Billy and his Puerto Rican live-in girlfriend, Gloria Clemente, are on the run from mobsters because of a gambling debt. A voracious reader, making note of obscure facts, Gloria's goal in life is to be a contestant on the television game show "Jeopardy!" and make a fortune. Sidney wants to buy a house for his family outside the rough Baldwin Village neighborhood. He proposes a business partnership with Billy and they hustle other players by deliberately setting them up to pick Billy as Sidney's teammate. At first their system is very successful, but when they unexpectedly lose a game, it turns out that Sidney had double-crossed Billy by deliberately playing badly to avenge his earlier loss to him, making Billy lose $1,700 to a group of Sidney's friends.