Senior Citizen Wheeler & dealer

Author: Simon Dexter

We need more people like Stuart Wheeler, the guy currently making a decent fist of suing the Government over the Lisbon Treaty which, he says, is merely a rather poorly disguised version of the EU constitution.

73-year-old Wheeler is a man who knows his card games: it’s more than forty years since he was thrown out of Caesar’s Palace for beating the house at blackjack rather more frequently than the casino’s owners appreciated. Later, he became Lord Lucan’s backgammon partner and for several years, his main income derived from playing bridge.

Eventually, the senior citizen became a regular at the Clermont Club in Mayfair where he rubbed shoulders with people such as Lucan and billionaire James Goldsmith, a man whose idea of fun was to bet on the toss of a coin. If Wheeler called correctly, Goldsmith gave him £1,100; if he called incorrectly, he had to give the late billionaire £1,000. Decent odds? Wheeler describes one occasion when he lost two consecutive calls as “absolutely catastrophic.”
Earlier this week, as Mr Wheeler sought donations for his cause, he was asked whether his action was a gamble. “People say gamblers love to lose,” he replied. “I don’t.”

One suspects he has assessed the probability of success and would not have taken matters this far unless he felt there was a better-than-even chance he will win. Watch this space.

Tags: backgammon, card games, poker, Stuart Wheeler

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 10:09 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.