It is possible to make a living trading stocks, but the real question is if it's probable. Novice investors buoyed by their success with paper trading simulations may take the leap of faith and decide that they're going to earn their living from the stock market. Some make it, but the vast majority just blow their accounts up.

• Playing Poker For A Living
• Video Poker For A Living

1. Poker is a one-pack game, but today, in virtually all games played in clubs and among the best players, two packs of contrasting colors are utilized in order to speed up the game. While one pack is being dealt, the other is being shuffled and prepared for the next deal.
2. Poker dealing - non US. Hi all, dont know if this is the right forum, but i am keen to become a poker dealer and move into the industry. I am living and working in. Neil Johnson in Jaipur, India. Updated 130 months ago. Top poker dealer skills needed to get the job. What are the top 3 traits or skills every poker dealer must.

Video poker is one of the best ways to make a living in a casino. That may seem impossible to the average person that only gives action to small casinos or the Las Vegas Strip. There are thousands of advantage gamblers in the world that make enough to support them from video poker play.

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Basic Strategy Imperative to Learn

Learning the basic strategy of any video poker game that returns at or near 100% is the first step in making a living playing video poker. Our video poker section shows the best play for the types of five-card hands that are dealt in video poker. It is imperative that you not use these plays on machines that do not offer full-pay tables. Some of the moves will change if a full house or flush pay lower than the 100% games.

It is one thing to know how to play. Most casinos do not offer 100% games, and when they do, they are usually for VP games that are tougher to learn. It is nearly impossible to find one on the Las Vegas Strip. A couple of Atlantic City and California casinos offer these. Check out VPFree2.com to find out if the casino that you are visiting offers good video poker pay tables. If they do not, you should not expect to win unless you get lucky.

Getting Video Poker Comps

The Las Vegas locals market is the best place for quality video poker in the world. There are more than 100 video poker machines in Lad Vegas where the pay table returns more than 100% when five coins are wagered. Some games, like 10/7/5 Double Bonus and 10/6 Double Double Bonus, are offered in denominations as high as $1. Full pay Deuces Wild and Joker Poker are common up to the $.25 denomination. These machines also add 0.05% to 0.1% in cash back on the play when a rewards card is used.

It is possible to get mailers with more free play if you give a little action to other games on a visit. This is known as cover play and may help keep you from getting backed off. This type of play can generate offers that may otherwise be withheld.

The cash back is just a sliver of the overall return that can be added to video poker. Expert players know there are promotions that can return far more than a small fraction of a percent.

Many casinos offer point multiplier days. Players that pay attention to mailers or log into players club sites will see special days where more points are awarded. This can be anywhere from three times to 10 times the normal amount. The catch on point multiplier days is that they normally do not apply to the games that return more than 100%. Point multipliers do apply to games that return just under 100%. The goal for the video poker advantage player is to find a game like 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe at a Boyd Gaming property or Triple Bonus Plus and Not-So-Ugly-Deuces at a Station Casinos’ resort.

The points can be converted into comps at Boyd at full price or free play at two-thirds the value. Station Casinos points are redeemable for cash back. This requires a visit to the Boarding Pass players center. Free play may be claimed directly on the machine, except for the 100% games.

Some casinos hold drawings based on the level of play during the promotions period. This can be a few hours, a full day, or a week. Every so many points receive one ticket into a drawing with these promotions. Winners can receive free slot play, cash or big prizes like a car. Another form of promotion along these lines is hot seats. That is where an active player is declared a winner from the promotions system. These types of drawings are typically awarded every 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

These types of drawings and hot seat promotions are more common at smaller casinos. The problem is that sometimes there are few or no video poker games worth playing. Video table games are often a great alternative at casinos without quality video poker. Those devices often participate in promotions.

Progressive Video Poker Jackpots

Progressive jackpots are one of the better ways to advantage play video poker in markets where there are no full pay machines. Casinos in remote areas with little or no competition often offer progressive jackpots on a royal flush to entice players to give action to machines that are otherwise give poor returns. These do not always hit when they should and can run up well into positive expectation, especially when combined with other promotions. These can be few and far between.

