Why should a chess player try online poker? Starting around 2003 online poker was getting very popular. After the amateur Chris Moneymaker was winning the World Championship tournament (WSOP) in summer of 2003, a real boom started in the USA. Ideal conditions for professionals. Online Poker has many advantages compared to live play in a casino. Therefore more and more players started to compete online. The players can decide between several hundred online poker rooms, which all offer more or less good promotions. About 10% of all online players are winning players. Most of them can even make living by only playing online poker.
10% may not sound too much, but there are several hundred thousands of players playing each day and it is estimated that about 10 million people world wide have or had an online poker account. Compare this with the situation in chess! During the times of the cold war, life was ok for FIDE International Masters (IM) or Grandmasters (GM). In the east they were paid by the government. No need for an extra income.
In the West, their number was lower and they shared a fair number of tournaments. Nothing to get rich, but they were able to make a living. Maybe supported by writing books or articles for chess magazines. After the fall of the Soviet Regime, borders were more or less open for eastern players. And the governments didn't pay them anymore.
So the competition suddenly was much higher, what also affected the western professionals. It is true that money paid to the top players was rising hugely between 1990 and 200x. But regarding top players we speak maybe about 20 - 30 players. But we have already more than 500 active GMs and several 1000s of IM. Making a living just by playing chess has become almost impossible for many GM and most IM. An additional problem is, that chess programs (like Fritz, Shredder, etc.) became so strong, that almost noone is playing chess online for money. At least not for reasonable sums. And the playing strength of amateurs is higher also today. In the 1970's or 1980's a win by an amateur against a GM in an open tournament was a sensation. Today you will have problems to find an open tournament result table where not a GM was beaten (or at least drawed) by an amateur. It happens again and again. After poker was getting popular, you saw quicky some chess professionals switch to this game. Why? Because they saw the financial potential in the game. Successful examples are IM Ivo Donev, GM Josef Klinger, GM Tibor Tolnai and GM Matthias Wahls. At poker tables (even at high stakes games), you can find every day players which maybe have only 1200 - 1500 ELO, when you would rate them like in chess. These players don't mind to lose quite a sum every session because they have fun in the game. The same players would never think about to play chess with a GM or IM for money. The fun factor is based on this: Even the 1200 ELO poker players can win sometimes big pots when he is playing with a table full of pro's. That's the luck factor. Long term he will be always the loser. But short term he will sometimes win. If the same player (ELO 1200 in chess now) is playing a chess tournament with 9 chess GM, he will end up with zero points. That's the difference. Of chess is the deeper game, but Poker is still difficult enough to give better players an edge. And it's always fun. Add the possibility to play online and you will understand why Poker is so popular and not chess. When a promising young chess player would ask me today if he should become a chess professional, I would answer this: Better is to become a online poker professional and play chess without the pressure of making a living by it. Probably the results will be better!
Last update : 11-07-2008 01:46
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