If you look at the people who make the most money in different areas of life, you see that they’ve been able to master a skill or develop an area of expertise. The same is true when you look at gamblers who are the most successful.
In order to become a master gambler, you have to identify the best place to focus your energy and put in enough work to become a better than most other gamblers.
Here’s a list of nine fast ways that you can start becoming a master gambler. You can pick and choose from this list, but in the long run, you need to learn everything in this article.
1 – Know What to Play
The most important thing you need to do to become a gambling master is identify the best gambling activities. When you evaluate all of the gambling options, you can quickly narrow down your choices to a handful of opportunities.
You want a gambling activity that lets you use strategy to alter the edge. This rules out any gambling activity that doesn’t allow you to use strategy.
The next thing to look at is what kind of return each game offers. Any gambling activity that starts with a return of less than 99% is too steep to overcome.
This leaves a short list of gambling activities to choose from if you want to master something that can pay off in profit. Blackjack, poker, sports gambling, horse racing, and possibly video poker are the only activities on the short list.
2 – Know What Not to Play
In the first section, you learned that it’s important to find the right gambling activity to focus on. Most gamblers focus on the wrong things.
It doesn’t matter how much you learn about some games and practice because you’re never going to beat them. The best roulette player in the world can’t overcome the edge they’re playing against. And it’s almost impossible to beat slot machines.
The list of gambling activities you need to avoid is long. In fact, this list is much longer than the list of activities you can realistically participate in if you want a chance to win.
I gave you a short list at the end of the last section. Any gambling activity that isn’t on that short list can safely be ignored.
The truth is that there are a few other particular situations where you might get an edge, but these are rare. These are so rare that it’s not worth the time to look for them until you learn how to master one of the beatable activities listed in the previous section.
3 – What Games Use Strategy?
A quick way to judge gambling activities is to determine if a game lets you use strategy. When you can use knowledge and strategy to alter the return, the game or activity is likely a great choice.
When a gambling activity is designed so that the outcome is 100% left to chance, the odds are that you’re never going to be able to do anything to win.
And don’t make the mistake of just looking at traditional casino games for strategy use. Games like video poker and poker have strong strategic elements, but non-casino gambling activities like poker, horse racing, and sports betting all give you the chance to use your brain power to influence your return.
4 – Don’t Play Too Fast
Until you master a gambling activity that gives you a real chance to win, you need to learn how to limit your losses. Casinos design games so they have an edge and so they can collect as many wagers as possible.
Consider a Game Like Slot Machines
The programs that run slot machines lock in a long-term win for the casinos, and they’re designed so you can play them at a fast rate of play. This makes the total amount of wagers that a slot machine can accept quite high, even if the wager amount for each spin is low.
If you want to limit your losses the best first step is to play slower. You have two options for slower play. You can play games where you control the speed in a land-based casino, or you can play online games where you control the speed for almost every game.
5 – Don’t Risk Too Much
Continuing with the theme of limiting your losses that I started in the previous section, the second way to lower your losses is to lower the amount you risk on each wager. What this means in simple terms is that you need to make the smallest bet amounts as possible.
This only applies to gambling activities where you don’t have an edge. When the casino has an edge, limit your wagers. When you have an edge, you want to risk as much as you can afford to without the risk of running out of money because of short-term variation.
When you play in a land-based casino, place the lowest wagers that you can. If you’re willing to play online or in mobile gambling establishments, you can make even smaller wager amounts.
6 – Get the Comps
Casinos that offer a rewards program basically give you free money, as long as you know how to use the program in the best way possible. This is something that you have to take advantage of when you have the opportunity.
The reason why I pointed out that you need to know how to use a rewards program the right way is because if you don’t, it can lead to more losses.
Rewards schemes are designed to get you to gamble longer than you planned or far longer than you should. You can earn more comps if you gamble more, so it’s hard not to fall into that trap. This is easy to avoid if you set limits before you start gambling and stick with them.
7 – Become a Sports Fan
Most gamblers think about casino games, but two of the best opportunities aren’t traditional casino games. I’ll cover the second opportunity in the next section.
Sports gambling is an activity that lets you compete against the house using your brain. You can access the same information as the sportsbooks, and if you can evaluate the available information better than the people setting the lines, you can make a profit.
It takes a lot of work to reach a profitable level betting on sports, but there are always opportunities to bet on games once you figure out the secrets.
8 – Is Poker in Your Future?
The second activity that offers a chance at consistent profit is poker. It also might be the most challenging activity to master, but once you master it, the profits can be huge.
When you play poker, you’re matching your skills against other poker players. This means that once you learn how to play better than most other players, you can consistently make money at the tables.
If poker is the game you choose, you need to pick one area to specialize in to get on the fastest path to profitability. Pick a specific poker variation, tournaments or cash games, and limit or no limit. You can always expand your options after you learn how to win where you specialize.
Most gamblers want to play real money Texas holdem, but you might be able to find even greater profit by specializing in a less popular variation like Omaha or Stud.
9 – Find an Advantage
Everything comes down to finding an advantage. Gambling operators survive on holding the advantage, and most gamblers do exactly what the business wants. But you don’t have to fall into the same traps as most gamblers.
Everything you’ve learned in this article is about how to find an advantage. Identify the best opportunity, and learn how to master the skills you need.
Whether it’s blackjack and card counting, evaluating sporting events, or dominating at the poker table, you have options. It’s all up to you to put in the time and effort to become a master.
Conclusion
To master any skill, you have to choose the right area to concentrate on and invest your time and energy. The same rule applies if you want to become a master gambler.
And if you want to become a master gambler, there are only a few games or areas that give you a realistic opportunity for profits in the long run. Unless you choose the right game, you’re doomed before you start.
In the end, everything comes down to advantages. You have to find an advantage over the house and learn how to exploit it. This is how you become a gambling master. Good luck!
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for GamblingSites.org since early 2016. …
