you have to click the contest to bring up the contest's info page to get an updated count. the lobby lags badly so never just look at that to get an accurate headcount.

you want to get a game filled to 5/6 with 10+ minutes till lock to maximize the chance of overlaying. a contest sitting at 3/6 or 4/6 with minutes to go is actually more likely to fill because despite years of practical experience people still don't realize that when multiple people rush to join a contest at the last second it tends to fill. get in early or stay the fk out. a professional should never, knowingly or unknowingly, cap a contest.

Very good point. Something I've long thought about and hearing confirmation here is very helpful. I'm very shocked Moklovin found the click given he's mostly on other sites around lock. Probably the odd starting time freed him up. I was looking in the contest directly after it locked. The lag is real. A bunch of times with the quickmatches, yahoo will say I didn't get matched but then 15 minutes later it's no longer free money but I'm facing off against someone. I get it, they have a lot of people doing last minute overlay chasing and it takes time to update, just wish they kind of left it up in the air - like there may be more people coming

My go to methodology is get in early for the less popular sports like hockey and golf and unreg if they fill (unless hockey, I legitimately only view one other guy as having an edge on me in hockey and at least on yahoo there's a pretty dramatic gap between the two of us and the other cash game regs).

Actually, a dirty trick I've used is be the one to cap one like 20 minutes before lock, then reg to the replacement one (which has a lesser chance of filling) and then unreg to one I capped off before my registration is binding at 15 minutes before lock. This is also what I do with 3 mans, I'll cap one with papagates and moklovin and then reg the replacement and unreg the one with those two. I honestly don't get why they sit each other, I mean a good portion of the time the 3rd guy is pretty decent, I just don't get it.

I do that so much that I think yahoo may have even stopped the automatic new contest function because lately they don't magically appear super late like they used to.

Typically though football and basketball are a lost cause and baseball is the one where it can fill most of the time but I'll see who's in there before deciding to risk it, I think I'm +EV on one of those guys who's part of a syndicate and probably neutral with the other and have an edge on the 3rd so I didn't unreg.

i know someone who uses sharps but i would not think it wise to be his research assistant/apprentice.

well played sir

Yo OP, want some real advice? Don't become a professional sports gambler. All the markets are continuously getting tighter, there's no paid vacation, and you never get a promotion. Take your talents (learn to code!) and go into finance or analytics.

This is the advice I'd give my own kids if they show aptitude toward numbers. Well, I'd warn slightly about finance as it's my understanding that sector is more difficult to break into and less lucrative than in in the past (Najdorf can correct me here).

I think the mistake that most people seem to make (including myself to a degree) is they get too happy about winning for a small period of time. Even a couple years isnt that long in this thing. I would advise anyone who really, really wants to do this to keep it as a hobby until you literally cant. Always have another income stream or backup option.

I moved to Vegas to be a pro gambler and didnt realize until years later when I was actually a professional gambler that I had NO idea what I was doing back then. If I had waited another couple years to make that move I might still be out there.

So I would say first off, dont do it. But if you feel like its just in your blood and you have to, wait until youre keeping real accurate records of every bet you make and track your results. If you make more than you do in your real job 2 years in a row, you can start thinking of doing it full time.

Pro's don't keep records.