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How to Become a Successful Gambler

I hate when people refer to your successes in this business as luck. Yes, I admit there is small amount of luck that factors into your success but there is also a great deal of skill. There are a few major topics that if you can master, you will be a skillful gambler. These topics are: Being sport smart, knowing your audience, using odds to your advantage, and possibly the most important of them all: knowing when to stop.


Being Sport Smart
First of all to make it in this business you have got to be sport smart. You can't just walk into a casino or sit at home on your computer and randomly pick teams to win and cover spreads. You have to have a little backround first. Research the team's you are betting on. Look for injured players. Look for any key trades or moves in the team that would cause a controversy between players or have a positive affect on their play. Also look at the history of these teams when they have previously played each other. History loves to repeat itself. Most importantly, you must know the game. Be aware of who's hot and who's not.


Knowing Your Audience
Knowing your audience is key. This skill comes into play when you go to sit down at the random cash game at your nearest casino, or when you get together with your friends and play at your normal home game. To play a good game of cards and make some good money off it you need to put yourself in your opponent's shoes. If you are playing in a game with opponents you have not yet faced before, then play it slow at the beginning. Look for hints and tells that your opponents will do and say during the hand. Try to read their body and face expressions from when they first get their cards until they flip them over. This will help you hold or fold hands throughout the game. Once you sport a person's tell; you own them.


Using Odds to Your Advantage
I don't care if you like to bet on baseball, football, basketball, boxing, or even cicyling; it is in your best interest to use odds to your advantage! If you are not educated on what odds are here is a simple definition: a ratio of probability given to people placing a bet, or an advantage or handicap given to a person or team in a sporting contest, to equalize the chances of winning. Keyword: an advantage or handicap. Once you have researched your team use the odds given to or against your team to your benefit. One of my favorite tricks to do is parlaying the money line. The money line is a bet you can make that uses straight up odds. I like the money line because you do not have to lay out a point spread. Instead you lay out a bunch of money to make a little money. Or just the opposite. If you know that the Colts are going to beat the Cardinals on Monday night but you don't want to have to lay out 600 bucks to make 100 then parlay it with another heavy favorite, like the Patriots defeating the Bengals at home. The parlay will use odds in you favor and reduce your odds down to around 250 to make 100. This way you do not have to lay out a ton of cash just to make some pocket change.


Knowing When to Stop
I have known many of men who have really cashed in by playing smart and knowing when to stop. But I have also encountered even more many of men who just can't stop. When they're down they think they should bet more to win their money back. And then they end up betting more and more and going more and more in debt to the point where they've got nothing left in their pockets to bet with. To the point where gambling stops being just a game and having a good time. For people like this gambling becomes a deadly addiction and is something very, very hard to overcome. You do not want to become one of these people! Therefore you must know when to stop. Not just when you are down but also when you are up. If the cards aren't coming your way and you've already ran out of your buy-in plus more then it is time to call it quits. Everyone's got their good and bad nights, but the difference between you and the guy sitting next to you is that your bad nights will consist of little loss while his bad nights will consist of his wallet being emptied out. Same goes for when you have a good night. Once you are feeling good and have one a few nice pots you have to stop so that your winnings can overbalance your losses. If you can't figure out when to stop then you'll become just another good for nothing professional wannabe. But once you master these skills, you will become a successful gambler. And then that's where the fun really starts happening.