Richard W. Munchkin is an American writer, director, producer, radio host and
professional gambler
Advantage gambling, or advantage play, refers to legal methods used to gain an advantage while gambling, in contrast to cheating in casinos, cheating. The term usually refers to Casino game, house-banked casino games, but can also refer to games ...
.
Film and television
Between 1987 and 1999 Munchkin wrote, produced and/or directed in more than 20 movies and television shows primarily in the adventure genre including ''
Guardian Angel'' (1994), with
Cynthia Rothrock, ''Evil Obsession'' (1996), ''Fists of Iron'' (1995), ''
Ring of Fire'' (1991), ''L.A. Heat'' (1999). and Edge of the World (2018).
In 2018 Munchkin starred as himself in ''Inside the Edge: A Professional Blackjack Adventure'', a documentary about elite blackjack players.
Gambling
Originally from
Des Plaines, Illinois, Munchkin started playing
chess and
gin rummy at the age of three. His first exposure to the idea of playing for profit came when he was 12, when a family friend mentioned playing
backgammon for money. Making about $100 or $200 a week,
Munchkin was able to put himself through
Columbia College in Chicago where he received a BA in Theater Arts by playing backgammon and
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
professionally.
After graduating from college in the late 1970s, he moved to
Las Vegas and worked as a dealer and occasional pit boss at
The Castaways Casino. While working in the casino he learned to count cards, and after a few years was making more money playing blackjack than dealing, so he quit to become a full-time professional blackjack player.
In 2004 Munchkin competed in Season 1 of the
World Series of Blackjack, a series of televised blackjack tournaments hosted by the
Game Show Network
Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along with new, first-run original and revive ...
.
In 2009 Munchkin was inducted into
Blackjack Hall of Fame.
On gambling, Munchkin has said in a 2017 interview "I believe that every single game in the casino can be beaten... ...I have played winning games at almost everything."
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]
Writing
In 2002 Munchkin authored Gambling Wizards. In it he chronicles his interviews with some of the most famous gamblers in the world including Doyle Brunson
Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...
Tommy Hyland
Thomas Hyland is an American professional blackjack player and a 2002 inductee to the Blackjack Hall of Fame. Hyland studied political science at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.
Since 1979, he has been recognized for his role in for ...
and Chip Reese.
He is a contributor to Blackjack Magazine, All in Magazine and Blackjack Forum
Radio
Munchkin currently hosts a weekly radio show, Gambling with an Edge,[http://www.klav1230am.com/Shows/GamblingEdge.html] which can be heard on KLAV in Las Vegas.
Bibliography
Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World's Greatest Gamblers Huntington Press, April 2003,
Blackjack Forum Interviews wit
Tommy Hyland
among others.
References
External links
*
Richard Munchkin BlogRichard Munchkin Blackjack Apprenticeship Interview Part 1Richard Munchkin Blackjack Apprenticeship Interview Part 2Richard Munchkin Quora profileBlackjack Hero – Richard Munchkin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munchkin, Richard
American film producers
American radio personalities
American gamblers
Living people
American male writers
Year of birth missing (living people)