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Career/Professional Gambling

Serious question: Is anyone on ARRSE considering or does anyone bet for a living or part living?

If so, could you offer any advice please? (Not tips etc. but the profession, advantages, pit falls etc).

I have been reading up on Tony Ansell and his betting advice website (subscribe) and it seems very, very interesting. I have virtually no betting know how and wonder if others are in the same situation.

Thanks. 8)
 
I've met alot of skint gamblers but never a skint bookie!!!

I do have a mate who plays on the international Texas Holdem circuit who does ok out of it, but he's very good. He's not loaded but makes a living.
 
Go to any high street bookies and look at the number of paying out windows and then go compare to the paying in window.


Osta
 
Losing cash, paying out/in windows etc. That is what gambling is about but there are some who defy odds and make a living. Lose and win but win more, that's what I'm interested in.
 
Dont even think of doing it if you have.......
a house, a car, a wife, a job or about 100k spare change, i know a lad who lost everything following some internet gamblers advice. I mean everything, now he lives in a hostel and still gambles (just trying to get back on track mate,got a red hot tip)

Do the odd flutter but if you want to go big, prepare to meet a shark.
 
O2Thief said:
Quite right scarletto. Cynical Stab, there are many people making a living out of gambling. I'm keen to know how and why.

I think mate, its the lure of big cash,funnily TV again with its texas hold-em tourneys etc makes it look easier than it is, and for the people who are, well weak willed, sends them on a path that can lead nowhere.

Yes there are some very rich gamblers, but they are a minority and would tell you straight that its not a game for the faint hearted. Watched a programme about a Yank Gambler, who was rich, but his story of those who lived on skid road was frightening. Like i said ive seen the guy at the bottom, who lost everything, and now gets excited if he wins a tenner.
 
Some sage advice given to me by a bookie many years ago was "Don't gamble more than you can afford to lose and NEVER chase a win, you'll never catch it". Enjoy gambling if you want to do it but as has been said before, how many poor bookies are there?
 
To seriously contemplate sustaining yourself from gambling you need ironclad willpower.

I contributed to my university fees by working at Ladbrokes and with earnings from poker online but it was not a great deal of money and if I lost there was no real damage (single at time - prob why I played poker :D )

To make money consistently at limit poker is a fairly simple process and anyone that can count to 13 can be taught to do it but it is time intensive and extremely boring. The basic premise is that by following specific rules of probability theory you will win more money over a period of time.

There are those that make money from gambling, it's not a dark art it just involves studying the odds and finding value in propositions that others have not seen yet.


Example 1

Paul Simmons and John Carter studied the form of golfing tournaments and realised the odds of a hole in one occuring were approx evens to 3/1 but bookmakers had listed the odds as 100-1. The made approx $1 million over the course of a few months rinsing the bookmakers.

Example 2

An over round occurs when a bookmaker has offered odds that mean a punter earns a profit as long as he bets on every outcome. For example ten horses run a race and they are all listed as 12 to 1. You make a profit as long as you bet on all of them. Over rounds happen very very rarely but more often you can find conflicting odds whereby two bookmakers have disagreed over the odds and if you bet on each outcome with each bookmaker you can make a guaranteed profit. This happened in a recent American Football game with the Atlanta Falcons. Both teams were listed as 2/1 and since Am Football has no 'draw' you were onto a winner with both.


If anyone fancies earning a living or some extra on the side it can be done just make sure you don't p*ss away your winnings on lucrative 'long' shots.

Signed

Ex ladbrokes bookie.
 
I only know of one full time gambler, he retired about two years ago and had a £50k pot to gamble with. He bets AND lays on the horses. It is a full time job going through all the forms, studying the stats, weather, jockeys. There are many factors. He will bet on 2-4 horses in a race depending on the odds and will look to make 10-20% and has to clear £300 per day to stay solvent.
He still does some contract work to top up the pot.

On the plus side, he does pass on some good tips to me every now and again 8)
 
rebel_with_a_cause said:
Some sage advice given to me by a bookie many years ago was "Don't gamble more than you can afford to lose and NEVER chase a win, you'll never catch it". Enjoy gambling if you want to do it but as has been said before, how many poor bookies are there?

Ironclad rules

1. Bookmakers love 'systems'. These guys consistently lose more than the average punter because a system (the bet plus one, the double up etc etc) do not work and encourages multiple bets.

2. Horses are rife with corruption anyway so the results are a bit of a lottery.

3. A bookmakers advantage at the dogs is approx 11% ( much more than other sports.)

4. Roulette cannot be beat. No matter how many books say it can. It cannot be beat. It is 100% scientifically impossible. If you win, it was luck, if you lose it was luck.

5. The worst value bet in football is picking the first half / second half result, well, apart from betting on Everton to make Europe :lol:

6. Poker is not classed as gambling in some areas of the world due to the level of skill involved. A skilled player will consistently beat a non skilled player therefore it cannot be a game of chance (some say).

7. Bookmakers do not know everything and the advent of the internet means a punter can get information as quickly as the oddsmakers. Information = money.

8. Blackjack can be beat but you need to work extremely hard just to earn a small percentage advantage over the house. Card counting gives approx 1-2% advantage. Every 100 quid wagered earns 2 quid.

If anyone else has any other tips post them please add.
 
Dontdreamit said:
2. Horses are rife with corruption anyway so the results are a bit of a lottery.



You can say that again! though having links to stables can help counter act it.

I love the racing tipsters that ask for 1-5% of winnings on their tips if they win. It's a no risk gamble for them as they do not risk their own money but get a % for naming a horse.
 

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