One of those people was former Las Vegas professional gambler William 'Billy' Walters. More From KTNV Las Vegas, NV UP NEXT. NOW PLAYING: Politics Former Las Vegas pro-gambler William Walters. Hint: You cannot play 50-100 stud on a $10,000 bankroll. You cannot bet $5000/game on a $50,000 bankroll. You cannot play a $5 video poker machine on a $100,000 bankroll. If you try this you are not a professional gambler you are just a gambler who will go broke sooner rather than later. Maths: This will win you more money than any other single.

• The Life of a Professional Gambler Dirk Paulsen lives purely on football betting, and he feeds his family with it. The professional better speaks to us about gut feelings, trips to Monte Carlo,.
• What makes a professional gambler successful at what he does? Well, the strategy and methods play a huge part. Intelligence and analytical skills also help. But mentality and character traits contribute, too. Here’s 10 tips for any punter wanting to approach their betting with a level-headed, professional mindset.

Gambler X is a professional sports bettor who makes his living betting legally in Las Vegas. He has agreed to share insights and experiences in the betting industry but prefers anonymity to keep his edge against the sportsbooks.

I am a professional gambler in my mid-30s, based in Las Vegas. Although I dabble in a variety of gambling ventures, sports betting is my bread and butter. For the past five years, it has been my family's main source of income, fed and clothed my children and allowed my wife to go back to school to finish her education. It has given me the type of personal and professional freedom that I try not to take for granted.

The life of a professional sports bettor is filled with worry. Imagine busting your butt all day, only to have the difference between a winning and losing day decided by a two-point conversion in a preseason game (that happened to me a couple of times this year). Sometimes those bad days turn into bad weeks, which turn into bad months ... which turn into bad years. It's impossible to not go at least a little crazy from time to time. It's basically a job requirement.

The worst part of it is that the day-to-day variance isn't my main concern anymore. What really keeps me up at night is the fear of losing my edge. I've been asked many times what my biggest fears are for the future of sports betting, and my answer is always the same: change.

Nevada was a bubble, and it was nearly impossible for a U.S. citizen to make a living betting sports (at least legally) unless he or she lived here. But with legalized sports betting now in five states (and counting), that change is here.

And I'm not happy about it.

I was 18 years old when I made my first sports bet. It was with a bookie (gasp) in the small midwestern town where I grew up. I was spending most of my days grinding away in an underground poker game, in which the only thing more common than a bookie was a broke degenerate trying to place a bet with him.

It didn't take me long to figure out that all the bookies were doing was adding a few points to all the local teams, just locking in value. But if you tried to take the other side, they would cut you off after a few bets. What's a young man trying to find an edge supposed to do?

My answer was to start taking bets myself.

I undercut the market by offering the same numbers as everyone else but not charging juice. By offering all my bets at even money, I quickly became the favorite bookie of every casual bettor in town.

It was a worthwhile venture, but it didn't make me rich by any means -- and I still didn't really understand much of anything about sports betting. I did understand that being a local bookie was a terrible way to try to make a living and that moving to Vegas to try to make a living being a professional gambler was probably not my best idea. But it had to be more fun than spending the rest of my life in a dreary midwestern town. And I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least try to make it in Sin City.

My big break was that the one guy I knew who lived in Vegas had a similar idea and was already way more successful than I could ever dream of being. I was lucky that he was willing to show me the ropes and that I picked it up quickly. My earliest memory of being a pro sports bettor in Vegas is driving 40 minutes north of The Strip to pick off bad numbers at the then-independent Aliante sportsbook -- nearly every single afternoon.

Being a professional sports bettor is a lot more than just picking winners. It's about getting action down with casinos that actively go out of their way to deny your bets or ban you from the sportsbook entirely. It's about getting five figures on a game and not moving the line. It's about finding an edge and pushing that edge hard enough that you make a great living but not hard enough that the sportsbooks figure out where they are screwing up.

All of that might sound easy -- and to a certain extent it is in Vegas, where there are so many casinos and gamblers that it's easy to stay anonymous -- but it takes time and plenty of patience. And it has gotten harder in Vegas.