A 7/5 Bonus Poker game with a progressive would require a royal flush progressive of just over $2,000 to return more than 100%. The same goes for 9/6/5 Double Bonus and 9/5 Double Double Bonus. These are the most common progressive jackpot games. Keep in mind that any jackpot of $1,200 or higher will generate a W2G tax form.

Video Poker Quality Not What It Used to Be

It was much easier for an advantage player to make a living during the 1990’s. That is because the pay tables nearly all returned more than 99% during that era. The reason for this is because sites like Wizard of Odds did not exist. Players had to learn video poker strategy on their own without the help of experts and computer programs.

Some casinos still offer these machines from decades ago. Many are found in Las Vegas. Downtown casinos like Plaza, Main Street Station, Fremont, California and El Cortez spread coins from nickels to dollars. Locals’ casinos like Jerry’s Nugget, Poker Palace, Sam’s Town and Railroad Pass also have coin games with great pay tables.

Note: This is part 2 of 2. For part 1, click here.

After looking over your records (you are keeping records, right?) you notice that you turned a nice profit at the tables the last year or so. Maybe it was much more than a small profit. Perhaps you won a couple of tournaments, dominated your home game, or are considered one of your local poker room’s top players.

Perhaps you are asking yourself if you have what it takes to play full-time, as a poker professional. If so, where do you go, geographically, to take a shot?

Due to a lack of games and stakes in the majority of the United States, if you are truly serious about taking your game to the next level, you might consider a move to a part of the country with better options.

Thankfully, these days poker players have more options than ever. In decades past, poker players were restricted to just a few cities nationwide. Today, there are hundreds of card rooms from coast to coast that spread low, mid, and high-stakes games around the clock.

Card Player has scoured North America and has come up with a look at the top five cities where a player can access the types of games that make launching a poker career possible.

No. 5 — Baltimore, Maryland

Thanks to a 2012 measure allowing casinos in Maryland to add table games, poker has exploded in popularity. Now, the region is an ideal location for any poker player looking to put down roots.

The state’s largest casino, Maryland Live! in Hanover, is located just 20 minutes away from the state’s largest city, Baltimore, and houses a whopping 52 tables, making it one of the largest rooms in the mid-Atlantic region and among the top 15 in the nation. The room, which has been packed since opening in August 2013, boasts limits as high as $50-$100 limit hold’em, $10-$25 no-limit hold’em, and $10-$10 pot-limit Omaha (PLO). On the weekends, you can expect almost half the room to be occupied with $1-$2 and $2-$5 no-limit hold’em and as many as half a dozen small-stakes PLO games. Throughout the week, Maryland Live! hosts tournaments ranging from $80 to $230. On Sundays, the $330 deepstack tournament features a $20,000 guarantee.

In the immediate area, you have the future site of the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, which is currently under construction and scheduled to open in mid-2014. Caesars Entertainment, which will run the property, hasn’t committed to specific size for their poker room, but has said that the casino will house upwards of 110 total table games, including a World Series of Poker branded card room.

For variety, Baltimore players can also head to Hollywood Casino Perryville (36 miles), Delaware Park Casino (58 miles), Hollywood Charles Town (66 miles), and even venture further out to Parx Casino (105 miles) in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, which has 61 tables and annually hosts a World Poker Tour event. Overall, there are over 200 poker tables within a 90-minute drive with more coming soon.

One downside to starting your poker career in Baltimore is the taxes. While Maryland residents enjoy a relatively modest sales tax (6 percent) and state income tax rate (up to 5.75 percent), the property tax rate is among the highest in the nation, making it a somewhat expensive place to live.

