Have noticed lately subscribers expressing the wish to become professional punters. They have received lots of advice but no-one has told them of the need for a lot of hard work and record keeping.
You need to keep extensive records and be continually reviewing successful criteria and trends.
Most important factors are strike rate, POT and losing sequences.
As an example from 5/6/93 - 31/5/03 the following are some representative figures.
(Note covers only Saturday & Public Holiday meetings)

Sydney : No of meetings - 568
Races meeting primary criteria - 3334
No of bets - 653
Outlay 19815 Units
Return - 25398 Units
POT 28%
Strike rate - 38.9%

Melbourne : No of meetings - 578
Races meeting primary criteria - 3136
No of bets - 667
Outlay - 28051 Units
Return - 34801 Units
POT 24%
Strike rate - 52.3%

Brisbane : No of meetings - 550
Races meeting primary criteria - 2673
No of bets - 790
Outlay - 30726 Units
Return - 36727 Units
POT 20%
Strike rate - 46.5%

Adelaide : No of meetings - 529
Races meeting primary criteria - 2743
No of bets - 195
Outlay - 7988 Units
Return - 9700 Units
POT 21%
Strike rate - 49.7%

In total over 584 race dates :
Won 346 (59%)
Lost 216 (37%)
No Bets 21 (4%)

Analyzing in 3 month periods i.e. Summer, winter etc.

Of 40 periods over 10 years - wins 36
Losses 4
Worst daily loss - <-218> units (24/9/99)
Worst losing run - <-616> units (17/3/01 - 28/7/01)
Worst period result -332 Units (Autumn 2000)
Other losing periods (-58, -168, -1)

Period average over 10 years :
Outlay - 2164.50 Units
Return - 2666.65 Units
POT - 23.15%

Over last 3 years - Winter 2000 - Autumn 2003
Outlay - 2229.50 Units
Return - 2739.67 Units
POT - 22.88%

Over last year
Outlay - 2013.50 Units
Return - 2411.75 Units
POT - 19.78%

Last period - Autumn 2003
Outlay - 1729 Units
Return - 2100 Units
POT 21.46%

Know this is very longwinded but intended to give an idea of workload required.

Records can be finetuned and various trends identified.

Computers for record keeping have made my life so much easier.
Previously had up to 20 handwritten lever arch files now down to 2.

So forget all the hype and the promise of easy riches. Its HARD WORK.