com https://twitter.com/ComplexMag https://www.facebook.com/complex https://www.instagram.com/complex/ https://plus.google.com/+complex/ COMPLEX is a community of creators and curators, armed with the Internet, committed to surfacing and sharing the voices and conversations that define our new America. Our videos exemplify convergence culture, exploring topics that include music, sneakers, style, sports and pop culture through original shows and Complex News segments. Featuring your favorite celebrities, authoritative commentary, and a unique voice, our videos make culture pop.