Which is the EASIEST one to make a profit : Sports Betting or Poker

Wheell · 01-30-07, 11:50 PM

Sports. No limit poker is where even good poker players go to die. I'm not suggesting 53% is easy, but no limit poker is quite a bit harder than it looks on TV. Limit poker is a different story.

Sam Odom · 01-30-07, 11:54 PM

Originally posted by Wheell

Limit poker is a different story.

I agree, a bad decision can cost one his table stake in no-limit whereas in Limit a few (2-5) bets

VegasDave · 01-31-07, 12:10 AM

All depends on your strengths, doesnt it?

To win at either requires great patience, skill, and some (and often times more than just some) luck.

Which are you more skilled at; picking winners or playing cards?

Wheell · 01-31-07, 12:16 AM

Let me reiterate: No limit poker is where good poker players go to die. On an absolute level no limit is harder than going 53-47 over a season.

trustbutverify · 01-31-07, 12:34 AM

Sports can be beaten badly with a few diciplined strategies and conservative level money mngmnt. I don't know much about poker but the way the experts talk it seems tough to make real money at.

Arilou · 01-31-07, 01:33 PM

It depends on what you mean by "profits." If such profits are small, especially per hour, poker is far easier: You can sit down at a low limit table and beat chumps all day. It isn't hard, and you can do it even if you're pretty bad at poker. However, beating high stakes poker, especially no-limit, requires a lot of skill.

Sports, on the other hand, is a constant difficulty if all you're doing is picking ATS. You can get down whatever you like at -110 on just about anything high level, and then all you have to do is win. If you just keep access to Pinnacle, you don't even need 53%, despite not line shopping. So I'd say big profits are easier in sports, small ones in poker.

rolemand · 01-31-07, 03:27 PM

Money management is NOT possible in No Limit poker. Too many variables. Makes it very difficult to compare the 2

Arilou · 01-31-07, 06:46 PM

Money management is still possible, you just have more variation to deal with. In fact, it's more necessary - you need to not bring too much to the table at a time, no matter what your plans.

operaman · 01-31-07, 07:08 PM

The OP question is kind of like comparing apples and oranges, but here are some facts (general pro opinion ) about poker.

nl poker has a lower variance than fixed limit.
ring games are more profitable than tournies.
between 3-5% of poker players are long term winners.
online is more profitable than b&m in general.

nl has a different skill set than fixed, some say its harder than fixed limit some say fixed is harder. nl has a few hard choices that make a big difference, fixed has many hard choices that make a small difference. pl is the most skilled form of poker.

the games that offer the lowest andvantage between the sharks and fish are the games that have the most fish in them.

Which presents a quandry for the shark.

i.e. worst players are in sit and goes, because it is very hard for the shark to make a living on this structure. few fish in
PLO8, but the fish that wander in have no chance.

I would think all forms of poker have a lower variance than capping sports. Assuming you have a substantial advantage over the game you play. Money management is much easier.
If you follow kelly for both options (nl poker, cap sb) and are very good at both, your bankroll for poker would be much less for the same hourly earnings. Sb has more potential hourly earnings with a mega bankroll I would speculate. Very Very Very few poker pros make more than a ev/hr of $150.

Anyone thinking of doing the poker thing take this advice.
Start off with $50 and start playing microstakes poker. (lowest you can find.) Let your bankroll set the stakes you play. If you lack the patience to play at these stakes, maybe poker is not for you.

just my 2cents.

GL
p.s. I am somthing like a dolphin in sb so take anything i say about sb with a grain of salt.

rolemand · 01-31-07, 07:57 PM

I guess what I meant is on a particular sports wager you can limit yourself to a certain unit #. In poker you can enter a table with a certain amount but there's not a good way to limit yourself on a per hand basis. You could triple up or lose it all in one hand.

On a side note I did what Operaman has suggested when I started out in Oct 2004. I put $100 in Pacific Poker and turned it into $12k when I took my final cashout in Dec-06.

