Casino Professional GAMBLERS.......really?

I have often debated with myself that there is no such thing as a "professional gambler". What is "professional" about it. Is there some sort of overseeing governing body that gives out credentials based on some sort of achievement?
Couldnt a crack addict call himself a "professional gambler"........how about a crack addict child molestor?
Yes, just by declaration they can call themselves a professional gambler. No one can take away their credentials.
Being a "professional gambler" doesnt mean you are successfully making a living. Just as being a professional plumber doesnt mean your business is profitable.

So is "gambler" a profession? If you wear a jacket and tie does that make you a "professional" but a crack addict in a t-shirt playing craps in an alley is not a "professional"??

My daughter was a baby sitter early in her teenage years and got payed. Does that make her a "professional baby sitter" or a "professional house sitter" or a "professional walmart cashier" or a professional walmart security guard"

When your daughter brings home a boy and tells you "daddy I am bringing home my fiance....he is a professional" and it turns out he calls himself a professional being a dishwasher at the local diner.
Is that ok? Is that what you as a dad wish is the kind of professional your daughter chose.

Personally I call them full time gamblers.

In a world where all kids get a trophy, there are no losers, ....WE MIGHT AS WELL CALL EVERYONE...."professional"

 

adjective

1. 1.
   of, relating to, or connected with a profession.
   "young professional people"
   synonyms: white-collar, nonmanual
   "people in professional occupations"
2. 2.
   (of a person) engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.
   "a professional boxer"
   synonyms: paid, salaried
   "a professional rugby player"
   
   Read #2 and substitute boxer with gambler. And yes, there are professional babysitters. It all boils down to how you define "professional"

We prefer "Advantage Players" though.

 

"Professional Gambler" is an oxymoron.

 

So we are back to calling everyone who gets paid doing something ....."professional" .....using the dictionary definition. Professional paperboy. professional flyer hander-outer. professional ice cream scooper.

a professional athlete.. basketballplayer, football player.....by being accepted into a pro club has to pass certain standards of ability. There are moral standards set where a crack addict child molester could not be accepted into the "profession"
A "professional Boxer" in the definition above has to posses certain levels of skills in order to get people to pay to see him/her. When the skills go away, the admission into the "profession" is rescinded

However anyone can claim to be a "professional gambler" throughout their lives. Whether they are in prison for beating women, whether they are a crack addict playing craps in an alley. No one is around to strip them of their self proclaimed credentials. No over-seeing authority.

 

I detest the moniker "professional gambler." The real gamblers are all the suckers you see in the casinos taking way the worst of it. They are the real gamblers in the casinos. I prefer the term advantage player to professional gambler. Or maybe risk arbitrageur. I mean, the conventional name for what I'm doing might be called professional gambling. But here is the thing. I'm not really gambling. I never have a losing year, not even close. How is that gambling?

 

Gambling doesn't mean betting at a disadvantage. Gambling is betting on an unknown event. Whether you have an advantage or not, you're still "gambling" because there is a risk.

 

There are very real Professional gamblers out there. It is just many keep it on the down-low about it for many reasons.

Here is what qualifies you as a professional gambler:
- 51% or more of your annual income is derived from gambling,

The hallmark of the pro is typically someone who is playing when they have the Advantage, and does not play when the house has the advantage. The pro is also someone who will only play games where the house has only the tiniest edge like 0.5% or less. Mos t pros will avoid any bet where the house edge is greater than 2%.

Pros tend to maximize promotions, comps and negotiate with the casino for their play. An great example of this is Don Johnson who negotiated caesars palace in to giving him such a great deal for his play that he took them for 4 million https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Johnson_(gambler)

 

Again, a crack adict can have a good year in his craps games in the crack den, and has a 200 dollar profit and no other income. He has met the 51 percent. Maybe he only bets the pass line , He is a professional gambler.
Who revokes the moniker of "professional gambler" if the person strays and bets the big wheel.

This is all arbitrary rules that no one can verify. There is no licensing or oversight committee .

self promoting ones self as a professional gambler puts these people in the same category of people who call themselves "professional" paperboys, ditch diggers, busboys, mcdonalds cashiers and dog walkers. All "professions" with no real standards and no oversight authority to enforce standards.

I submit that gambling is not a profession. There is absolutely no standards...except for the standards that someone makes up out of thin air.

Is there a licensing body that administers an exam? Hell no.

 

Thank you. That's exactly what gambling is, and nothing else. Doesn't matter if you have an edge or not, if the result is unknown, it's gambling.

