Most gamblers realize that becoming a professional isn’t an easy path. A successful pro must excel at a specific game and be disciplined in bankroll management and other areas.

Even still, professional gambling seems like a very desirable job. You need only look at multi-millionaire sports bettors, WSOP champions, and card-counting legends to get inspired.

Becoming a Professional Gambler – Choose Your Discipline We like to say that gambling is a lot like martial arts. You can be a black belt in Muay Thai, and a complete beginner at Jiu-Jitsu. The same goes for gambling – you can be a semi-pro level poker player, but not have the first clue about trading the financial markets for a profit.

1. The answer is a little different to you may expect! Professional gamblers share a common trait; not following the crowd. In this Q & A session, Caan answers.
2. In Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23 (1987), the Supreme Court established the professional gambler standard: 'If one's gambling activity is pursued full time, in good faith, and with regularity, to the production of income for a livelihood, and is not a mere hobby, it is a trade or business.'
3. Professional gamblers gamble for a living. While education is available, most training happens on the job. Learn how to become a professional gambler, the training required, professional gambler job description and how much you can earn by gambling professionally.
4. If you are or want to be a professional gambler this is going to happen everyday, SO FORGET ABOUT IT. If you can't handle it you have almost zero chance of success. Pull the Trigger: When you have the advantage you must be able to make the appropriate bet. If you look at money in terms of what it could buy you, you're in the wrong business.

Being a pro definitely has its highs, including fame and fortune. But it also has plenty of downsides that must be considered too.

That said, I’m going to cover the highs and lows of being a pro gambler and finish by concluding if it’s a worthwhile pursuit.

Best Aspects of Being a Pro Gambler

Professional bettors enjoy a number of general advantages and benefits that are specific to their chosen game. The benefits discussed below apply to most forms of pro gambling.

Win Profits From Entertaining Games

The average person goes to casinos knowing full well that they have a solid chance of losing. After all, the casino holds an edge in all of their games.

Nevertheless, these people visit casinos and gamble for the sake of entertainment. While they hope to win, they’ll still get plenty of thrills even if they lose.

But just imagine being able to play the same games, only with an edge.

As I’ll cover later, this profession isn’t always as glamorous as it seems, but it’s exciting enough to keep many pro gamblers engaged in their job.

Be Your Own Boss

Being your own boss lets you set your own hours and decide your schedule. You don’t have somebody else clocking your 10-minute break or limiting you to half-hour lunches.

Those who gamble for a living get to enjoy this very perk. They can enter the casino or log in online whenever the mood strikes and stop playing when they’ve had enough for the day.

Depending upon the game, some points of the day are more advantageous than others. For example, many online poker pros work during evening hours and weekends when many recreational players are online.

But even in these cases, professionals have some degree of control over their schedule. They can choose to take a night off when they need it and set their hours as necessary.

You Control Your Destiny

Most forms of employment don’t give you a true chance to move up the ladder. You may be able to get a promotion after a few years, but you’re still at the mercy of your boss or whoever’s making such decisions.

Gambling, on the other hand, is a wide-open affair. You can improve your situation by studying your profession and becoming more skilled.

Of course, there are limitations to how much you can move up in the gambling world based on your bankroll. You can’t expect to consistently beat $1,000 buy-in tournaments and daily fantasy sports (DFS) on a consistent basis if you only have $5,000.

By and large, though, being a professional gambler gives you greater control over your destiny than most regular jobs.

Virtually Unlimited Earning Potential

I’ll reiterate again that some limitations apply to moving up the ladder in gambling. But the good news is that your earning potential is still almost limitless.

Nobody is stopping you from gradually accumulating a massive bankroll through sports betting and one day making six- or seven-figure wagers. Likewise, no one can prevent you from becoming a high-stakes poker player one day.

The key is having the patience and discipline to reach for higher and higher levels. While you may not ultimately make it to the top, you can at least improve your standing and win more money.

Become Famous

Some forms of gambling give you a platform for gaining fame. Poker, blackjack, daily fantasy sports, and sports betting have all seen certain players become well known.

Poker has especially created a number of minor celebrities. Players like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, and Dan Cates have all gained some degree of international fame for their success.

Certain members of the MIT blackjack team became infamous through their card-counting exploits and even had a mainstream movie made about them.

Other counters like Ed Thorp, Al Snyder, Ken Uston, and James Grosjean are also blackjack legends. You may not necessarily set out to be famous when embarking on a professional gambling journey, but it can be an interesting byproduct if you become good enough.