Sam Odom · 01-31-07, 08:00 PM

one can control the (or his) tempo of play in poker unlike sports.

onlooker · 01-31-07, 09:03 PM

I voted Sports.

I dont play Poker, so it has to be Sports.

trustbutverify · 01-31-07, 09:08 PM

Originally posted by onlòóker

I voted Sports.

I dont play Poker, so it has to be Sports.

Same here.

Razz · 01-31-07, 10:46 PM

Poker, no contest.

BuddyBear · 01-31-07, 11:23 PM

Don't kind yourselves....poker is by far much easier. Sports betting is tremendously difficult and it's only getting harder with the recent developments.

degenerate#1 · 02-01-07, 02:08 AM

I like sports alot better than poker. I find poker a tremendous grind, and alot of your results are going to depend on luck. No matter how good you are, if your not in the hot seat you ain't making money. You can be waiting 17-20 hours for pocket aces. Whereas in sports, you can pick your spots, you find a team that's coming out of Denver, stopped in Houston, then flies to the east coast, all in the span of 4-5 days, that to me is like pocket aces. You've chosen your hand to go in with, you don't need to wait for those lucky cards to come.

darkghost · 02-01-07, 04:23 AM

Wow I can't believe 66% picked sports, then again this is a sports site. I've tried both and poker is far and away easier to beat.

Wheell · 02-01-07, 04:28 AM

When it was originaly posted it was sports vs. NL poker. Limit poker is easier than either of the other two.

jjgold · 02-01-07, 07:17 AM

Poker in a landslide, so many bad players giving free money away.

Sports is a pure guess.

trustbutverify · 02-01-07, 12:20 PM

Sports is a pure guess?

slacker00 · 02-02-07, 08:10 AM

Can I vote for neither?

For the time/talent spent learning either of these, you should be able to work a job in finance or whatever and make more money and have a much more reliable source of income. Although, if you live in a 2nd/3rd world country where these kind of jobs aren't available and cost of living is much lower, then a can see some value.

jjgold · 02-02-07, 08:42 AM

Well anyone that gambles is a sucker, that is fact.

Anmyone that has money, nice cars, home, ect does NOT GAMBLE

If you want to scrap out chump change for $5 an hour and you are one of the rare exceptions that can turn a profit so be it.

bside · 02-02-07, 09:57 AM

Poker hands down working with the same size bank rolls.

Originally posted by degenerate#1

No matter how good you are, if your not in the hot seat you ain't making money. You can be waiting 17-20 hours for pocket aces. You've chosen your hand to go in with, you don't need to wait for those lucky cards to come.

The above statement is false.

First off if you play poker for any amount of time you should be more scared of pocket aces than any other hand. Especially NL. You make money in poker when other people have good hands. The less hands you show the more money you make. Poker like sportsbetting has ebbs and flows. You have to win more than you lose. In my opinion, online is the worst place to play. Private games are where you make money end of story. If you don't know how to scam an online poker game it is because you are being scammed.

JMS33 · 04-15-07, 03:34 PM

Poker versus Hold'em?

I believe the question is based on a false premise. This discussion is based on "no - limit table-stakes Hold'em" which, in my opinion is not poker. It's "I Dare You to Call Me". Pot limit table - stakes Stud and Draw are what I consider real poker because they require more knowledge and a hell of a lot more skill to play than Hold'em. I understand there is a new generation or two of players who have cut their teeth on Hold'em and quite possibly exclusively Hold'em.
For those of you who fit this category you'd better have very deep pockets before you sit down to play Stud or Draw poker with good players.
I understand this will be a super minority opinion, so keep it clean.

John

jjgold · 04-15-07, 03:47 PM

Both will take you broke

poker quicker

LargeMouthBass · 04-15-07, 04:11 PM

Poker hands down... 5% of the poker players are winners.
I bet it's less than that for sportsbetting.

