That is a tough (and maybe inappropriate) question. I am sure the vast majority of us dont have a job that adds any contribution to the society because this solely depends on how you define the society itself (are you talking about all people around the world, only poor people, ...).
So his profession may not bring any contribution to poor people  but he is able to feed his kids (thats a plain assumption that he has kids ), pay his bills and maybe gives him the opportunity to spend money twice a year for eg. a cancer research institute.

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Thanks for the elaboration, sounds plausible to me. Do you have any fixed intervall for lowering your stake, eg every second loss?
Additionally, you mentioned that you may take a few days off on a losing streak. Is there any fixed number of consecutive losses which makes you pause or are we talking about a gut feeling which tells you that you should rather stop playing for a while?

Just saw your edited questions.


Yes, my stakes are lowered with every bet I make. Every bet is considered a loss for the time being and the stake placed, will be deducted from my betting bank (I do this via an excel sheet). So a betting bank of 1000,- with a bet placed for 20,- Euro (2% per bet f.e.), will lower my bank to 980,-. Next bet will only be staked with 19,60 then. If the first bet is already decided by the time I place my next bet, I will recalculate my bank beforehand and if I maybe won that bet (lets say I had a net win of 25,- with it), my bank for the next bet will be 1025,- and the next stake will be 20,50 accordingly.


There is no fixed number for that. As anticipated by you, it's more a gut feeling that makes you feel you better take some time off and come back with a fresh mind afterwards. And hopefully better results

Well, what is a bluff in the end ? Part of poker is also reading your opponent. If you are good at it and have some indication, that your opponent has a rather weak hand (while you yourself have 72o), and you outplay him, I wouldn't call it a bluff per se. You just played the hand of your opponent in that case and didn't care about your hand.

At the final table in a tournament you might be down to 5 players and of course you loosen your range a bit then. An ok-ish hand like T9 is much more valuable against 4 players than it is against 8 players.

And position play is also a huge factor. Imagine you sitting on the button and everyone folding in front of you. You have Q8 and your opponent at SB has the exact same hand. You make a raise of 3BB to a) steal the blinds and if that doesn't work, you b) still have a playable hand. The small blind will most likely fold then, besides having the exact same hand. Now if you switch positions, you would be the one folding. You need a strong(er) hand to counter aggressiveness than you need to have to be the aggressor. Being aggressive with average to weak-ish hands is not bluffing then (for me), it's just taking advantage of the psychological dynamics and/or your ability to read your opponents.

But in the very end, you often have to pretend to have a strong hand while you maybe have not and we can call that bluffing, yes. And it's needed to win in poker, you can't have good hands all the time.

Maybe @Steamtyme could chime in and share his thoughts about bluffing.


Mixing your game is always good of course, because it makes it harder for your opponents to read you. The problem is, if you are a naturally born tight player, it's hard to be an aggressive player too AND be good at it. That is why I often say, you should mainly do the things you are comfortable with, but try to improve other areas step by step.


Yes, sure. Being financially well positioned helps with a lot of things. Not only poker, betting, working in general, but it gets you rid of a lot of mental headache as well.

It's a necessity, I can't imagine anyone out there being a winning player in any stakes without bluffing. Not only is it great when you actually get it through but there is value in being caught in a bluff as well. They are less likely to believe you the next time you actually have a winning hand and might call down with something weak. I believe that's why some people think it's a good idea to show the bluff at times when it gets through.

The trick is picking good spots and evaluating more the cards you think your opponent has rather than the opponent themselves for the most part. Obviously a tight player who only comes in with say AQ+ or TT+ is easy to bluff on a board that has 2 6 8 9 8 as they have probably missed their top pair and if they've checked down you could have bet the turn or river. This isn't most opponents though, you generally have to hope they understand what you are likely to have and if the cards fit that range push the action. Sure sometimes you get caught but like I said there is value there as well in your table image.

It can be nerve racking to bet 2 streets on a pure bluff but it can also be effective, as long as you are only using it a smaller percentage of the time. A lot of people loose their nerve on a bluff and don't fire on the river or they don't play the hand the same way they would if they actually had a good hand and that's where it falls apart.

First question answered here and third question answered here. I should maybe add some kind of glossary to the first post and I put it on my to-do list now.

For your second question: Not really. This unpredictableness (and with it not being able to plan anything longterm) is really annoying, I can unequivocally confess that. I am always a bit jealous of people, that regularly get their paycheck at the end of the month, can pay for everything with that money and all they have to do, is go to work five times a week. But they give up a good amount of their life and freedom for it, so in that regard I am then not jealous anymore.
During a heavy losing streak, thoughts of quitting and getting rid of the pressure go through your mind, but in the end it is what you love to do and hard work really pays off in betting. These thoughts vanish and vanished pretty fast in the end.


