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Interview with Michael Shackleford a.k.a. "The Wizard of Odds"

Michael Shackleford is best known online as "The Wizard of Odds", which is the name of his renowned gambling strategy website (http://wizardofodds.com/).

Mike will be married for ten years this December and is the father of two children. He started his career as an actuary for the U.S. Social Security Administration. If you ever come across a list of the most popular baby names, then remember it was Mike who tabulated the first nationwide list in his capacity as a Social Security actuary.

In 1995 Mike launched a math problems website, known as "Shack’s Math Problems". Many early math problems related to gambling probabilities, and this eventually led to the launch of The Wizard of Odds website in 1997. Today, the Wizard of Odds website is one of the premier sources for gambling strategy advice on the Internet.

Mike also runs a successful gaming consultancy business. As a gaming consultant Mike primarily analyzes / designs (new) casino games, both slots as well as table games, but he also appeared numerous times on the Travel Channel as an expert on gambling strategy.

Finally, Mike works as an adjunct professor of Casino Math at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He will be teaching the Casino Math course again in the spring 2005 semester.

We would like to thank Mike for taking the time to give this interview. It has been an honor talking to someone with such an impressive track record in the gaming industry.

The interview is divided into four parts. Part 1 is the main subject of this interview, and focuses on the Wizard of Odds website. Part 2 gives some background on Mike's teaching role at the UNLV. Part 3 addresses Mike's gaming consultancy, and the last part is all about Poker.

This interview starts with Part 1- The Wizard of Odds.