The pitfalls of being a PROFESSIONAL gambler!!

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To make 30,000 to 40,000 a year, winning 53% of your plays imagine what your bankroll needs to be at 1% per bet, and the number of plays you need to make,sorry not a math wiz.It's easy to see why the odds are stacked againt you.If it was as easy as he makes it sound the town would be full of pros
 

SSI

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a hundred plays per month --- playing $200 per game, and hitting 58% -- will return over 30k. this i know.. and its possible..
 

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Strutt-

One of the best posts I have seen from you

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The gamblers that come to Vegas and try to make it professionally for any decent amount of time and make enough to where they are not sleeping in their car are about one in 10,000 or more.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good job
 

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First of all that was part one of a series and I qualified my statement saying that 5-10% win enough to survive for sometime. I didn't mean to imply those guys would be around 20 years or even 3 years at that. I would say in a given year 5-10% of the people that are serious about doing it professionally make money. That doesn't mean they are rich, it doesn't mean they will be the kinds of winners that Scotty talks about, and it doesn't mean they even make enough to live a decent life. The people who speak here are right, most live a crappy life. That being said, there still has to be an allowance that there are quite a few people that do make enough money to get by, but merely that. The poker rooms have a decent number that do get by and a handful that do really well. You guys are all caught up in sports, but sports is a very hard angle to find all the winners. Fez and the others, do you guys know all the people that are winning? I know guys that are winning bettors that step into local books about 3 times a year, how could you know who is winning these days since anyone who is even half serious about betting does just about all their action offshore? And yes Fez, I agree completely that 99.9% of all gamblers are brain dead, but 98% of that are people that would tell you point blank they have no chance in hell of being a long term winner and are just there for the entertainment. This town gets rich off of those people, but they don't make that much off the pros and the wannabe pros.

Many that have talent do make it a few years and then fall to a weakness or just a losing streak. Others do just as I did, just left the lifestyle behind. Just because you make money at it doesn't mean you want or need to do it professionally forever. Some have talent but go and join syndicates or small working groups for a steadier income, but some in Vegas would call them failures too. And I just don't get it Fez, I can't believe you think people would get "encourage" by a 5-10% success rate. Only a moron who deserves to lose would find that encouraging. You personally were one of the rare people that I ever suggested moving to Vegas and entering the field because I saw that you were ready for it. I have been asked by no less than 100 people in the last year about this, often people that were referred to me by others that tried to talk sense in them and they didn't want to listen. I suggested one of them to give it a shot, and that was a very qualified suggestion on my part. It is far from an ideal life and I think almost everyone that tries it has better options in life and don't realize it. These articles are in no way meant to encourage anyone to do it. You might make it for awhile, but I seriously doubt a decade from now you will still be going at it. And I do stress once again that lets not forget that these assertions of mine are the whole spectrum of gamblers as poker is a far more successful field for most and right now is booming. World Poker Tour has loosened up the games in Vegas like they haven't been since the mid 90s. Who knows how long that trend will hold up, but right now is the best it has ever been to take a shot at poker for a living. Put simply if you can't beat the game right now, you probably never will. So don't forget to count that in your estimations. Ok enough about this, I just hope people keep reading the articles and keep posting about the subject
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>The hard part is training your inner self, your subconcious, to achieve what can be described as a zen state and turn your mastery of the games into financial gain. One bad beat is meaningless in the overall scheme of things, and the professional has trained himself to ignore the circumstances of his loss and concentrate on running his game and letting the long run put money in his pocket. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

True true.

The true pro can exist, does exist.

He does everything right. He learns from his mistakes. He keeps what works, he drops what doesn't. He learns both his strengths and his weaknesses.

Through every failure he extracts a hidden gem and never loses sight of his onward and upward mentality. He sees this as an immutable law: Apply what you've learned or fail.

Gruadually over time he gets better and better and better and one day he reaches the level that others have strived for but most will never reach. Most don't believe it can be reached.

The pro is not resting on his laurels when he reaches this level for the true pro never sees the summit and has convinced himself that there will never be a time when he knows it all. The door is always kept open for learning.

He does exist. He doesn't flaunt it for fear of governtment scrutiny. Can you blame him?

He lives pretty nice too.
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The Great Govenor of California
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I agree with Actuary, it is very easy to win right now, so many diffrent ways to earn now.

In Vegas you cant bet on Tennis,Golf or Little Leauge, but they do have some places that pay ZERO attention to line moves, put up retarded halftime lines, and also poker and advantage slots are free money, you have blackjack crews that make 2000 a week on coupons.

