Its amazing to see how the majority of people never win any money on gambling yet there are those rare special people who seem to be able to make a living out of it. I have interviewed and chatted to quite a few of those people who seem to be able to make a good living out of gambling. It was definitely an eye-opener I'll tell you that.

Every single one of them had a system or set of rules that they followed very closely. They all made it very clear that deviating from these rules in any way would have destroyed their profits. Of course they would sometimes lose but by sticking to their plan they generally always turned out a profit at the end of the week.

So, I picked their brains and compiled this short compilation of rules which seemed common to each of the experts. The points below highlight the most common stumbling blocks experienced by first-time gamblers. Even the most veteran of gamblers can forget these golden rules and I would advise everybody to follow them very closely.

One of the interviewees used the phrase The Rules of Engagement for his system and I decided it was befitting of the rules I had compiled. So below are those all important rules:

The Rules of Engagement

1. Bet small to begin with - Whatever you do dont start off with huge bets with even bigger odds. This will leave you out of pocket. Start off with a few small 5 bets to begin with, then once youve gained in confidence increase your bet. To be totally honest, I started off picking my selections without betting on them at all. For the first few weeks Id write my selections down on paper (along with my desired bet, 5) and then Id calculate my winnings virtually. This helps to test out different methods of making selections and helps you become more confident.

2. Dont be too clever - If you dont understand what a particular bet means, then dont use it. Start off with singles and then maybe when you get more confident do a double or two. But be very careful; the returns are greater because the risk is much higher. I never use anything other than a single. This leads me onto another point:

3. Watch the odds - If the odds are huge then the bookie obviously knows something you dont. Maybe there star forward is injured or there is turmoil on and off the pitch. Higher odds means less chances of winning.

4. Dont use extravagant bets with huge odds - Dont do doubles or triples and definitely dont do Yankees, Heinzs, Goliaths and so on. These types of bets may yield huge returns but they have a very small chance of winning. I wont even bother explaining the meaning of these bets for the moment. Confusion does not help the bettor who wishes to profit.

5. Be patient and dont bet for the sake of it - Never bet for the sake of it. Always wait until you are ready and have put adequate time into choosing your bets.

6. You must not have emotional involvements - I make most of my money from betting on Arsenal, and although I support them Im not afraid to bet against them. Dont bet on your favourite team if you have doubts. These emotions can affect your judgment.

7. Bet on what you know - Dont bet on teams in leagues you know nothing about. The odds may seem great but as I said before youll feel stupid when the bet loses and you find out that their key goalkeeper was rested or something of the sort. Most of my money is made through betting on the Premiership and Serie A. Primarily Arsenal and AC Milan. This is because I support these teams and follow them closely. The reason I only bet on teams in these two leagues is because this is the only football I get to watch.

8. Have fun! - The more serious you are, the less chance you have of getting anything out of it. Dont get mad, even if you do lose.

9. Be confident - If you are confident that a team has a good chance of winning, even if they have had a string of poor performances, go for it. Confidence is a huge part of gambling.

A good example is the Chelsea v Everton game from 2005. Everton were bottom of the table and Chelsea were at the top. A confident gambler who had done his homework could have profited from this game because there were certain tells. Some of Chelsea's best players were missing, there was a tiny bit of unrest in their camp. Their arrogance also went against them. Whereas Everton had all their players back, including Tim Cahill, one of their most prolific strikers, and they knew they had to win or they were relegation certainties.

This all conspired against Chelsea, and Everton got a draw against them. In many peoples opinion Chelsea were lucky to have got any points at all. So the moral of the story is never rule out any team and always investigate the teams thoroughly. This will ensure you get the best matches to bet on.

Going against the flow is the way to profit from gambling; betting on the underdogs.

10. Discipline and keeping logs - This is the most important part of profiting from gambling. You must keep accurate logs of every bet you make. This will help you improve your technique dramatically. For instance you can look back and see are the sides that you are tipping to win 80% of the time actually winning 80%? Are you always losing on away teams or long shot bets? Your personal betting log will show you where to improve.

Although you may feel that there are a lot of them, these points should be imprinted on your mind and you should recall them every single time you go to make a bet.

Many people find it hard to believe that by following these simple guidelines that you can greatly increase your chances of winning and therefore accumulating profit.

These are in effect the Rules to Riches, but there are three specific rules that worked wonders for me and if you are serious about gambling for profit, then it is imperative that you start doing the following things straight away:

1. Keeping a log of all your bets

2. Following at least one football league very closely

3. Gain access to football statistics and team form.

Well that's it for now folks and thank-you for reading.