Misc Is there such a thing as a "professional" gambler? Are Advantage Players "professionals"?

Why the fuck would anyone care if they are called a "professional gambler" or not?

 

Bragging rights? I'm better than you buddy? Pissing on machines to leave their scent and protect their territory?
I don't know but it really doesn't impact me at all in the real world.

 

by proclamation

and I made almost 4k in sports betting last year.....so I am a "professional"

I proclaim it....and nobody can strip me of the title. There is no over-seeing authority to let me in or kick me out.
Even if I smoke fags I will always be a professional sports bettor.

 

I don't think any of us do care. I certainly don't. I am just arguing Larry's deciding that he can change the definition of the word.

Larry, you goofball.

When you play football in the street as a kid, you are playing. When you play football and get paid...you are a professional football player.
When you dress up and play cowboys as a kid, you are playing. If you get paid you are a professional cowboy. (With the rodeo in town this week, I see the professional rodeo association and professional cowboys association logos and references all over town).

The fact is (according to all the dictionaries) when a person makes a living doing something, they are a professional whatever.

And yes, there are and it is not uncommon to hear people referred to as professional hairdressers, professional waiters, professional actors (and that doesn't mean TV or movie star), professional writer, or even yes professional dog walker. How about "the world's oldest profession"

I am sorry if you don't like that or don't approve. You can't change the definition of the word because you don't like how it is being applied. You don't have the authority to add extra qualifications like some sort of official (or non- official) body or organization overseeing the "profession" in question.

 

oH daddy I am bringing home my new boyfriend..we will be getting married ,,he is a professional so he will be a good provider

Really....WHAT PROFESSION.???? .

he is a gambler.....he made 1,753.50 last year. He is not just a gambler...but he is a PROFESSIONAL GAMBLER dear dad.

Dad: you call that a "professional"........

Oh yes daddy.....its in the dictionary

BWAAAAHHH HAAAAAA HAAA

 

You can repeat (as you so often do) the same line or example as often as you like. It don't change the fact that you are wrong. All it does is confirm the definition of insanity. Just repeating the same statement or argument over and over, just comes off as the mental patient sitting in the corner babbling to himself.

I am not a mental health "professional", nor did I sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but this whole argument is really about one thing and one thing only. You have distain for people that have followed their dream and are making living doing something you wish you had done. You made your choice and took the safe route....so just stop being a hater. You can deny it....but it is crystal clear to everyone that reads your posts, that they are fueled by jealousy and regret.

 

4 GRANDMOTHERS SITTING IN A KNITTING CIRCLE

thelma: my eldest grad daughter is doing well she married a professional
Jessie: what does he do
thelma: He is a heart sugeon
Jessie....my eldest grandson married a professional too...she is pharmacist
Jackie: my eldest grandson married a professional as well.....she is a greeter at walmart
Thelma: thats not a profession
Jackie: oh yes it is....its in the dictionary
Barbara: (who has been quiet until now).....Jackie you fucking cunt....we dont live our lives guided by dictionary entries. There is common accepted usage. We speak and communicate based on the meaning of words today.
Originally, awful and awesome were synonymous......you can call someone awful and use the dictionary as a crutch ....but mentally sane people dont do that. Only people with an agenda.

 

I took the "safe route" and after 38 years making a safe steady salary, and accumulating 401k with company matching, and investing wisely in mutual funds and 2 homes, with the satisfaction of raising a successful family.........I retire at 61 and am free to live as I like...do things I like to do and I am supposed to, according to you...look back and think I would be in a better position today if I gambled full time instead? You are delusional.
My kids never had to hear the words"this year we wont be going on vacation because daddy has had a bit of a losing streak at "work". Oh yeah..I am so so jealous of that lifestyle. The uncertainty of the present and the future. Yeah that wpould have been so much "fun".

Maybe if I was a selfish self absorbed person living by myself without other joys abnd responsibilities....a lifestyle of uncertainty would be fine.

But then we come to old age.....and how much fun would that be when I had to pay the piper. When I didnt have 38 years worth of 401k, and 38 years on nice regular paychecks in the bank or paying off a mortgage. So no I dont look back now and think things would be better today if I only declared myself to be a full time gambler and put the moniker "professional" before my job description to make myself feel good.

So you are way off on that one.