Korchnoi · 04-16-07, 11:02 AM

Think about it this way

When you bet sports, your betting lines that were set by the collective wisdom of big sports betters (opening lines may be something else, but usually market wisdom gets priced into whatever lines you play). When you play poker, you get to pick who you play against. It's probably easier to find a good game where you can make decent money than to find a really bad line that you can make a big bet on.

Alternatively, on any bet the worst sports in the world doesn't give up that much edge (otherwise there would be size edge on the other side that sharps would take advantage of). The worst poker player in the world will loose all his money to an average poker table 90% of the time.

crackerjack · 04-17-07, 01:24 PM

Theoretically you should be able to win 50 percent of sports bets just by flipping the coin to make picks. So half the time you will win your wager. The other half you will lose your wager, plus the vig. But once you place your bet, everything else is out of your hands.

Poker is a different animal entirely in that you have many more things to consider and many of th. You certainly don't have a 50 percent chance of winning each hand. (Theoretically, in a full, live game, you have a 10 percent chance). But many of the factors that determine who wins each hand are in your control.

To me, like has been said already, it's comparing apples to oranges.

A better question would be, is it easier to win betting football or betting basketball? Or is it easier to win playing high stakes, no limit, or low stakes limit poker?

Big Razorback · 04-17-07, 02:00 PM

No Limit and SB

I wanted to vote for BOTH!!!

I consistently win in NL poker. Usually 2-4, 3-6 blinds... but you can make a killing in the 1-2 blinds if you are looking for a modest profit.. say $200 bucks a night...

I however will use the money I win in poker to drop bets on sports that I know.. Which is only CFB and NFL for me. I venture in CBB, but usually more for fun than profit.

My point is I take my poker profits, bet them on sports.

This can be a way to take a very modest weeks profit of say 2K and turning it into 6K in about 3 hours..

So in my opinion poker is easier, but sports can be larger and faster to profit with.

So why pick, play both..

I need some more fish out there...

lol

GL ALL

Tofu_Boy · 04-17-07, 04:24 PM

Hi all,
I'm new so no one believe me anyway. I just want to share my though. I'm sport betting for 4 yrs now. I'm decent winner not very big but very well with my BR. I start play poker about 2yrs ago. when I start I seem a bit losing then I read couples of book and work my way up.
last year my income 80% from sportbook 20% from poker.
I work my way up from poker game and now my income from sport 50% and poker 50%.
Overall poker is like sportbet you need time to learn and get better. I'm very happy with where I'm at right now I don't have to worry about 1income anymore and it's all good.

If you like poker read couples of book play alof of hands Bankroll is the most important of all don't play over your bankroll.

GLA.

leo · 04-17-07, 04:47 PM

I think it is very very dangerous to look betting or gambling a profit job...

gridironguy · 04-17-07, 09:02 PM

Both of these things take practice, sports betting and poker. I find poker to be too much of a grind, requiring the patience necessary. Sports betting is more enjoyable to me. Everyone is different. I respect both poker players and sports bettors, especially if they win!

gridironguy · 04-17-07, 09:05 PM

One thing. If someone goes all in in poker and you feel you have the best hand, you are obligated to call because if you feel you have the best hand with say one card to go, you will make a big pot. If you get unlucky, you lose everything you've earned so far for that session.

In sports betting however, you don't have to go all-in ever because you are not reacting to other players. You are structuring your bets (hopefully) using good money management.

LargeMouthBass · 04-18-07, 07:46 AM

Originally posted by gridironguy

One thing. If someone goes all in in poker and you feel you have the best hand, you are obligated to call because if you feel you have the best hand with say one card to go, you will make a big pot. If you get unlucky, you lose everything you've earned so far for that session.

In sports betting however, you don't have to go all-in ever because you are not reacting to other players. You are structuring your bets (hopefully) using good money management.

Poker isn't just NL... Although luck is involved in both, in poker you somewhat control your own destiny.