Travel to Interesting Places

Card counters and poker players may find themselves traveling to exotic destinations in their line of work. This especially comes into play with poker because major tournaments are held throughout the world.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), for example, is held at Paradise Island (Nassau), Bahamas. The Aussie Millions is staged in Melbourne, Australia, annually.

As for card counters, they often go where the games are good. If they’ve been thrown out of too many Vegas casinos, they may find more success in Europe or the Caribbean.

Of course, not every gambler wants to travel as part of their job, because it takes time and a portion of their bankroll. But those who do enjoy seeing the world will like this aspect.

Have a Cool Job

As a gambling pro, you’ll receive lots of questions from other people. They may even pick your brain about how to become a professional themselves.

This line of work isn’t common, such as being a truck driver, working in a factory, or being a salesman.

You may sometimes find yourself the center of attention at gatherings when others find out that you gamble for a living.

Satisfaction of Being Among the Best

Again, few get the chance to play casino games or other forms of gambling professionally. Even if you only last in this field for 1-2 years, you’re still far better than the average gambler.

Any type of game you play will be a competitive affair. You’ll especially face resistance in player-versus-player games like poker and DFS.

If you embrace studying strategy to improve your skills, then you’ll fare well against opponents. With the right work ethic, you may even ascend to the top of your respective game.

Worst Aspects of Being a Pro Gambler

The advantages discussed above show why people aspire to make a full-time living through gambling. But what many of the same bettors don’t take into account is that there are some serious downsides to this type of work.

You may ultimately find that the pros outweigh the cons, but you’ll still want to be aware of the following drawbacks before throwing yourself into the matter.

Being a Pro Can Make Gambling Boring

Nobody randomly decides that they want to gamble for a living. They instead start out playing a fun casino game and decide that they’ve found a potential dream job.

But what may seem fun and exciting at first can become a drag. As a professional, you’re no longer gambling for fun.

You’re instead constantly looking for favorable opportunities and ways to maintain your edge. While this can still be rewarding, it’s not the same as visiting the casino once per week whenever you feel like it.

Poker is a great example of how boring professional gambling can be. The pros are often called “grinders” because they spend hours playing hand after hand and grinding out profits.

The rewards can be well worth the effort, but it may not seem so when you’re playing up to 12 hours per day in a multi-table tournament.

Income Isn’t Steady

Gambling is the total opposite of a nine-to-five job. You don’t punch in and earn X amount of dollars per hour.

Your income is based on a combination of your skills, how many hours you play, and if luck is going your way. The luck factor is especially tough to deal with because it means that you never know how much you’ll make in any given week.

Those who play in big DFS and poker tournaments especially know the difficulty of predicting their income. These gamblers rely on huge scores, which come very inconsistently in larger tourneys.

Downswings Are Common

Every form of gambling is subject to a degree of chance, no matter how good you are. You’ll be riding high when you’re playing well and luck is in your favor.

Unfortunately, you also go through periods where you can’t catch a break. You may make a lot of seemingly good sports bets, only to continue losing again and again.

These downswings can certainly be depressing. However, they’re something you must be fully prepared to deal with when gambling for a living.

You Need a Large Bankroll

You won’t make much money through gambling if you don’t have a big bankroll. After all, your bankroll determines how large of stakes you’ll be able to play for.

You don’t have to compete in DFS tournaments with four-figure buy-ins or poker cash stakes worth $200/$400 just to be successful, but you do need enough money to cover fairly high limits and your bills.

$50 sports bets and $10 buy-in DFS contests aren’t going to cut it. You instead want a bankroll worth thousands of dollars so that you can make the type of bets that’ll bring in serious profits.

Must Maintain Skills to Succeed

Just because you become a professional bettor doesn’t mean that you maintain this status forever. You instead need to work on your skills so that you can improve, or at least remain at the same level.

You’re not guaranteed a tomorrow with card counting, esports betting, poker, or any other legitimate gambling profession. If your abilities erode, then your chances of winning also go down the tubes.

You definitely want to study your respective game in order to keep up. Unfortunately, this means putting more work in away from the gambling side.

Hard to Stay Disciplined

Earlier, I covered how gambling can become boring when you have to do it every day. This problem can cause you to become undisciplined and take unnecessary risks.

You may start out with every intention of doing the right thing and placing bets with positive expected value. However, your plans can go off the rails after you’ve been playing poker professionally for three years and are bored with the matter.

