Often at gamersyndrome.com and offline I get question about the validity of playing online poker to hone your skills for real life. There are a couple angles to this answer as well as the story of Chris Moneymaker the first person to win the World Series Of Poker through by winning a seat through an online poker tournament, it has since paved the way for many others who have won seats from online tournament’s to play in the World Poker Series tournament’s in real life.
Lets first start with Playing online and how I think it would benefit any player in real life. These days playing online you have time to read stats, look at you hand and pull up the strength of the hand in charts, applications online etc.. all without showing your bluff or strength. This is a huge advantage when learning how to play poker as most professionals will know the second they look at a hand how strong the hand is, the odds of hitting or winning with that particular hand.
Secondly lets talk about the leisure factor, not all of us have the time and the money to go play real poker tournament’s even if its just with buddies on the weekend. With online poker you can simply boot up your PC and within minutes you are playing, again a huge advantage when you are lacking time.
Now I’m not saying that playing online poker for hours on end is going to hone your skills to the point you can be a professional poker player, this still requires a certain level of personal skills and the ability to bluff your cards and remain calm in real life. For online poker players, one of the most prestigious things that can happen to them with this game is to be sponsored by an online poker site, like Betfair Poker. This practice of sponsoring players has been occurring for quite some time now. However, in 2003, more people became aware of this possibility when an amateur made his way all the way to winning a major world poker tournament.
The man that revolutionized the game of online poker is Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker originally just played online poker for entertainment only after working during the day as an accountant. For fun, Moneymaker entered a satellite tournament at Poker Stars with a buy-in of $39. He ended up moving all the way through the tournament to be the victor. This made him then eligible for a larger satellite tournament at the Poker Stars site.
For a prize, the larger satellite tournament featured a World Series Main Event package. This prize was later won by Moneymaker when he was the winner of the tournament. This meant Moneymaker was on his way to Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker main event. Moneymaker moved all the way to the final game of this event which he won. He was awarded a cash prize of $2.5 million and was presented with the iconic gold bracelet.
The rise of Chris Moneymaker to the top of the poker world is a Cinderella story. Seeing an amateur make it to the top has inspired many to play the game. Moneymaker’s victory also generated new interest in the game, which helped provide a boost to the industry. Moneymaker did not quit after winning the World Series. He continued playing in other popular tournaments with success, setting an example for aspiring poker players to look up to in this sport.
Article from Gamersyndrome.com
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