Almost every child has dreamt of playing his favorite games and getting paid for it. When I was younger, I would have loved to get paid to beat my friends at Mario Kart 64. Of course, then, competition was limited to the amount of people I could fit in my bedroom.

Until about 7 or so years ago, this was the case -- with console gaming anyways. With the increase of online gaming, both on consoles and PC's, gamers can compete with other players in different countries around the world. With this, gaming tournaments have been opened up by Microsoft and other third-party organizations that offer expert games the chance to be a national or even world champion. On top of that, most tournaments offer a cash prize for winners.

Unfortunately for me, my talent at Mario Kart has not carried over to Halo or Gears of War, but there seems to be hope for the expert gamer out there. Even just placing in a large tournament or two can make a gamer a substantial amount of money. The key seems to be diversifying your gaming skills. Being an expert at more than just one game will allow a gamer to win money from tournaments in a variety of different genres and platforms.

In my experience, most gamers that are amazing in online games are oblivious to the opportunities that are available to them. Simply by browsing Google, I found a few opportunities to show my friends, but there must be more out there. Now, Google might not be of much help in this case, but I came across a book set that claims to be able to guide expert gamers to cash tournaments and help them become a professional gamer. If you think you could be an excellent gamer and would like to make money off of your skills, I would strongly suggest giving it a try.