Many poker pros make prop bets with each other because they want to spice up the action. They get tired of playing numerous hands and want to try a different type of gamble with each other.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a fun weight-loss bet or challenge on how many lunges one can do. But players should never make the type of wagers that could put their career in jeopardy.

Travel and Casino Life Can Become a Grind

Earlier, I discussed how traveling can be a perk for professional gamblers. Those who’ve always dreamed of going to Europe, the Caribbean, or elsewhere will appreciate where gambling can take them.

But traveling also becomes a drain, especially when one has to do it often. Many poker tournament pros tire of constantly being on the road.

Even if you don’t have to go far to gamble, simply spending hours in the casino is also a grind. Card counters and live poker pros know this all too well.

Some Look Down Upon Professional Gamblers

Having an interesting job as a pro gambler is good to some degree. However, you also have to consider that general society frowns upon this profession.

The average person doesn’t realize that you’re making money through skill. They instead envision you as a degenerate gambler who sits around drinking and smoking cigars.

This stereotype is no longer as true today, but that doesn’t stop many people from seeing professional gamblers as degenerates.

You’re Not Contributing to Society

You probably won’t get much fulfillment out of gambling when considering that you’re not producing anything substantial. Instead, you’re merely winning money off the casino or other players.

Many poker pros have cited this aspect when they retire from the game.

The same ex-grinders often find work in a field where they’re actually fulfilling a goal beyond just earning money.

You May Not Develop Meaningful Relationships With “Coworkers”

One benefit to working at a regular company is that you can develop friendships with your coworkers. You may even find yourself hanging out with them beyond the workplace.

Some gamblers have developed the same relationships to a certain degree. However, not everybody appreciates rubbing elbows with fellow gamblers on a daily basis.

Hard to Maintain a Work-Life Balance

The problem with making your own hours is that it’s hard to figure out where your personal life ends and your job begins. You have to gamble whenever a favorable opportunity presents itself, or leave profits on the table.

If you’re a DFS pro who makes most of your money through NFL games, then you’ll need to spend a lot of time on Friday and Saturday crafting your lineups. This is a point when you have the most information possible to make decisions.

Likewise, many online poker pros play during European evening hours. This is the time when the largest number of recreational poker players is online.

This sort of lifestyle creates problems when trying to maintain non-poker friends and a relationship with a significant other. The difficult work-life balance of gambling is another reason why many end up quitting the profession.

Is It Worth Becoming a Pro Gambler?

You really need a passion for whatever game you’re playing — at least in the beginning. Having this feeling gives you fuel to continue learning and excelling in your chosen game.

If you enjoy DFS then you not only need to like creating lineups and watching sports but also researching players and in-depth stats.

You can’t be successful when you just enjoy the fun parts and forget the rest.

Of course, you may eventually lose this passion after years of playing a specific game. Any of the downsides that I covered earlier can eat away at your desire to gamble for a living.

But you’ll only know this if you try becoming a professional in the first place. The reverse side is that you might grow to love whatever game you’re playing and embrace it for decades.

You, therefore, have to evaluate how much you really like gambling before jumping head-first into it. Try gradually increasing the number of hours you spend with a particular game to see if you still have the same feeling or if it begins fading.

I definitely don’t recommend that you go down the professional gambling path without the proper bankroll. You won’t have enough money to survive gaming’s volatility.

How To Become A Professional Football Gambler

• A card-counting team, for example, is advised to start out with at least $20,000 to $25,000. They only have around a 1% edge, meaning they’ll suffer losing sessions almost as often as they win.
• A poker or DFS tournament player should have around 100 buy-ins for their respective stakes. Big tourneys are extremely volatile, meaning one needs a large number of buy-ins while they’re waiting for sizable scores.

You also need to be okay with the lows of professional gambling discussed here. Ideally, you want to feel like the pros outweigh the cons.

Conclusion

Being a pro gambler isn’t as glamorous as it’s made out to be in the movies. You won’t constantly be involved in dramatic games or win six or seven figures on a regular basis.

Instead, this job is about getting an edge, maintaining it, and slowly grinding out profits over time. As long as you know and accept this going in, then you may be right for this profession.

Of course, everything begins with having the necessary skills to win on a regular basis. You can’t call yourself a card counter or pro esports bettor when you lose over half your money.

You need to dedicate yourself to learning strategy and improving your skills. With enough time and effort, you may eventually have what it takes to succeed.

Gambling as a pro definitely has its benefits. You can set your own hours, control your destiny, have an interesting job, and win lots of money.

