In terms of strategy and skill, online poker and chess have a lot in common. It might explain why good chess players are often said to be outstanding poker players. Is this merely a hearsay portraying two very different analytical games, or is it true? Let’s compare the two games and look at those players who have effectively translated their talents and prospered in both realms.
On the surface, poker and chess appear to be very different games. The key similarity though is that they are both strategy games.
Chess is complex, dependent almost entirely on skill with no element of chance, and is played in a tense and hushed environment. Poker on the other hand is a combination of chance and skill, in which bluster and bluff are as crucial as the cards in front of you. Surprisingly, there have been several cases when excellent chess players have successfully transitioned to poker.
What are the similarities between chess and poker?
Style of Play
In chess, the opening allows you to gain a sense of the opponent player, what plays he likes to make, and which pieces he wants to deploy. This is similar to the pre-flop and flip in poker, where you try to figure out what cards your opponent has and plan ahead.
In both games, this stage is rather predictable and uncomplicated. Yet, when it comes to the final phases of the games, strategies come into play.
Guessing your opponent’s hands is challenging, to say the least, because there are many more options at the turn and river. Chess is similar in that determining the optimal move is significantly more difficult because there are fewer pieces on the board and more variables to consider.
Balancing Aggression
When playing poker, the most important thing is to safeguard your chips and develop them when the opportunity arises. When playing chess, the key thing to always have in mind is guarding your king rather than attacking your opponents.
As a result, balancing aggressive and defensive play is one of the transferable skills which great poker players and skilled chess players have.
Beginners in both games are often aggressive, attempting to control the play, but the key to both poker and chess is balance and analytical thinking.
Calculating the odds
Both games require you to constantly have analytical skills and a knowledge of the odds available to them as well as calculating the odds constantly. Between the two though, doing this for chess is far more difficult than doing it for poker.
Being a math wiz is not a necessity for either game but understanding math is very important.
To play poker or play chess, you have to be studious
The saying, “poker takes five minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master” is equally true when it comes to learning and playing chess. Online poker in the USA is a booming industry with countless books, websites and other resources to help players become masters. True success in chess and poker requires extensive study.
The most competitive players have to take in a lot of information to help them reach a level where they’re prepared for chess and online poker tournaments. Professional chess players and poker players are students of the game for the entire duration of their careers.
Why a good Chess player can also be a good Poker player
Stamina and Focus
Poker cash games may last for hours and Chess games do as well. While Chess games do not last as long as poker games, you must still concentrate and focus the whole time you are at the table, observing your opponent, calculating your move, and being physically comfortable.
It may be fierce in both chess and poker, so both games require some endurance. It’s perhaps why chess players readily transition to poker: sitting at a table and being entirely devoted to the goal is second nature.
Attitude
In both chess and poker (and in every other game or sport for that matter) you just can’t win every game. The best poker players as well as chess players know that key is having the right attitude, the ability to bounce back, learn from defeat and come back stronger.
The same must be said for poker. Even those noted as a success often are not the winners of a tournament, and when coming fourth is listed as an achievement, you must carry some mental strength to accept the win in the defeat.
Players that have succeed in chess and in playing poker
Dan Smith
Dan Smith was already enthralled with poker when he earned a chess rating of 2,100 at the age of 16. His spectacular full-time poker career began when he was 18 years old. He is now regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
His notable accomplishments include competing in two $100,000 buy-in tournaments and finishing first for up to $2 million. He also competed in a $1 million buy-in event, finishing third and winning $4 million. He was ranked top in the world by the Global Poker Index in 2014, and he has earned more than $36 million in live earnings.
Dan Harrington
Dan Harrington is one of the chess players who did not wait until the 2003 poker boom to turn to poker. “Action Dan” as he is known in the poker world is a US National Master and the 1971 Massachusetts Chess State Championship champion.
Harrington then went on to become a professional backgammon player before switching to poker. He won one World Poker Tour (WPT) championship and two World Series of Poker (WSOP) titles, including the 1995 Main Event, which was dubbed the “Real World Poker Championship” at the time!
His “On Hold’em” series of books was a must-read for any player in the 2000s. Harrington’s name is in the Poker Hall of Fame, and his winnings total more than $6.6 million!
Ylon Schwartz (born in 1970)
FM Ylon Schwartz first made a living by playing chess in the New York parks. He soon devoted himself full-time to many sorts of gambling, in chess, but also backgammon, darts, horses and strange proposition bets.
Ylon learned the poker rules in 2000 and won his first two tournaments, walking-out with $12,000 and a new career. In 2009, Schwartz finished 4th in the WSOP Main Event for $3.8 million.
That year, in an interview to the New York Times, Ylon said:
“Chess is a purer game. It is my passion. I love poker, too, but I don’t know who gets together to play poker for fun. There is always something on the line.”
In 2012, Ylon won his first and only WSOP bracelet. Schwartz made over $5.1 million in live poker tournaments and is still playing chess.
Almira Skripchenko
Daughter of two chess coaches, Almira Skripchenko showed her excellence and affinity for chess from a young age. Her first title in the field of chess was when she became U16 Girls World Champion.
In 2001, Almira scored her biggest achievement by winning the European Championship. After the Moldovan obtained French nationality, she played in the mixed French Championship two times and won the Women’s French Championship six times.
She was taught how to play poker in a cab by two chess friends while going to her first tournament. She eliminated her two teachers on her way to the final table, discovering a hidden talent.
Almira, also known as “ChessBaby” in the poker world, was a member of the Winamax Team for a few years after 2008, with Belgian poker star Davidi Kitai, international footballer Vikash Dhorasoo, and French musician Patrick Bruel.
Almira placed second for $50,000 in the 2011 WPT Celebrity Invitational, trailing compatriot Davidi Kitai. Her daily profits top $250,000.
Jennifer Shahade
Jennifer Shahade comes from a chess family, as her father, Mike, is an FM and her brother, Greg, is an IM. Jenn won the US Women’s Championship twice, in 2002 and 2004, and was elected to the World Golf Championships in 2005.
To encourage women to play chess, she wrote two books: Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport and Play Like a Girl: Tactics by 9Queens. Jennifer’s artwork, such as Not Very Beautiful or Naked Chess, addresses gender inequalities in chess.
Jennifer became a Pokerstars ambassador after winning a €100,000 Chinese Poker HighRoller tournament in Prague in 2014. Every year, she makes $350,000.
