My uncle's a gambling manager. I personally don't play with my money as much, but I play the odds. That's why I join the sorts of games like on this forum like Power Play. What I do play with is the stock market.
In stocks we have something called undervalued stocks. We check for those stocks that we think are worth less on paper than they should be. We expect them to increase in value, and more often than not, they do. In gambling, there is similar things. People bet on rankings instead of matchups/form at the time, and that leads to overvalued/undervalued odds, which others can take advantage of.
Of course, there are losses. They suck, but if you're good, your wins outdo them. In gambling and stocks, the house always keeps a set percentage of the pot/trade, so you all you need is to be good enough to outearn the loss over time.
Currently I'm still studying, but I'm a computer scientist, so even on freelance work I earn some good money. All in all, either of these methods of gambling is taking money from people who assessed some stats differently than you, played their cards differently, and got lucky.
It's not for everyone. It takes a sound mind that doesn't give in to temptation. You can't bet your livelihood away. Anything you need, you don't bet. Anything extra is privy to a little betting, though. But my uncle has seen people bet themselves out of house and home. Not a pretty sight.
