[2 cents worth] When you say ‘Professional Gambler’, I think of guys who have to color their hair and dress in diguises to gamble, because they are banned from casinos for counting cards and the like. I remember visiting a relative in Vegas and hearing a story about a ‘professional gambler’. That man’s family moved into the house next to a fairly high ranking Las Vegas Strip casino VP. The VP’s wife went over to welcome them to the neighborhood…where it was promptly discovered what both their husbands did for a living. Each woman cringed as she heard what the other one’s husband did. And they never spoke again, not even on moving day when the Gambler’s family moved to a different house.
The way it was explained to me is that Casino Towns are funny like that: some worlds work together very well, like the VP I spoke of golfing with the Sherriff of Las Vegas. And some worlds just don’t. I can imagine Las Vegas being a very lonely and quiet town for the family of a Professional Gambler. [2 cents worth]
No, there is a difference between real professionals, especially in the poker world, and the second tier. The real pros are people like David Sklansky, Phil Hellmuth, Stanford Wong, Johnny Chan, etc. They are well known, and respected. The casinos often hire them as consultants or to help manage cardrooms. They write books. They are very respected in the Vegas community.
Then there are the skulky guys of all stripes that the casinos hate. Poker players constantly borrowing money from other players or harassing them. Card counters, especially the obnoxious ones that never tip, dive-bomb shoes, refuse to give up their seats when sitting out half a shoe, etc. Those guys get the bums rush as soon as the casino can justify it.
The only ones that are really unwelcome in Vegas are the powerful blackjack players. Teams, highly bankrolled big players, etc. Those are the guys that can really hit the casino’s bottom line. The rest of them may make a few points here and there, but they’re also good advertising, and they help fill the place and keep it busy. For small limit counters, the casinos just eat the money, knowing that the advertising they get is more than worth it - for every winning gambler, there are ten others who heard about a guy who could count, thought they had it figured out, and lost all their money.