The number of sportsbooks here that offer mobile apps has basically tripled. And while my bet sizes have quadrupled, my edge has decreased. It's well documented that most books are banning winners, but my edge has decreased for other reasons. As much as everyone wants to make fun of them, sportsbooks are getting sharper. They are making fewer and fewer egregious errors and doing a better job of staying in line with the sharper overseas markets.

I used to be able to see a bet that was out of line with the market, hop in the car and go grab it with ease. Those days are long gone -- and will never come back.

Now that legal sports betting has spread to other states, there are more variables and more information to learn.

Legalization means more places for sharp bettors to sneak bets through without moving the market. More casinos sharing liquidity and information to stay one step ahead of bettors. More jurisdictions and hodgepodge shops where one is the majority owner, but lines are set by another, and software is provided by a third. It's just more stuff to make my life miserable.

And it means I've been traveling all over this summer on fact-finding missions.

I've visited Delaware, New Jersey and Mississippi to see how things are run. I traveled all over to test out the new markets. I pushed them hard. A lot of bets at max limits, just testing every place over and over again with the idea of trying to find some place outside of Nevada that would be sustainable for a professional bettor longer-term. I haven't been particularly impressed.

Take Dover Downs in Delaware, for example. The book is owned by the state lottery, and William Hill sets the lines and decides what bets to take for a very small percentage of profits. This strategy leads to dealing one-way lines, on which they are taking action on only one side and then banning anyone William Hill in Las Vegas deems likely to win money. If the State of Delaware is the primary beneficiary from the sports book, then shouldn't it be required to offer a fair system in which anyone can play?

In Mississippi, I mostly targeted MGM properties. The staff were friendly, and they took big bets with no issues. But as I suspected, they mostly mirror MGM Las Vegas' lines, so there is no real opportunity for me.

And New Jersey? It was supposed to be the golden goose, but there have been several hiccups. Don't even get me started on the recent FanDuel fiasco.

For me, independent books that set their own lines and manage their own risk are the lifeblood of my business. They mean more chances to pick off bad lines, opportunities to arbitrage and more places I can go fire the same bet at the number I want. Of all my travels to the new states, the most disheartening thing to me was how few of those opportunities were out there.

Pro Gambler Tips

The manager at every sportsbook I visited is underqualified and doesn't make a move without checking with the bosses in Vegas first. They aren't really aware that for someone who does this for a living, one tiny mistake or moment of complacency can cost big time.

There are a few lucrative spots in these other states, but the cost to exploit them is so prohibitive that I'm better off crawling back to the desert and trying to gather the facts about the new and ever-changing environment.

That's just the glamorous life of a sports bettor.

Qualifications

1. Discipline: If you have to make a bet for the sake of making a bet you are in trouble.
2. Focus: If you are distracted with other activities, people, family or problems you will not be able to give gambling the attention it requires.
3. No Superstitions: I personally do not know anyone who is superstitious and successful at the same time.
4. Record Keeping: Show me someone who does not keep records and I will show you a loser.
5. Ego: I've seen this be the downfall of what otherwise may have been a good professional gambler. Until you have won 10 million or more gambling, check the ego at the door. If you have reached this level of success than why the need for the ego.
6. Emotions: This one is key. You must not let the highs and lows affect you. If you cannot do this than you need to find another profession. Examples of the bullshit I've heard ten thousand times. The ref made a bad call. The stupid jockey judged the pace wrong. Some dumb ass took MY card. Why did or didn't they go for the 2 point conversion. If you are or want to be a professional gambler this is going to happen everyday, SO FORGET ABOUT IT. If you can't handle it you have almost zero chance of success.
7. Pull the Trigger: When you have the advantage you must be able to make the appropriate bet. If you look at money in terms of what it could buy you, you're in the wrong business.
8. Bankroll: First you need to have one. What you can borrow on your visa card does not count.
9. Bankroll or Money Management: There are some good books on this subject. If you do not know what I mean by money management you need to buy such book. Hint: You cannot play 50-100 stud on a $10,000 bankroll. You cannot bet $5000/game on a $50,000 bankroll. You cannot play a $5 video poker machine on a $100,000 bankroll. If you try this you are not a professional gambler you are just a gambler who will go broke sooner rather than later.
10. Maths: This will win you more money than any other single factor. If you don't know the math than you better learn it or at least know someone who will do the math for you. If you don't like math than find another occupation.
11. Adversity: As in any endeavor there comes adversity. Be emotionally ready to handle it because it is a sure thing. You will be barred from casinos, cheated and stiffed during your career, that I can promise you.
12. Be true to yourself: Resist the temptation to do things that are detrimental to your well-being and your bankroll. Going on tilt, drug use, and binges will have a negative affect on your ability to perform. Even a bad diet will have a negative affect. Whatever form of gambling one embraces it always gets down to who's brain is functioning the best, who has the bankroll, who knows the math.
13. Reputation: To me this is everything. Without a good reputation you will never be a professional gambler in my eyes. You may win money, but doing it without honesty and integrity you're just a bum to me. If you win by cheating, scamming or stiffing people you're not a professional, you're a cheat, scam artist or stiff. A good reputation will become your greatest ally in the war to win. Once you establish a good reputation opportunities are everywhere. Other professionals welcome the chance to work with you, help you, and partner up with you. Having a good reputation does not mean keeping your word 9 out of 10 times, it means 100% of the time keeping your word. I know a professional poker player in Las Vegas who did not do the right thing 25 years ago and to this day nobody will have anything to do with him. Once you sell your reputation you can never buy it back.

