How to make $100,000/year gambling for a living

[jwvdcw]

Reading through it now, and I'm finding it kinda hard to read and not getting a lot out of it. For those that enjoyed and learned from it: What parts did you learn from? And how to you recommend I implement the advice given into my game? Any advice/thoughts/suggestions welcome. I'm specifically interested in becoming a better sports bettor.

[lostinthought]

The book is good at giving brief introductions to a good chunk of +EV opportunities in the gambling field. If you want to improve your sports betting, HTM100000 is a good intro, but you'll probably want to read some books specifically on sports betting.

Obviously, if you haven't learned poker, you should seriously consider it, as it is a very juicy EV situation right now.

[sublime]

I'm specifically interested in becoming a better sports bettor.

The 2+2 of Sports Betting (http://www.sharpsportsbetting.com)

[Andy B]

The easiest way to make money from sports betting is to make book. I am not for a moment suggesting that you do so.

[MarkD]

I have not read the entire 2+2 library but I remember that when I read this book I didn't think it was very good and I consider it to be the wosrt book that 2+2 has published that I have read.

It probably just wasn't for me but I can't imagine ever going back to it and I don't rmember it having much, if any, concrete advice.

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
The book is good at giving brief introductions to a good chunk of +EV opportunities in the gambling field. If you want to improve your sports betting, HTM100000 is a good intro, but you'll probably want to read some books specifically on sports betting.

Obviously, if you haven't learned poker, you should seriously consider it, as it is a very juicy EV situation right now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I play poker regularly....I was mainly interested in improving in the other 'games' the book talks about.

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
I have not read the entire 2+2 library but I remember that when I read this book I didn't think it was very good and I consider it to be the wosrt book that 2+2 has published that I have read.

It probably just wasn't for me but I can't imagine ever going back to it and I don't rmember it having much, if any, concrete advice.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I kinda agree. I think that its good for people who don't know much at all about every profitable game, but for most of us here who know a lot, its not all that useful. For example: most of us already know 'how' to count cards in blackjack, its just the doing it that is too risky/boring/not profitable enough. I find that I already know most of the concepts here, yet I'm still not very good at some of the other games.

[MicroBob]

if you're interested in sports betting or blackjack then you will need to get some of the information related to those games.
sharpsportsbetting.com (or whatever it is) and BJ21.com are the places to go.

there are a number of decent BJ card-counting books out there...and BJ21.com will have recommendations for the better ones (as will Sklansky talks BJ i suspect...although i havent read it).
the variance in BJ is extremely high though (much higher than poker) and the games aren't nearly as good as they once were. it's not the best of times to be a card-counter.

i'm not as keen on sports-betting.....but there are some who are doing decently at this. obviously a lot of books on this subject can only speak in generalities and even then still run the risk of being outdated so the experts' forum on this is probably the way to go.

i don't know the first thing about horse-racing...but i suspect there are many places to learn about this.


a lot of the other +EV stuff they mention really i think is just for the purposes of teaching you to look for and identify such situations.


i paged through the $100k book in a bookstore but didn't read the whole thing.
as i recall, there is some info on obtaining nice comps with near even-money bets that i found somewhat interesting. i'm not especially driven by getting a free room or dinner or concert or whatever...but some people are obviously.
i also recall that there is some general info on coupon-ing that i suspect is worthwhile IF you didn't already know that you can coupon-books at some casinos that result in +EV bets.


what it doesn't cover (i'm pretty sure it was written before the internet-gambling era) is internet poker-room and casino bonus-chasing which is probably the best +EV opportunity available today. not exactly worth $100k on it's own no matter how many casinos you hit.....but probably easier to make more money doing this then it is to try to hit the various coupon books in the B&M's these days (i believe B&M's don't give out as many coupons as they used to or they don't have as much EV as they used to).

[blownheadgasket]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm specifically interested in becoming a better sports bettor.

The 2+2 of Sports Betting (http://www.sharpsportsbetting.com)

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never really been impressed with this place. I've read the book and it serves a good purpose for someone that bets on sports - but the site is so-so. I think a seperate forum here would generate better discussion

[sublime]

I've never really been impressed with this place. I've read the book and it serves a good purpose for someone that bets on sports - but the site is so-so. I think a seperate forum here would generate better discussion

The site ( while not perfect) is IMO the BEST sports betting site available. As a matter of fact its not even close. As usual you have to strap on you boots and wade through the crap that most people talk about. Some of the better posters and people you want to seek out for advice:

StevieY
Goats
Fezzik (probably the best NFL handicapper around)
Overlay
ColinCaster

Side note: Bonus money can be VERY profitable. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 400 sportsbooks out there and most of them offer at least 10% to sign up.

As for the book itself Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong is so-so. It;s an interesting read, but is not really going to teach you ins and outs of making monery at sports.

[blownheadgasket]

I'll keep those guys in mind come this fall. Although I have my own rankings and systems, I always look for new ways to improve on them.