As far as I am concerned full time or part time gamblers can call themselves anything they want
professional APs
princes of pushing buttons
kings of the casino
executive casino players
professional gamblers
surgeons of slots


its just a self appointed title.

And cashiers at walmart can put on their tax return
executive cashier
professional cashier
queen of cahsiers
professional retail product assistant
professional merchandise scanner

its all self appointed self proclaimed nonsense...making the words meaningless. You can run to the dictionary and make claim that the words used were acceptable .....but in the end the folks are just full or part time gamblers.....or full or part time cashiers.

According to you and your dictionary....anyone who earns a regular salary is a professional....making the word totally meaningless in the common usage of the english language

or as Barbara would say.....you fucking cunt..we dont live our lives revolving around a dictionary

And I do think that all fags should be smoked outdoors.

 

a self proclaimed "professional gambler"/...whether it be sports bettor, or machine button pusher can never be stripped of his title.
He can keep those business cards......FOREVER

 

I don't really care about the title. But if I'm reading an article or whatever and someone is described as a professional gambler, poker player, sports bettor, etc., that tells me something about that person.

 

Whether or not you decide to murder LGBT's has no bearing whatsoever on the matter at issue.

 

So this is about whether some entity can withdraw one's credentials, which were presumably granted by the entity in the first place? By that criteria, nobody with tenure is a professional. And have you witnessed how rarely teachers, or police, or nurses, or doctors, have their credentials revoked? If the percent revoked is infinitesimal, then how is the potential for credential revocation a criteria for anything?

 

You know, I happen to have read some stuff about police de-credentialization a few weeks ago, so I'll pass it along. There are roughly 1.1 million full-time local and state law officers in this country, not counting part-timers. In the last five years, maybe 1000 have lost their credentials due to sexual assault and other sex stuff. I'm going to guess, and I do not know the numbers, but I'm going to guess maybe twice that many had their credentials revoked for being overly physical on the job. Add in another thousand or so for various and sundry, and you have 4000 in five years out of 1.1 million (not counting part-timers) who had their credentials revoked. That's about 800 a year out of 1.1 million. So that's fewer than 1 in 1000 who were de-credentialed each year.

If your definition of professional relies on the threat of de-credentialization, well, that's just lame, because very few credentialed people actually lose their credentials.

Then we have the fact that, according to this view, anybody who has tenure is not a professional because they cannot lose their credentials.

Larry, I think you're reaching on this whole "professional" definition thing. Have you seriously considered the possibility you may be, and I know this word is anathema to you, but just consider for a moment you could be, and I apologize, sir, for mentioning the word, but w-r-o-n-g.

 

exactly...the hammer over the heads of real professionals is real....and keeps them in line.

A hammer that doesnt exisit over the make believe professions.

So a physician convicted of rape would lose his professional status....and a similar poker player will be a professional till the day he dies.

Heck stu Unger was a well known drug addict in his community...... A known drug addict pharmacist would first be forced into rehab by the board of pharmacy along with temp revocation or else the license would be revoked for good....and then it would be revoked on a second infraction.

Unger had no such authority over-seeing professionalism...and he acted as such

a perfect example of a phoney profession that has no rules, regs, standards or over-seeing authority. Any drug addict can proclaim they are professional gamblers and break no law by doing so.

 

Sorry LarryS, but poker stars like Ivey et al are professional gamblers.

 

and ZERO self proclaimed people of make believe "professions" lose their credentials.

proving it isnt a true professions.

thats what this society has come to with millenials thinking everyone deserves a participation trophy, there are no winners/losers,..every job is a "profession"....to the point where the word profession is meaningless. Its all inclusive. Why do we need to have poor souls feel left out as "professionals".....so everyone is a professional.
Everything is "awesome" to the point where its use is insignificant and means nothing.
Everything is "amazing; to the point where its all meaningless and means nothing.
And everyone is in a profession...to the point where the word is totally meaningless

How was your summer african safari.......it was amazing...it was awesome
How was your peanut butter and jelly sandwich....it was awesome....amazing
My father and I are both professionals...he is a dentist...and I am a greeter at walmart

totally meaningless.....

