[PokerDeath]

Okay, so this is a poker forum within a sportsbook forum and it got me wondering. I don’t get betting on sports at all. At least with poker, you have some control over the outcome. You use skill and judgment. With sports, the team you bet on controls the outcome. A kicker had bad clams for dinner the night before, misses the field goal and you’re out $500. Can some of you addicts explain this to me?

[QuickLearner]

I think "addict" may be a little strong. I prefer "degenerate gambler."

Poker is certainly a game of skill...over the long haul. If you only play one hand then it's all luck. But play 100,000 hands and the distribution of cards evens out. At that point it becomes a process of maximizing your profits when you have a strong hand and minimizing your losses when you don't. That's not to say that sports handicapping isn't all skill, because it is.

I'm glad I got to respond first so that the "online poker is rigged" crowd didn't get the first shot in. I'm a poker player first and a sports bettor second and if I want evidence of rigging I have a much easier time finding it in the sports world.

And before anybody gets started, it's your own fault your aces got cracked. next time don't slow play...

[PokerDeath]

The handicap in handicapping says it all

[Illusion]

Have you looked in our sports and wagers section. There's a ton of sharp minds that just kill the books. I happen to be good at both sports betting and poker.

[McFly]

Totally agree with what Quick said. Poker first, then sports.

[Razz]

I think sports are at least as predictable as NL/PL games, and you can certainly have less variance.

[PokerDeath]

You're talking about the top tier guys, I'm talking about the intermediate poker player versus the intermediate sports bettor. The poker player, over a year's time, will leave the bettor in the dust.

[scottyy11]

I think its alot easier playing poker to win these days. Specially at 1/2 50/1 nl ..pl....just play tight and you win over the long haul. To me sports betting is one of the toughest ways to make a profit (next to horse racing) very tough to do over 56% over a long run. It requires alot of dedication. I could teach my dog to make over 1k a week in poker right now. Get a 30%+ rakeback deal and start playing omaha hilo ...just table the nuts and you'll do it. Sports betting on the other hand I enjoy more for fun

[biggs]

I think "addict" may be a little strong. I prefer "degenerate gambler."

[PokerDeath]

Scottyy11, you're the man. Finally, someone making sense. Love the comment about teaching your dog to play, hell he probably would beat over 80% of the players out there.

[slacker00]

I find both remarkably similar. You try to get your money down when you think you've got the best of it. The nature of calculating the odds is all that is different.

[Dark Horse]

A poker player has to sit at a table for hours. He basically sells his time.

A capper has thousands of athletes doing the hard work, and he himself puts in an hour a day.

Take your pick.

[QuickLearner]

A poker player has to sit at a table for hours. He basically sells his time.

Steven Colbert interviewed Annie Duke on his program and asked her if poker was a sport. When she answered that it had some qualities of a sport, he called it "extreme sitting." It was a laugh-out-loud moment for me. For her, too.

A capper has thousands of athletes doing the hard work, and he himself puts in an hour a day.

I used to cap hockey and baseball pretty religiously, and I certainly couldn't get it done in an hour. Unless I was satisfied with losing. You're either joking or trying to get a rise out of the cappers, right?

[biggs]

their both gambling any way you look at it, a good capper will make money the same way a good poker player would

GL everyone

[hmichaelt]

I think "addict" may be a little strong. I prefer "degenerate gambler."

Poker is certainly a game of skill...over the long haul. If you only play one hand then it's all luck. But play 100,000 hands and the distribution of cards evens out. At that point it becomes a process of maximizing your profits when you have a strong hand and minimizing your losses when you don't. That's not to say that sports handicapping isn't all skill, because it is.

I'm glad I got to respond first so that the "online poker is rigged" crowd didn't get the first shot in. I'm a poker player first and a sports bettor second and if I want evidence of rigging I have a much easier time finding it in the sports world.

And before anybody gets started, it's your own fault your aces got cracked. next time don't slow play...

truth ... 6 year bumb

[daneblazer]

truth ... 6 year bumb

7 ..

[thetrinity]

theres more degenerates in poker then sports betting, u can go to a casino and see a guy playing poker for days straight.

[YouMama]

I tend to think of sports betting, fantasy sports, more like stock trading than poker... you look for value, then hope for some luck... aspects of the game that might be undervalued/overvalued by the books or the Public (the lines are designed to get 50/50 bets on each side, so the book makes gauranteed profit, it isnt what they think the end result will be)

poker is a match of stragety and luck... like playing battleship for $

but in both the most important aspect of winning is bankroll managment... and a little luck

[PromiseLand]

Poker is full of crazy swings. You can have a hand completely dominated and then get sucked out on the river. You can get screwed over a lot more playing poker than you can say betting on a football game or baseball game. Sure, crazy stuff happens in sports, but see how much crazy stuff happens in 1 poker tourney versus one ball game. I guarantee there will be a lot more BS in that 1 tourney than in the game. One of the worst things about poker, is that it's so time consuming. I can put a bet on a game and go do whatever I want afterwards. With poker, you have to just sit there and constantly be attentive.

In the end, you don't control the teams in sports and you don't control the cards in poker. At least with sports, I get to pick which team I want to put my money on. With poker, I just have to wait and hope that I get nice hole cards and a nice flop. I understand that poker has a lot more elements and strategy to it than getting a nice hand and pushing your chips in; however, there's a lot more that goes into betting on sports than just flipping a coin and picking a team.

In the end, all that matters is whatever you enjoy doing and whatever puts in your pocket.

[IMightBluff]

A poker player has to sit at a table for hours. He basically sells his time.

A capper has thousands of athletes doing the hard work, and he himself puts in an hour a day.

Take your pick.

I know a professional handicapper and he puts in 50+ hour a week doing research on his picks....