 

I disagree. I have videographed the weddings of many professional gamblers. OK, these where the guys who tour with the WSOP and avid sports betters.

When people declare that nobody can be a professional gambler, and that nobody can live off of gambling, and that there are long term winners at the casinos - well this is all just jaded views from someone who is probably a degenerate loser gambler hooked on crappy games and addicted to gambling. I have seen such people rant and rave as how crooked the casinos are, how the games are so tilted to the house, how nobody can win or ever come out ahead...and yet I find them playing 6:5 blackjack or playing ultimate texas holdem where you have no hope.

 

I have never said that someone could not make a living from Full time gambling or even part time gambling. Jerry Yang was a part time poker player and made millions in the Main event. So what.....since that was over 51 percent of his yearly income, does that make him a "professional".

Full time gamblers can be profitable for the year. Part time gamblers can be profitable for the year.

If Phil Helmuth has a year where he makes more money from his books and personal appearances than from the tables.....is he not a professional gambler for that year?

There is no set of rules governing the standards of "professional gamblers".....There is no governing board that will revoke the title if certain standards are not met.

Everyone has their own standards. Shifting standards are the antithesis of a real "Profession".

 

Who ever said there has to be laws or a so called governing body to dictate what I do is a profession or not? I "profess" my skill in beating casinos games with a verifiable mathematical edge and can prove it if necessary. This is what matters.

 

then get in line "professing" you are a "professional",,,ALONG WITH THE OTHERS WHO PROFESS TO BE "Professional" paperboys, "professional" baby sitters, "professional" toilet cleaners. "professional" flyerhanderouter, professional mcdonalds cashier......they all can "profess" to be a professional.

In fact if you ever have a daughter and encourage her to marry "a professional" we all know you are talking about the professed professional that cleans the shopping carts at walmart.

Again, you can be a full time gambler, a successful gambler, a successful full time gamble

you can be a a previously convicted and current rapist crack addict who periodically plays and wins at craps in a back alley.....and he can profess to be a professional gambler.

no other professions that I know of would allow that certification to a previous convicted and current rapist crack addict.

There are stories of Stu Unger playing in and winning tournaments while high on drugs. I saw Scotty Nguyen play and even win a tiurnament while being vulgar and drunk. Yet there is no over-seeing authority to strip the moniker "professional poker player" from him

With gamblers its ..anything goes..........everyone and anyone can profess to be a professional. A child molester, a drunkard, a drug addict. ..its all good/

 

Of course, it's not exactly a regulated profession. You can't get a degree in professional gambling. It's whatever you say it is. Why worry about it, it's not like you can get penalized for claiming it, nobody cares.

 

that can be posted on any thread. Why worry about anything here.

Your assumption that me or anyone else is "worried" is faulty.

Nowhere did I or anyone one on this thread claim a state of "worry"

Just because I laugh at people that elevate their lot in life as a "profession".....doesnt mean I am "worried"

Just as people who are posting on other topics on this board are not "worried" either about the dozens of subjects that they post about.

telling people not to "worry" is intellectually lazy.

if you care to join the debate, come up with something a little more meaty than dont "worry"

I went to school for 6 years to gain a PharmD degree. And am a professional governed by professional standards and governance It doesnt "worry" me that gamblers, paperboys, and lapdancers refer to themselves as professionals. It makes me laugh knowing first hand what being a true professional involves. Its an amusement to me, a topic that can be discussed for sure....but nothing to "worry" about.

If you care to discuss.....please do. But the condescending "dont worry" is transparently a sign of lack of a cogent thought.

 

Probably. It's because I could care less who calls themselves a pro gambler. The more the merrier.

 

then this isnt the thread for you if u dont care

you have the ability to avoid this thread

Just as I dont care about the content of blackjack threads, or the roulette threads, or the dozens of other threads and topics I choose to avoid because they dont interest me.

I would never go to those threads and tell the people debating topics to "stop worrying" or chime in that I dont care about their topic.

The world doesnt revolve around YOU YOU YOU

so your "cares" are of little concern to me

and this thread isnt directed at your "cares"

you need me to tell you your options

based on your "cares"

I SAY.....go away and spare yourself the angst

 

Wow. Tough crowd here.

Idpa

 

My dog thinks it does. A pro gambler is anybody who wants to call himself one. It's not regulated, doesn't require a permit or a license, has no official requirements at all. My dog could be a pro gambler if he wanted. He doesn't..

 

exactly my point
Being a gambler and calling yourself a "professional" is equivalent to calling your dog a "professional" or a streetcorner beggar....a "professional"

good analogy