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06 Jul
Posted by Yehuda Berlinger as Card Games, CCGs
My neighbor went to the Magic world championship a few years ago (his friend won). After that, he ditched Magic and switched to Pro Poker. Odd but anomalous, I thought.
Apparently not so anomalous.
Apparently, a number of Pro Poker players have backgrounds rooted in the CCG. David Williams was a top ranked Magic player who went on to come in 2nd in the 2004 WSOP and has made millions of dollars. (source) Noah Boeken has a similar story. (source) Brock Parker played Magic, became interested in Poker, and just won twin victories in the 2009 WSOP. (source) Others: source, source, source.
Wizards noted this phenomenon in 2004 and made light of it. Another source from 2006 notes the high stakes in Magic, but even higher stakes in poker.
Meanwhile, downtime at the 2009 WSOP was Scrabble. (source)
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Yes, this isn’t as strange as it may at first seem.
One of my old M:TG partners is now a world-ranked professional poker player. When we used to go to Magic tournaments, we became temporarily obsessed with raising the value of our collections (based on card prices) and discovered that trading was much more effective in this regard than competing. :) Once the link between play and money is established, poker is a logical next step.
I suspect that Magic is a game that appeals to late teens and people in their twenties – but if you become interested in *profiting* from playing, poker is the game to go to. The earnings potential for poker players outstrips all other games (including, on paper at least, major sports, although in practice few people make millions from poker).
Best wishes!