College hoops and Football is also free money as is Female tennis and basketball.
 

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NOW, we are seeing some great posts, including Wild Bill's EXCELLENT post.

I will say this. I cannot imagine ANYONE who is a serious sports bettor not betting in many Vegas shops. The numbers are just too good vs. the offshores.
 

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It is much easier to be a professional slot/video poker player than about anything else but very FEW realize this.

Not a tremendous amount of downside for very long.
 

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Good article Bill. The trick on writng is to stimulate conversation, his piece surely did that.

SP and Bill hit on the poker end and they were absolutely right MO. I have kicked myself in the ass the last few years for not playing more poker than I have, I was talked out of playing on-line by people I trusted and it was poor advice. Simply put if you can't outrun the rake now you never will be able to, on-line or off-line. The commercialization of poker has meant more than we will be able to calculate. I have a friend who for a long time has been "put in" by bigger rolls but now has been playing out of his own bankroll for the last 6 months. Never been better he says and I hear that a lot these days, see it for myself. I think people who would be intimidated in the past of joining a live poker game in a casino now feels more secure after playing on line and watching it on TV.

Anyway I know poker is just one end but I am very bullish on poker right now. I believe folks who want to put the work in have a nice opportunity these days to make it, better than ever before. Lot of good minds thought all this information from the computer age would educate everyone but I think it's doing just the opposite - it's priming the pump. The more of those week-end warriors who know all there is about poker after playing 1000 hours the better it is for all of us. Let's keep it on TV as long as we can and please keep showing the hole cards. Let them learn as much as they can, we'll just make do down in the trenches.
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Getting destroyed in live poker this year I tell ya......absolutely destroyed!

Be it online, in the casino, or on the boats.
 

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I dealt with almost everyone one of the players mentioned on Scotty's list on a daily basis,not knew of them, dealt with them.These guys were pro's in every sense of the word they didnt let a bad beat get to them and go to the tables and get even,get drunk and so forth.Any one who really thinks they can go to vegas and make a living betting sports are living a dream,go to the stardust every day and look at all the pro's there sitting in the back rows.A good case in point is Alan Boston for years he had a great betting mind but zero control he did not become succesful till he got his act together and then became a succesful gambler.Anyone who thinks this would be a fun thing,easy thing have no idea of the work,dedication,and hours needed to become succesful,it is much easier sitting at home turning on your computer and picking a winner and thinking I could make a living at this.Imagine trying to pick a winner after losing ten bets in a row and the rent is due and you dont have that paycheck to fall back on and not go on tilt,press your bet,or try to get back even some other way.In all my years in vegas the people who were real pro's made up a very short list and all the others who thought they were pro's are looking for partners for a five dollar six team parlay.Sure it's possible to do it but to be succesful it's almost impossible
 
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Fezz, so 1 in a 1000 wins, but the lines are juicier than online?

Your stereotype of the prototypical pro gambler is 10-15yrs out of date.

Talk to some BM's Fezz, rarely does anyone bet into bad numbers anymore, even the smallest fish on earth can tell the difference between a good number and bad. In the old days if you hung a soft number, you would sit and wait for your sharpies to bet it for you to balance, these days even the $10bettors start hitting it immediately after it is posted.

IMHO it may be harder than ever to make $$$ as a book, places like Canbet took 6-7yrs of operations to have one single profitable quarter, in fact I do not know how most of them win. Guys like Spiro that can hang their own numbers within a reasonable mean of the final line, obviously can earn. But what about the rest?
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It is much easier to be a professional slot/video poker player than about anything else but very FEW realize this.

Not a tremendous amount of downside for very long. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Strut...can you offer a little more insight here...was suprised to see this statement but have come to respect your opinion
 

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Strut is 100% correct, him and I played many of the same promotions in Vegas and did very well,only wish I knew him then think of the damage we could have done if we worked together
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mvbski:
Strut is 100% correct, him and I played many of the same promotions in Vegas and did very well,only wish I knew him then think of the damage we could have done if we worked together
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<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Would have been a pleasure sir.

MVP makes a very solid point here. The more people that you get to know of the quote, unquote "wiseguy" persona, the way better off you will be.

I was VERY fortunate to become associated and become friends with the sharpest of the sharpest in this business.

Able to share the wealth of knowledge between each other, we were able to catch many terrific oppurtunities that very very very few knew of.
 

Another Day, Another Dollar
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Great thread all. Appreciate the contributions. A good read for the newbies and veterans alike.
 

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