However, this profession also comes with drawbacks. Your favorite game can suddenly become boring, the income is volatile, you have to maintain your skills, and travel may become a regular thing.

Not everybody is cut out for this line of work. That’s why so few people actually gamble for a living. But if you want to be a pro bad enough, then the opportunity is there in several games.

Every gambler has thought about what it’d be like to earn a living through casino games. This spawns visions of making a 6-figure salary, feasting on comps, dressing like James Bond and traveling the world.

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But is being a professional gambler really this lucrative?

Let’s begin discussing the matter by defining what it means to be a pro. You and I will also cover the salaries that pro gamblers make in different games.

How Do We Define a Professional Gambler?

The term “professional gambler” is sometimes used interchangeably for both people who earn part-time and full-time income through gambling.

This makes sense because both groups have the skills to earn long-term profits. Therefore, you can technically be considered a pro gambler as long as you’re making profits of any kind throughout the year.

But I keep a much tighter definition of a professional gambler.

A true pro not only makes profits through gambling, but enough to pay all of their living expenses. This includes rent (house payment), utilities, car payment (transportation), insurance, meals, clothes and anything else deemed necessary.

A semi-professional is somebody who makes enough to supplement their income, but doesn’t earn full-time living through gambling. I’m only going to cover full-time professional gambler salaries in this post.

What Casino Games Offer the Chance to Make a Living?

The gambling world doesn’t offer an abundance of opportunities to make a living, but there are a few different games where you can earn some nice profits.

Here’s a list of the most common games that you can make long term profits with:

• Blackjack card counting
• Daily fantasy sports (DFS)
• Poker
• Sports betting
• Video poker

Blackjack and video poker both see you try to win money directly from the house.

Casinos do everything in their power to hinder successful card counters. This includes using continue shuffling machines, multi deck shoes and watching for counters.

Anybody who’s caught counting cards is often kicked out of the casino and banned. This is why it’s so important for card counters to blend in with normal players.

Casinos don’t usually worry about advantage video poker player. In fact, some games are set up to offer positive expected value (+EV) to players who use perfect strategy.

Another problem is that it’s now harder than ever before to find video poker games offering over 100% payback like Deuces Wild (100.76% payback), Double Bonus (100.17%) and Double-Double Bonus (100.07%).

DFS and poker both see you compete against human opponents. The house merely takes a small cut of tournament fees or cash game pots (poker).

Sportsbooks create lines in an effort to get equal betting action on both sides. The sportsbooks make their money by taking 10% vigorish (juice) from the losing group.

Every form of advantage betting has its pros and cons, but the key is that each of these activities offers the chance to make a full-time living.

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Salaries for Professional Gamblers in Different Games

Card Counting

People have been making a living through card counting since the early 1960s, and despite all the obstacles that casinos have put in players’ way, it’s still possible to earn profits with card counting today.

You need a sizable bankroll in order to properly spread your bets and survive variance. The bare minimum you should aim for is $20,000, but it’s better to have closer to $50,000.

How much you make depends upon several factors, including the following:

• Skill level – Successful counters have between a 0.5% and 1.5% edge on casinos.
• Hands per hour – 50 to 200 depending upon dealer speed & table size.
• Bet spreading – Difference between your lowest and highest bet.
• Deck penetration – The further into the shoe you get, the more confidence you can bet with.
• Counting system – Some systems are more accurate than others.
• Game rules – You want the best rules possible in order to lower the standard house edge.
• Tips – $5 per hour for the dealer is standard.

Now, let’s set up an example by creating variables behind your counting session:

• You have a 1% edge based on the rules, your skill level and using the Hi-Lo counting system.
• The dealer is dealing 100 hands per hour.
• Your minimum bet is $25, and you spread up to $175 during favorable counts (i.e. 1 to 7 spread).
• You get 70% deck penetration before the shoe is reshuffled.
• You tip $5 per hour.

Here’s how this example would play out in terms of profits:

• Your average bet is worth $50 ($25 minimum; spread up to $175 for favorable counts).
• $50 average bet x 100 hands = $5,000 in hourly bets.
• 5,000 x 0.01 edge = $50 hourly win.
• $50 hourly win minus $5 tip = $45 hourly profit.

Some counters make $100 or more per hour by improving their edge up to 1.5% and/or increasing bets, but many players are happy with a $45 per hour rate to start with.