No. 4 — Atlantic City, New Jersey

You may be surprised to see Atlantic City so far down on this list. The one-time poker hotbed and home to a young Phil Ivey is currently fighting off a seven-year slump brought on by a struggling economy and an increase in casino competition in bordering states. However, the city still offers a fertile ground for up-and-coming poker players looking for a variety of games and limits.

Of the 12 casinos licensed to operate in the city, eight still operate poker rooms. The largest is the Borgata, which runs a spacious 85-table card room and spreads a variety of games nearly unmatched in the country. Stud specialists will have trouble finding games outside of Atlantic City, where mixed games as high as $200-$400 run with regularity. Limit hold’em players also have options ranging from $2-$4, $10-$20, $20-$40, and even $40-$80 games. If the games aren’t to your liking, other casinos such as Ballys, the Showboat, the Trump Taj Mahal, and Harrah’s all regularly spread some small-stakes games.

On an average weekend, you can expect more than 50 games of $1-$2 and $2-$5 no-limit hold’em to be running in Atlantic City. At the Borgata, players can jump up to $5-$10 no-limit and above with the occasional PLO game running as well.

Those who consider themselves to be better tournament players will appreciate the more than 100 daily tournaments run each week in the city. The World Poker Tour makes two appearances at the Borgata annually and was just granted the upcoming $25,000 WPT Championship event for April. Both Harrah’s and Caesars Palace host World Series of Poker Circuit stops each year as well. New Jersey is also one of just three states in the country to license and regulate online poker.

Unfortunately for poker players, the state of New Jersey isn’t very kind when it comes to sales tax (7 percent) and personal income tax (6.37 percent for those earning between $75,000 and $500,000). Additionally, New Jersey has the highest median property tax in the nation.

On exciting addition to New Jersey was the October 2013 launch of online poker which saw nearly 200,000 total registered accounts as of the end of January 2014. A total of six casino operators offer online gambling in the state, with the Borgata, powered by PartyPoker, leading the way with the WSOP and Ultimate Poker among others.

No. 3 — Las Vegas, Nevada

Although Las Vegas remains the gaming capital of the United States, poker often plays second fiddle to other forms of gambling on the Strip. Slot machines, pit games, and sports betting accounts for just under 99 percent of the state’s total gaming revenue. However, the poker boom significantly grew the poker footprint in America’s most iconic gambling destination, and it still offers excellent daily tournament and cash-game action.

Although only one Las Vegas poker room ranks in the top ten for most tables in the nation, the city has just shy of 50 card rooms, giving local players an incredible amount of options, especially at the lower and mid-stakes. In total, the city is equipped with over 800 poker tables.

The biggest room belongs to the Venetian, which after recent renovation, now has 59 tables. The Bellagio (39), Orleans (35), Caesars Palace (30), Wynn (26), and Aria (24) round out the top five. The most common games spread in almost every card room is $1-$3 or $2-$5 no-limit hold’em, making Las Vegas one of the best locations for players looking to grind up a small starting bankroll. Those who rise to the top of the poker world can routinely find high-stakes mixed games at the Venetian, Aria, and in the famed Bobby’s Room at Bellagio.

If tournaments are your bread and butter, you’ll be overwhelmed with more than 500 tournaments that run weekly in the city with buy-ins ranging from just $20 to $500. Of course, the summer is filled with many marquee tournament series’ including the World Series of Poker, but Las Vegas is also home to the WPT, WSOP Circuit, Heartland Poker Tour, and our own Card Player Poker Tour.

Perhaps the best reason to make the move to Las Vegas to start your poker career is the lack of state income tax. The sales tax is high at 8.1 percent, but the state’s low tax burden and modest cost of living more than makes up for it.

In April of 2013, Ultimate Poker launched its online poker product in the state and was soon joined by the WSOP. Though Nevada’s small population (2.75 million) makes it a small market for online poker, operators are hoping to soon link up with other states to increase the player pool.