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm specifically interested in becoming a better sports bettor.

The 2+2 of Sports Betting (http://www.sharpsportsbetting.com)

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the link...didn't seem like a ton of posts made there, but I'll bookmark it and check it out come football season.

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
if you're interested in sports betting or blackjack then you will need to get some of the information related to those games.
sharpsportsbetting.com (or whatever it is) and BJ21.com are the places to go.

there are a number of decent BJ card-counting books out there...and BJ21.com will have recommendations for the better ones (as will Sklansky talks BJ i suspect...although i havent read it).
the variance in BJ is extremely high though (much higher than poker) and the games aren't nearly as good as they once were. it's not the best of times to be a card-counter.

i'm not as keen on sports-betting.....but there are some who are doing decently at this. obviously a lot of books on this subject can only speak in generalities and even then still run the risk of being outdated so the experts' forum on this is probably the way to go.

i don't know the first thing about horse-racing...but i suspect there are many places to learn about this.


a lot of the other +EV stuff they mention really i think is just for the purposes of teaching you to look for and identify such situations.


i paged through the $100k book in a bookstore but didn't read the whole thing.
as i recall, there is some info on obtaining nice comps with near even-money bets that i found somewhat interesting. i'm not especially driven by getting a free room or dinner or concert or whatever...but some people are obviously.
i also recall that there is some general info on coupon-ing that i suspect is worthwhile IF you didn't already know that you can coupon-books at some casinos that result in +EV bets.


what it doesn't cover (i'm pretty sure it was written before the internet-gambling era) is internet poker-room and casino bonus-chasing which is probably the best +EV opportunity available today. not exactly worth $100k on it's own no matter how many casinos you hit.....but probably easier to make more money doing this then it is to try to hit the various coupon books in the B&M's these days (i believe B&M's don't give out as many coupons as they used to or they don't have as much EV as they used to).

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think I'll ever really be interested in blackjack. It seems too boring and has too many short term swings. Add in the fact that you have to deceive the casino, and I'll stick to other games. I'll be honest- I'm mainly interested in sports betting because of the fun factor. I'm gonna do it no matter what, so I figure, I might as well put in the effort to get good and actually make a profit off of it. But I don't take it as seriously as poker. Poker's sole pupose for me is to make money. Betting football is fun 50% and making money 50%, but I'll still put in a solid effort to get good.

[Blarg]

Learn more about sports betting so you can take all your poker winnings and blow them in minutes or even seconds just like all those poker pros!

[sublime]

Learn more about sports betting so you can take all your poker winnings and blow them in minutes or even seconds just like all those poker pros!

While I know you said this in jest, betting on sports can be VERY +EV.

[lostinthought]

[ QUOTE ]
I have not read the entire 2+2 library but I remember that when I read this book I didn't think it was very good and I consider it to be the wosrt book that 2+2 has published that I have read.


[/ QUOTE ]

Have you read the Tournament Strategies by Suzuki?

[Matt24]

www.theprescription.com (http://www.theprescription.com)

the best sports betting forum around. Fezzik posts there and writes articles.

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
www.theprescription.com (http://www.theprescription.com)

the best sports betting forum around. Fezzik posts there and writes articles.

[/ QUOTE ]

thanks for the link..I'll check it out

[zelareka]

looks like fezzik does agree with Sklansky on one of his books..

-----

This guy has a great reputation for being one of "the" best poker expert. Sklansky is a prolific writer. He sure has a lot of time to spend writing and publishing.

Sklansky, IMO, is a tremendously overrated author. He may know what he is talking about in poker, but he is laughably weak in other areas such as sports betting. I have Sklansky books that literally have obvious mistakes seemingly every few pages. Sklansky talks about how he is a great expert, and how he was making the money betting sports. Yet he writes stone-cold square things like "when betting sides you need at least a two point difference from the correct line and the line presented to wager profitably". "Teasers are sucker bets", etc., etc. This guys sports' chapter are laughably weak chock full of awful mistakes.

What makes Sklansky very dangerous is that he does have the reputation, and he actully strongly believes he is competent at all this non poker stuff. When Sklansky wrote a recent book, he actually had the ego to try to defend himself saying something like "You need to remember that I can be trusted in my writings. Everything I write in my books is correct". Mind boggling. I can only laugh at this guy. I'm sure many chess Grandmasters likely read books written by A players and have similar reactions.

[David Sklansky]

Anything I wrote about the underlying theory of how plus EV sports bets might arise is true. Specific examples that once worked or didn't and now don't or do is not something that anyone can predict. If bookies were even half smart, sports couldn't be beat. The trick is to take advantage of whatever error they are making at the moment.

[jwvdcw]

"You need to remember that I can be trusted in my writings. Everything I write in my books is correct".

Although I'm not nearly good enough at sports betting to enter this debate, I will say that this is a pretty whacky quote(obviously made to look worse out of context, but whatcky nevertheless).