The final step is to figure out how many hours you’ll play and convert this into an annual salary. Here are a few different figures on how much you’d make per year:

• $45 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks = $93,600 per year
• $45 x 30 hours per week x 52 weeks = $70,200 per year
• $45 x 20 hours per week x 52 weeks = $46,800 per year
• $100 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks = $208,000 per year

The last figure shows what’s possible for a really good card counter who makes $100 per hour. The $45 calculations show that even decent counters can make good money.

The keys, though, include keeping an accurate count amidst casino distractions and blending in with normal players.

Daily Fantasy Sports

DFS is the newest game that offers skilled gamblers an opportunity to make money.

Daily fantasy sees you pay an entry fee to enter contests and compete against other players. The goal is to create lineups that score the most points and rank the highest in tournaments.

Daily fantasy sports experienced a big boom in 2015, thanks to clever marketing campaigns that make it seem like any sports fan can win.

The truth, though, is that only a small percentage of those who play actually win. A McKinsey study from 2015 showed that 1.3% of daily fantasy baseball players collect 91% of the winnings.

Despite these long odds, many people still enjoy trying to win in daily fantasy, but what exactly can you expect to win if you’re among the small percentage of DFS pros?

The potential for big winners is there for the most skilled daily fantasy players.

Saahil Sud, profiled in a WBUR piece, said he made over $3 million in profits in a single year. Former poker pro Aaron Jones switched over to DFS and won a DraftKings contest worth $5 million in early 2016.

Of course, the average professional DFS player doesn’t earn quite this much. To determine a standard DFS salary, let’s consider the following factors:

• Entries per day— Most DFS pros enter several hundred contests every day.
• Stakes – Typical entry fees range anywhere from $1 up to $1,000.
• Fees— DFS sites tack on a 10% fee to each buy in, which is where their profits come from.
• Skill level— Some pros have a bigger edge than others.

Now, let’s input variables to come up with an average daily profit:

• 300 entries per day
• $100 + $10 (fee) average buy in
• 300 x $110 = $3,300 daily fees
• You’re playing for $3,000 after subtracting fees
• Expected value based on skill is 115%
• $3,000 x 1.15 = $3,450 winnings
• $3,450 – $3,300 = $150 in daily profits

If we multiply $150 by 365 days, you’ll earn an annual salary worth $54,750.

Of course, DFS is filled with variance, and you won’t always feel like you’re on the path to a solid $55k per year. This is why it’s key to have a large enough bankroll to survive the ups and downs.

Poker

Poker has long been one of the most viable options for becoming a professional gambler. The reason why is because you’re competing against other opponents instead of the house.

It’s tougher to make a living in poker these days because strategy is more prevalent. Online poker gives players a chance to rapidly accelerate their learning curve by seeing more hands per hour.

You can still become a profitable player with enough hard work and experience though. In fact, some pros still make six or seven figure annual incomes with the game.

However, the vast majority of pros these days earn between $40,000 and $100,000 per year.

Poker is unique in that there are essentially two types of professionals: tournament and cash game pros.

Most rounders mix up their play between both platforms. However, the majority of poker pros also specialize in either tourneys or cash games.

Let’s look at the different considerations for cash vs. tournament play:

Cash Games

• Profit measured in big blinds (BB) made per hour.
• House takes 5% rake from cash game pots for running games.
• More control over annual salary than tournaments.

Tournaments

• Profit measured by rate of return (ROI) on buy ins.
• House adds 10% fee to buy ins (e.g. $10 + $1 fee).
• Only top 10 15% of field makes money.
• Tournaments have more variance than cash games.

A cash grinder needs to figure out what stakes they must play to make a comfortable living based on BB earned per hour.

An example is if you played $10/$20 no limit Texas hold ‘em and made 1.5 BB per hour. This equates to $30 per hour, $1,200 per week for a 40-hour workweek and $62,400 for a full year.

A tournament pro must decide what buy-in level they must choose to make a high enough ROI to live comfortably.

If you spend $20,000 on tourney buy-ins in a week and make $22,000, then your RIO is 10% ([22,000 20,000 / 20,000). This means that you’ll earn a $10 profit for every $100 you spend on tournament buy-ins.

How To Become A Professional Online Gambler

One more consideration here is whether you’ll dedicate the bulk of your time towards live or online poker.

Online cash games and tourneys offer more volume because you can play multiple tables. Plus hands and tournaments go much faster, giving you an opportunity to boost your hourly wages.

Another Internet poker advantage is that you cut out extra expenses like traveling, hotel stays, meals and dealer/waitress tips.

