The first question that springs to mind when someone mentions gambling and professional in the same sentence is – can it be done? Can we actually make a decent living from gambling?
The true answer to this (and there are 2) is yes and no.
You will understand what I mean as you read through this book. You will also learn what separates the winners from the losers and the key elements that will make you a professional gambler.
The first point I must make very clear is the fact that there is no such thing as a professional gambler. The small percentage of people who do actually make a living through betting never actually gamble, they invest.
If you walk into a casino and start betting, you are 'gambling' and you will never make a living in a casino (not legally anyway). Gambling is when you take a risk, and you are always taking a risk in a casino because the odds are against you, therefore relying on luck to make money. If you toss a coin for a bet, you are gambling because the odds are 50/50 therefore either person has the same chance of winning and you have no advantage of knowing what the output maybe – heads or tails.
So how do people make a living through betting without gambling?
The successful punters make a calculated judgment on every bet they make, they will never bet unless they feel the odds offer good value and they never ever bet for the sake of it. Here they never even think about entering a Casino!
The key to success in betting is the ability to identify value bet situations where the odds available are greater than the true chance of winning and then to have the discipline to methodically bet only when these situations arise. Do this then all the laws of mathematics and probability dictate that in the long term, you will make a profit.
I have been making money through betting for a couple of years now and I refer to myself as a professional 'investor' not gambler. How many professional Lottery players or roulette players do you know ?? They are the gamblers.
Did you know that your chances of winning the UK national lottery are around 14 million to 1? However if you did manage to win you would probably get nowhere near £ 14 million pounds.