To be a professional it takes a rare mix of qualities not found in most people. As one well known professional poker player likes to say 'Its a hard way to make an easy living'. To be a professional at anything it takes a unique person and gambling is no exception.

Expectations

1. When first starting out you should be buying all the books you can read on the aspects of gambling that interest you. The gamblers Book Club in Las Vegas is a great place to start. The internet now offers more opportunity for learning than anything I've ever seen in my life. Gambling conferences are a great place to cut your teeth also. I personally don't attend these functions for personal reasons not because I don't think they are helpful. Las Vegas used to be the Mecca for most professional gamblers but with the internet and opportunities in other locals this is no longer as true but still a reasonable place to make new contacts and a place to hone ones skills. The advantage of Las Vegas is that you can acquaint yourself with other pros, learn from both their soft and hard skills. If you're starting from scratch though and first need to learn the basics of the games then there's definitely an advantage to first practicing online, on demo play.
2. Expect both positive and negative flux in your bankroll. If you decide to be a professional blackjack player you will at some point lose 60 top bets during your career. If you play long enough you will have a losing year. If sports are your choice, expect to go 2-22 on a busy college Saturday at some point. If you never seem to flux up or down you are doing something wrong. If your emotions cannot take flux you need to pick a different profession. If you enjoy flux this could be a bad sign also. When your bankroll fluxes upwards this is not the time to buy that fancy car you have always dreamed about. There will be plenty of time for all of that but until you have a substantial bankroll (at least 500K) you will need to preserve capital. Things can go bad in a hurry in this business and you need to be prepared to weather the storms.
3. Expect to put a huge time investment into gambling. It is not uncommon to put 80+ hours/week. To be successful this is a business that will take over all aspects of your life. Once you get established and secure with yourself than you can cut back on the time investment but many guys still choose not to.
4. If you have the ability to make more money doing something else you probably should stick to something else. This business can be an emotional roller coaster and the only thing (in the long run) to justify it is the extra money.

Realities of the Business

You have no bosses or customers to speak of so you are totally independent of the bull shit most people go thru in a normal day. This is the good part. The only person that you need to answer to is yourself. Don't bullshit yourself or you will become a bad boss. Be true to yourself.

You produce no product or service that society requires. This is the bad part. As you become more successful your purpose in life becomes more meaningless. While other guys are saving lives, producing goods and services you are not much better than a parasite to society. With success comes (a feeling of) a debt you owe to your fellow man. Most successful gamblers I know give heavily to charity; donate their time and money to help their fellow man in some small way. I believe it is their way to make up for the empty feeling one gets from years and years of not producing something of substance. Many successful gamblers look for something else to do with their lives after becoming financially independent. Relationships don't work for most of us early on in our career so this is another avenue many professionals look to achieve as they become financially successful.

Pro Gamblers On College Football

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