Adding to society is maybe more of a philosophical topic in the end, but I have to disagree with this part. Because not everyone is giving me that money freely. Recreational players know that this is just another hobby that costs some money like so many other hobbies do and more importantly they know when to stop. I don't have any numbers, but I think a huge amount of my money actually comes from addicted players and for these people gambling is no hobby anymore but a sickness. They don't play for fun and know they will most likely lose, they HAVE to play to feed their addiction. And while going after their addiction, they might feel some satisfaction, but every other moment, they are "not fine with that". So taking advantage of fun players is fine with me, taking advantage of other peoples sickness not so much. But what can you do. You will never know, since you don't see from whom that money actually comes and I am glad it is like that.


I don't plan my retirement in regards to gambling, why should I, it's fun Everybody better have a hobby, especially when you are retired. Just going to doctors and watching TV is not what I plan when I am old. I can imagine myself still betting with like 80, if still alive, because I love it.

Your question was probably more directed towards me retiring and doing things rich people do, because I got financially independent with my winnings from betting. I don't think I will ever be able to make (such) a fortune with betting and retire from "being a pro". As stated in the OP, I am no highroller and never was. And I have to regularly withdraw money to pay for my expenses, so compounding is not always easy (to up my stakes then accordingly). And it's the same for the people in my network. They maybe bought a little house, a little flat or a nice car, but other than that, they are not able to throw money around, but have a good income with a job they love.

The biggest misconception is really, that everyone thinks, pro gamblers are always filthy rich. And I have no idea where this illusion comes from tbh - these poker pros you see in TV are not the norm. There are basically no limits on how much you can earn with pro gambling, but there is also no limits on how much you can lose (well, when you are broke). Making your money with betting really isn't an easy task and there is lots of obstacles. And the golden times in betting are over, because the markets have matured so much. Lots of pro betting people are struggling nowadays. The longer a market exists, the more perfect it gets.

In big markets, where you can stake a lot of money, you only have a very little edge, if any. You will probably operate with a yield of 1.5% at best. So you would first have to turn over 1,000,000 to make 15,000. And all that with a proper money management.
In my cycling/winter sports days, I operated with 20-30% yield, but I could only stake peanuts compared to what you can stake in the big markets. So getting a huge turnover is not possible, you operate with a higher yield then and compensate the lower turnover with it. Being successful in these markets then leads to limits and you being shown the door.

I will take any bet, that I rather will (have to) quit betting at some point than becoming a millionaire with it.


I skipped the questions about the kids, since I don't want to talk about that in public, sorry

Well, the strategy is clear and can be found in this thread and all over the internet - value. So the basics everyone has to get familiar with on their own. As to my gambling style, my knowledge about certain sports and their dynamics, money management, tips and tricks, I am willing to share that with everyone, who wants to give it a try with pro betting. But people have to understand, that THEY have to do most of the work. I was always a fan of "learning by doing" and some lessons are only learned by doing (mistakes). I won't - and actually can't - give them a golden recipe and a rule book and they will be successful. You have to learn that from scratch and also find your own way, since my way might not suit them. So being kind of a mentor to someone only works to a certain extent.

I've noticed that it works the other way round as well. If you fold several hands in a row, your opponents might have an impression that you play only very strong hands, and because of that you can easily get away with bluff afterwards.


I think it's not only you, but any pro gambler should think this way. That's what makes the lives of some gamblers miserable, they hope to become a millionaire with their gambling.

I have played all odds in my career, from 1.01 to 1000. I usually don't care about the odds, as long as they have value, this might be a 3.00, but also a 1.05 can have value.

I like to play some higher odds, so I am mostly playing odds above 2.00. For prematch bets in H2H or over/under markets, I would stay in the 1.80 to 2.00 range though. I shifted my focus more on inplay trading now and there I am looking for high odds (lets say above 3.00) and try to hedge myself out of the market or reduce my liability, if it moves in favour.



Another user was asking a bit of the same before and I struggled to give him an answer, since I don't know what he is looking for with his betting.

So you would have to answer (yourself) these questions first:

Do you just want to bet for fun or make a living out of it ? With what amount would you be satisfied ?
How many bets do you (plan to) play on average (per day or week or month) ?

With a bank of $5000 you can already generate quite a good turnover. A 2% flat stake money management would allow you to stake $100 per bet. The NBA season is running for around 7 months, so lets make that 210 days and there is lots of games every day. If you are doing 5 bets a day on average (prematch and live), this would lead to a turnover of $105,000. Now I don't think you can have a huge yield with NBA, it's just too hard of a market to have a big edge, so you would probably work with a 1.5% yield. With the mentioned turnover and yield, you would make $1,575 per season. I disregarded compounding in this basic example, which would let you stake a bit more in the proceedings, if you win.

If you found a niche or specialized in some smaller league, you would probably be able to work with a 10% yield. This would result in a $10,500 profit then. But you might not be able to have those 5 bets per day in that niche.

Lots of things to consider in the end as you see

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You should never stop just because you have won amount X or lost amount X. You should stop, when there is no valuable bet no more.

@tyKiwanuka. What are your best recommendations for books to read to become a better gambler on sportsbetting and other gambling games?

Also, when will you start your own tipster thread hehehe?

If there's something like a script or cheat to let you win everytime in an online casino then they wouldn't share those methods and keep it for themselves instead of sharing to other strangers.

Most of them are probably malware or malicious script or just a gig to add revenue to their youtube channel's.