SO unlike some,I only use the words awesome and amazing.......when it applies
And I use the word "Professional" only when it applies

And I see no reason to call my peanut butter and jelly sandwich awesome or amazing
And I see no reason to recognize gamblers that anoint themselves as professionals without smiling in amusement

 

Your points are well taken, but using your example such as the football player, there are certain parameters that bestow the sub title 'professional'.
Pro football gets paid, signs a contract, has sponsors, agents, hookers...whatnot. Leagues are sanctioned, arena owners and obscene ticket prices. Professional gamblers have none of that. At least pro AP's. Poker has it's stars, but I can watch them on TV. I can't watch you, AP's are 'professional' chameleons. You don't exist. Do you see the problem with trying to legitimize your 'profession' and give it respect of titles?
Gambling in casinos has no sanctions, leagues or any way to record stats. I give you that yes you can call yourself a professional gambler aka AP. But it's a hard sell on the rest of the world to convince them that. I'm no one to take that from you, but in your world I sense it's more of a inner circle of respect thing as well as "I'm the AP professional of this here casino right now so stay away from my action" kind of respect.

Am I really that far off in my theories?

 

says you

and a crack dealer who consistently wins money at his friends house can call himself a professional
and a drug addict stu unger can anoint himself a professional
and amultiple convicted sex offender can always print up business cards saying he is a professional poker player

So what good is the moniker..if anyone and everyone can use it.

All the above can practice at their profession......even in jail , There is no one who can deny them the ability the use the title. They cant be "outed"

But I cannot proclaim that I am in the profession of dentistry and practice without being arrested

Phil Ivy is a successful full time poker player
Possibly a part time successful baccarat player.
A money making celebrity who gets paid for appearances or product endorsements

but he is part of no profession.Hes has to follow no standards, he can put up a website that provides people access to ways to carry out terrorist attacks.....he can have another web site that talks about destruction of muslims or jews,....while he is being charged for molesting mentally retarded children.....and he can still call himself a professional poker player.
Its self proclaimed..and un-revokable

Just as any cashier at any venue can call themselves a "professional cashier"
They can do all the above as well...and still can call themselves a professional cashier

Anyone who can perform heinous acts and still rightfully proclaim their professional status......are in a make believe profession....Real professions do not allow that.

this is just one disqualifier against the idea that he is a professional. There are others as well but this pretty much points out one of them

 

professional sports players have codes of conduct. they have to meet certain standards of performance to get in to the profession and to remain. They have dress codes. They have an over-seeing body that throws them out if they commit crimes. There are rules and regulations to follow on and off the court.
Anyone on the city basketball court that makes money playing in pick up games cannot in good faith introduce themselves as a professional basketball player. Because in that context.....there is a real profession with a professional over-seeing body that exists the he doesnt belong to

None of the standards and oversight appears with full time or part time gamblers....hence...no profession there.

 

well yeah..thats what keeps any dope from declaring they are a member of a profession.

there are gate keepers to a profession to keep people out, allow them in, and kick them out.

without gatekeepers.....there are just people of every job and trade self declaring themselves as being a member of a profession.

gambling is a profession?....thats great. Its just as much a profession as arcade video player, italian ice sales dude, or lemonade stand kid.

It has nothing to do with money. There are plenty of lawyers that worked pro bono for years for the ACLU...especially during the 50s and 60s in the civil rights movement....and I consider them to be professionals without looking at their tax returns and seeing x amount of dollars earned.
There are doctors that make their money in private practice, and then spend the later years of their life working in third world countries....not making a penny..they didnt hand in their status as a professional. I am retired and for the next year will continue to volunteer my time and expertise...and I will keep up my license and I still will be considered a professional in good standing....with zero in my tax form for income.

Money for a job done is not the conduit to being in a profession. Plenty of people get money for a job done. That does not automatically place them in the category of being in a profession.

If it was all about money. A great new doctor might not make a profit in the first 3 years of his newly opened private practice. DOes that mean family medicine is not a profession....or does it mean that he is not a professional?

he is a professional...just not a profitable professional at this point.

But this discussion is not about profit. I have no idea what full time gamblers on this thread make each year in applying the knowledge of their TRADE. I am not saying they are not profitable full time gamblers. I am saying that they make me smile when they place themselves inside a "profession". A profession that has no standards, no code of conduct, no oversight body, no entry requirements,....a profession that just requires a declaration that you are in one.

we did stuff like that when we were kids in a tree house........we made believe we were airplane pilots via declaration, .......it made us happy at the time.
And if it makes adults happy to pretend they are professionals via declaration....then its cool. Its nice to pretend. I used to do that 50 years ago. But I outgrew it.