8 Top Tips for Becoming a Professional Gambler in Horse Racing, Poker and Other Sports

Most folk are under the impression that professional gamblers have one bet, play one game of poker, or most other form of betting, and then collect the winnings and go back to their posh house for a few months rest, before having another gamble!!

I wish it was like that, but in legitimate life it is immensely different. I personally work 10-12 hours a day, 360 days a year, and still do a bit on the days off, including Christmas day. When you see professional poker players they are spending 3-5 days at a table in a tournament every week, sometimes sitting for 12 hours, and when they are not doing that, they are at home playing poker on the computer.

So if you are looking for a cosy life, do not take up gaming as a profession. Yes it can pay well, very well, but you need to put in a lot of work, and it can be 2-3 years before you are making any meaningful money. Anyone who tells you otherwise is undoubtedly lying just to get your funds.

When you see tipping advertisers stating things like "We made $26,000 to $100 stakes in the last 12 months", it looks sensational. However, they need to get your attention as a 1/8th ad in a paper costs around $500, and they need that money back before turning a profit. And how numerous average gamblers have $100 to bet, especially when you need a betting bank, and with $100 stakes, the cash you need before you even place one bet is around $3,500, any less and you can easily blow it all. Then divide the $26,000 by the $100 to work out how many points you make a year, and that is 260, then divide by 52 to see how many points profit a week, and that comes to 5pts a week. Wow!! If you are just starting off you are likely to only be using a realistic $5, so that is $25 a week average. That may not sound much but you have to learn to walk before you can run. If you cannot profit with 10c bets, how the hell will you profit with $100 bets?

Also think why quite a few tipsters advertise every day. This is because they have such a considerable turnover; they need to keep renewing the customer base. This does not always mean the tipster is rubbish, in various cases they may be profitable long term, but the average Joe Punter always wants profit NOW and every day, and average Joe points more than 5 points per week, whereas a full time professional would be happy with that.

If you are going to gamble to profit, then for the initial few months this should be your grooming were you will be doing a lot of work for little return, but you will also learn how to handle losing runs, how to cope with mistakes, and if it does all go incorrect and you lose the betting bank, you should have learnt a lot from it for as little loss as possible, as you should only ever bet what you can afford to lose, especially while proving to yourself you can profit. You may have a spare $10,000 available, but prove you can profit with a $1000 bank initial, and then add to the bank monthly.

So here are the 8 tips you need to learn, and stick to religiously if you want to stand a chance of ever making money from betting.

1. Patience: If you want big profits now, try the lottery. Building up you betting banks takes time a lot of time.

2. Betting Banks: If you do not have a betting bank to beginning with, and you are just betting from whatever is in your pocket, you will never make a profit. It is as simple as that. Most punters lie to themselves that they are breaking even. Do not do that, be truthful.

3. Staking: You see betting plans for sale on EBay, most of them may make you a few dollars quickly, but it is 100% guaranteed they will bust your bank as these are designed by amateurs who have no understanding of betting maths in the legitimate world. Always emergence with levels, if you cannot make hard cash with that simple staking plan you will not make funds with anything more complicated. Once you have proven over a few months you can turn a profit with level stakes, and then you can switch to each bet being between 1%-3% of the bank. Most professionals will beginning at 3%, but get it down to 1% as the bank grows.

4. Bank Management: Managing banks is not just staking, it also involves listing every bet on a spreadsheet so you can monitor things like average odds, strike rate, losing runs, etc. If you do not list every bet, you will have no idea where you stand, and no way of having data to look back and learn from.

5. Risk Management: Most people follow one tipster, or one system. This is usually suicide, you do not see the big boys in the city markets investing everything in one stock do you? No. They spread it around, and so should you. Use a number of systems, proven tipsters, method bets, etc. And ensure you have a separate betting bank for each (you can use the same betting account, as the spreadsheets you keep will advise you the amount which is in each bank).

6. Alcohol: NEVER drink while gaming, you will bet more than you should, you will bust banks, you will play bets you would never do when sober.

7. Forums: Join a forum where you can portion ideas, this can prove a powerful benefit, but make sure it is a decent one, and not full of idiots just spouting off how good they are!

8. Fun Bets: You are often told not to do any 'fun bets' if you pray to turn professional, but this will not happen, as it is hard to break old habits at maiden. The best way to treat fun bets is to handle them as you would any pro bets. Separate betting bank, list all bets, and it will not be long before you lose the bank and realise how wonderful your own tipping is!

This advice goes for betting in any country, on horseracing, greyhounds, soccer, NFL, poker, etc.

You can also find numerous free horseracing systems, staking systems, poker systems, on the web, ignore them, they are only free for a reason, as they lose money.

These days it is possible to receive horse racing software, poker software, etc that can assist you, they will only make you bankroll if you are already doing so, they just enhance your skills, not make them. Search the web for reviews on every product before parting with any money; ask people on forums which software is the best.