Professional poker players betting on sports is more common than what most would think and is an easy crossover on their behalf.
Poker, a game of strategy, risk management and an evaluation of the circumstances that might affect the outcomes draws parallels to what is needed for successful sports betting.
As a sports bettor you need to be able to evaluate the odds and make permutations biased of certain biases.
But regardless of whether you’re into poker or sports betting, make sure you’re signed up with one of best welcome bonus betting sites for more value and even more enjoyment.
You also need risk management skills as they pertain to your money and to have a solid strategy that you will use in your wagers.
It therefore makes sense to find professional poker players also delving in sports betting.
Why Poker Players Excel At Sports Betting?
Poker players have an edge when it comes to sports betting and this is what makes them excel at it.
Some of the reasons we already alluded to briefly, but overall and based on careful assessment, they excel because of the ability of understanding probability and risk management.
That is just one of the ingredients for being successful at sports betting. Secondly, the emotional control and bankroll management they get from playing poker works very well in sports betting.
Emotions must be divorced from money and replaced with rational thinking and a sound management of ones finances.
Thirdly, pattern recognition and game theory. This is the ability to spot trends using statistics and other inputs, all very important for successful sports betting, and poker has already infused it within them.
Famous Poker Players Who Are Also Sports Bettors
Here are some of the most popular poker players that gamble on sports too.
Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey is one of the most known poker players in the world and is recognized as a genius player at the highest level.
Ivey’s sports betting exploits are known to be big because of the large amounts of money he wages.
One that standouts is his bet on the Seahawks Patriots 2015 Super Bowl in 2015, putting down as much as $1.7 million
Haralabos Voulgaris
Voulgaris is also one of the most popular poker players and has made significant amounts of money having taken on sports betting professionally.
Funny enough, he is also known as the most successful NBA bettor, and has made millions betting on basketball games.
He made $7 million in a short period after staking $1 million on NBA games across the league and is very analytical, a numbers guy if we may say, and who uses data to make sound betting decisions.
Erick Lindgren
Erik Lindgren has made quite a lot of money on poker, over $10 million to be precise and is also big on sports betting, golf in particular.
He once had a bet on golf with Phil Ivey, which entailed that he had to play in the most grueling conditions; a hundred degrees, four rounds, break 100 in all four rounds and carry his own clubs.
He won the bet and pocketed $340,000. He is also known to be a props gambler, which is betting on the occurrence or lack thereof, of an event that is none related or doesn’t directly affect a games outcome.
Mike Matusow
Much more advanced now in age and doesn’t play poker as much, Mike Matusow is one of the most recognized poker faces in the world.
Matusow, who has since stopped betting on sports, openly admitted to his endeavors, having made bets on American Football in particular.
Norman Chad
Norman Chad has also won good money betting on sports and is known to enjoy betting on the NFL.
Unlike other players on our list, he also dabbles in giving out NFL betting tips on his Twitter page, all which makes him an astute gambler.
Biggest Wins and Losses: High-Stakes Sports Betting Stories
Biggest Wins
Haralabos Voulgaris and Phil Ivey are the standout poker players who have staked the highest and made significantly larger returns than most of the players who feature on our list.
$7 million in a relatively short space of time is a monumental feat for anyone who bets sports on a professional level and for that, Voulgaris stands heard and shoulders above the rest.
Biggest Losses
A few names come to the fore regarding the biggest losses from poker players on sports betting. Stu Ungar, Archie Karas and Gus Hansen are some of the standout names.
All lost millions and ended up in debt. The lesson learned here is that, despite being endowed with intellect from poker, sports betting has risks and they need to be managed, even the best end up losing it all.