To anyone reading Toby’s fantastic blog, you’ve taken the big first step to becoming a professional in this game. Namely, you want to improve, you want to learn and you want to get better.
My Decision To Go Pro
This year, through a strange series of circumstances, I made the decision to go professional in my sports betting and trading. It has been a long apprenticeship and I have spent countless hours wasted on poor tipsters, systems and strategies. I’ve read dozens of books and bought a fair few courses.
Somehow I have stumbled my way onto some consistent strategies through experimenting, and having conversations with people far more knowledgeable than me along the way. Even now it’s still a risk to “go pro” — but I’ve been profitable for the past 18 months using a range of methods, and life is short.
There would never be a better time to do this, and if all else fails, as a high school teacher, I could always go back into my profession where jobs are always in demand.
What makes me think I will succeed?
I am a Dad to a 1 year old so I’m often exhausted by the evenings. I’ve not been able to get the learning or trading time in. Yet from my results over the past year or so, I worked out that if I had the chance to devote to this full time, I would earn as much as my entire monthly salary.
That should be the key indicator to any of you — if you can make a profit consistently month to month and build it to salary level, then you should really think about turning pro.
The Downsides
Not that going pro is without its stresses. It isn’t for everyone.
Going from recreationally betting to making it your primary source of income is a significant psychological jump. It can be a lonely and isolating job and the pressure can be intense. You might think you’ll have plenty of free time but you’d be surprised how quickly time gets eaten up, and how people around you assume that you’re not really ‘working’.
However, if you are self-motivated, happy to work independently for long periods and have the patience and discipline, it might be the perfect job for you.
I hope that my posts on Punter2Pro will give you some insights into how to improve your own betting and trading and how to approach it with a professional mindset. Each person’s journey will be different, and you will find that particular methods suit you better than others.
How I’m Earning A Living
Here are some of the ways I am making a profit at the moment.
There is a fine balance between having a wide portfolio (so that you can mitigate one strategy having a bad month) but also spreading yourself too thin by not specialising. I’d love to add more to my portfolio but I feel like I’m at my limit. Don’t overstretch or your performance might suffer.
Value Betting
I use Trademate Pro software to place value bets throughout the week. It’s a superb piece of software and my bank has grown over 50% over 1000 trades in just over a month. If you have the recommended bankroll, its an excellent way to make steady profits without having to research all your bets. This has been a very helpful addition to my portfolio.
US Horse Racing Movers
I exploit odds movements in US horse races and place my bets at maximum value. This is a great profit making strategy that the bookies absolutely hate. Expect a lot of restricted accounts — so either make some new friends with betting accounts or enjoy the ride while it lasts!
Casino Offers
Although ongoing casino offers are drying up compared to the golden days, you can still take advantage and find ones you might have missed. I offer a consultancy service and help my friends to open new accounts. Casino offers can be incredibly lucrative if done right, but you need to be prepared for high variance and bad losing runs too.
Bots
I run a few simple bots and scraping services that automate some of my betting. I am actually starting a Masters degree in Computer Science this year, mainly to learn how to program more advanced bots for my betting needs.
Football Index
I see a lot of growth potential here. Football Index is a great way to make a steady income that builds gradually over time. If you love football and you have experience of trading stocks and shares, this might be the platform for you.
Although Football Index is more of a passive investment, I do receive recommendations for my portfolio from week to week. I currently subscribe to a portfolio service called ‘Football Index Investor’ from BetChat.
Writing
As well as teaching, I used to work as a content writer. I have used this experience to write for several websites. Although I’m not getting paid, I am paid in kind with software and services that all have an added value to me. One day, I’d like to produce my own educational material and sell it on, but that’s a long way off.
Trading
You might be surprised why I’ve mentioned this last. Well, the truth is that I’m a mediocre trader right now. I have some profitable months but I wouldn’t say I’m at an advanced level yet.
However, I’m determined to crack it and I can say for sure that I am a much better trader than a few years ago. The main sports I follow are football, tennis and cricket. I am learning to trade horses in running, but I’m absolutely useless at it!
Find What Works For You
Even if one method is not for you, that’s ok. No professional I know in this industry is good at everything. There are strategies out there that suit your temperament, risk appetite and interests.
Sometimes you might find that the strategies that suit you best aren’t anything you find remotely interesting. For me, this is the case with horse racing. I find it the most boring sport imaginable, but my strategy is all about price exploitation. Just like when I use Trademate to bet on all kinds of sports, I don’t need to know anything about them to earn a profit.
Whereas, I love my football and like Toby, am a long suffering Spurs fan. I am a competent trader on football but nothing spectacular just yet. I think that I have too many opinions and biases that subconsciously cloud my judgement of particular games.
What about you?
If you’ve been at this a while and you feel like you’ve gone nowhere, don’t give up just yet. If you have been making some success in certain areas of your betting, try and refine it further and figure out what you’re doing right. As long as you understand WHY you are making a loss or a profit consistently, you’re on your way to becoming a better bettor. Like any job, it requires training.
Doctors don’t perform open heart surgery on day 1! You’ll get there eventually 🙂
- Going Pro: An Insight To My Sports Betting Journey — Neel Shah - August 4, 2020