No. 2 — Fort Lauderdale, Florida

With fewer poker rooms than Las Vegas, you may wonder why Fort Lauderdale, Florida is listed at second in our rankings. The answer lies in quality rather than quantity. Florida has the fourth highest population in the country, the state experienced a late poker boom, and it’s well known that people in the state love to gamble and, as an added bonus, many are still learning the game.

Poker has officially been a part of Florida gaming since 1989 when penny-ante games were legalized. However, due to a $10 cap on pot size, most gamblers continued to place their bets at the horse tracks, dog tracks, and jai-alai frontons. In 2003, the law was changed to allow $2 betting limits and, in 2007, no-limit hold’em made its debut with a $100 cap on buy-ins. Finally, in the summer of 2010, the state scrapped its buy-in restrictions, officially opening the poker floodgates. The end result was a regional poker boom that rivaled that of Las Vegas in 2003.

Though the biggest card room (72 tables) in the state is six hours north at bestbet Jacksonville, those who reside in Fort Lauderdale, a seaside South Florida city about 20 minutes north of Miami, have the most poker options available to them. The second biggest poker room in the state, the Palm Beach Kennel Club (60 tables), is just minutes away, as are rooms such as the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood (41), the Isle at Pompano Park (38), the Miccosukee Casino Resort (32), and Mardi Gras Racetrack (30). In total, the state of Florida has 32 poker rooms, five of which are among the largest 15 in the nation.

Tournament poker is also taking off in the region. Last year, the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood hosted a $10 million guarantee tournament and plans to bring it back in 2014, albeit with a smaller buy in and $5 million guarantee. The state has a total of three WPT stops, a WSOP Circuit stop, an HPT stop, and two CPPT stops.

Like Nevada, Florida has no state income tax and Fort Lauderdale collects a low sales tax rate of just 6 percent. There has also been numerous pushes from legislators and developers to bring a destination casino resort to South Florida, as well as online poker. Though efforts thus far have stalled, there is increasing focus on making both a reality in the near future.

No. 1 — Los Angeles, California

The undisputed king of poker is the greater Los Angeles area, with more poker tables, tournaments, and game options than any other region in the country. The three largest poker rooms in the world are all in L.A. and the city of angels boasts four of the top 10 rooms overall.

Consider this fact: the Commerce Casino, Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, and Hollywood Park Casino have a total of 492 poker tables currently in use, which is slightly more than the top 25 cardrooms in all of Nevada have combined.

While limit hold’em may be dying in other parts of the country, the game thrives in L.A. with games spread from $2-$4 to $100-$200 with incredible regularity. No-limit players will never have to wait long to find anything from $1-$2 ($100 buy in no-limit) to $10-$20 ($500-$1,500 buy in no-limit), because there are always tons of games going in the city on any given night. Even high-stakes mixed game players have no problem getting $400-$800 games started and the stakes can get even higher when a big tournament series rolls through town.

Speaking of tournaments, there are more than 60 daily tournaments that run each week in the city. Los Angeles is also home to the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, a $10,000 buy-in tournament that has launched the careers of poker greats such as Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Mizrachi, and Gus Hansen. Even small buy-in tournaments routinely get incredible turnouts. In January, a $150 buy-in event at the Commerce drew 8,133 entrants. Earlier that month, a $100 buy-in tournament at the Bicycle Casino had 25 different starting days, 5,316 entries and 4,732 add-ons, creating a prize pool of nearly $1.6 million.

Gamblers in California endure a wide range of state income tax brackets, ranging from just 1 percent to 12.3 percent for those earning more than $500,000 each year. Most players fall into a 9.3 percent rate which is taxed on earnings of $50,000 to $250,000. Unfortunately, Los Angeles residents will struggle to find affordable housing and have to deal with a high 9 percent sales tax.

Playing Poker For A Living

With over 38 million residents, California is the number one most sought after online poker market in the United States. Although past efforts have stalled due to Native American casino interests, many believe 2014 may be the year that online poker comes to the Golden State with two separate bills introduced in February.

Let us know if you agree with our rankings in the comments section below.

Video Poker For A Living