Nevertheless, many players find that their win rate is higher in live games. The most lucrative tournaments are found in land-based casinos, too, such as the World Series of Poker events.

Sports Betting

The good thing about sports betting is that you don’t need to have a massive win rate just to book profits.

Sportsbooks only take 10% juice from the losing side. This differs from DFS and poker tournaments where you must pay an extra 10% fee regardless of whether you’re a winner or loser.

The juice can be lowered or adjusted based on where the sportsbook is trying to push action, but 10% is generally the amount you’ll see taken from the losing side.

The end result is that you need to win 52.38% of your bets to break even. How do we arrive at this number?

You need to bet $11 to win $10 when the juice is 10%. You must win 11 out of every 21 bets to break even at this rate, which is a 52.38% winning percentage (11/21).

This doesn’t sound intimidating when compared to how good you must be at poker or DFS to win long term, but it’s also really tough to continually find value because sportsbooks are so good at setting lines.

Professional sports bettors usually win anywhere from 53.5% to 55.0% of the time.

Some handicappers brag about higher win rates ranging from 58.0% to 60.0%, but these figures are almost impossible to sustain long term.

Pro sports bettors must be very adept at handling their bankroll since they’re dealing with such a small profit margin. They also need to make larger wagers than the average bettor to increase potential profits.

The general rule of thumb is to never bet more than 1% to 2% of your bankroll on any given contest. If you have a $100,000 bankroll, you’d never put more than $2,000 of this on any single event.

Some sports bettors like Billy Walters and Haralabos “Bob” Voulgaris have made millions of dollars with this model. But the average bettors are looking at more modest salaries ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 annually.

The key to figuring out how much you can make involves determining your ROI just like a poker pro. For example, if you make $10,000 worth of bets during a week and earn back $10,500, then you have a 5% ROI for the week ([10,500 10,000 / 10,000).

You then need to expand this to cover an entire year. Let’s look at an example below:

• You place $1,000,000 worth of bets during the year.
• You win $1,060,000.
• Your profit is $60,000 for the year (1,060,000 1,000,000).
• Your ROI is 6% ([1,060,000 1,000,000] / 1,000,000).

A 6% ROI is extremely high for sports betting, but this is just a simple way to show how to calculate your ROI and salary.

Video Poker

Video poker has good and bad things going for it these days.

The good news is that you can virtually guarantee yourself profits if you become a skilled enough player. The downside is that there are fewer and fewer +EV machines in casinos today.

Your best bet is to find a full-pay Deuces Wild machine, which pays back 100.76%. You also need to take advantage of as many double and triple comp point promotions as you can.

You can find which land based casinos offer full pay Deuces Wild by visiting the site vpFREE2.com.

Once here, navigate to the “Casinos” tab and look in the Las Vegas section. I see 13 different casinos that offer full pay Deuces Wild at the time of this post.

Unfortunately, the highest coin denomination for these machines is only $0.25. In past decades, you could find $1 denomination machines that quadrupled your potential profits.

Even under the right conditions, the odds of you making a good living with video poker are slim. Let’s run the math on what you can expect:

• You play full pay Deuces Wild (100.76% payback).
• You bet 5 coins per hand on a quarter denomination machine ($1.25 per hand).
• You play 1,000 hands per hour, which is extremely fast.
• The casino is running a triple loyalty point promotion.
• The casino comps 0.1% of your total bets, or 0.3% for triple points.
• 1,000 x 1.25 x 0.0076 = $9.50 regular hourly winnings.
• $1,200 total bets x 0.003 = $3.60 in comps
• You earn $13.10 per hour.

Even if you spend 50 hours in the casino, this only works out to $655 per week, and you’d earn $34,060 when we stretch this out for an entire year.

Most people can get by on this salary, but it’s far from what anybody envisions when becoming a professional gambler.

Conclusion

Being a pro gambler has some obvious benefits, including flexible hours, being your own boss and the ability to increase your income.

Some gamblers, such as Saahil Sud and Bob Voulgaris, have even gotten rich with their skills. Of course, you may be perfectly happy making mid 5-figures, as long as you get to enjoy the aforementioned benefits, but there are also some downsides to be aware of. These include risk, highs and lows, no sick days and the potential to lose everything.

It’s up to you to weigh the good and bad before ultimately deciding to pursue a professional gambling career.

The potential rewards can be great in the case of card counting, DFS, poker and sports betting, but you also have to be disciplined and good at handling risk.