As part of its efforts to promote poker as a sport, Masters Poker Club on Sunday welcomed the transition of international chess champion Magnus Carlsen from the 64-square board to the felt table after being spotted as a player in Hustlers Casino’s live stream cash game in Los Angeles, California recently.
Carlsen, a Norwegian chess grandmaster, is the reigning five-time World Chess champion, four-time World Rapid Chess King and six-time World Blitz Chess titleholder while holding the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the elite level in classical chess.
For his recent game in Hustlers Casino, Carlsen once again emerged victorious with a total cash take of $5,000 or roughly P300,000.
Carlsen, along with other chess masters such as Alexandra Botez have recently been joining Hustlers Casino’s poker live stream.
Chess players transitioning to poker has been a recent trend mostly due to its similarity with chess. Both sports require a fundamental comprehension of game theory doubled with a proficiency in human psychology — skills that could be attained with rigid training as in the case of every other sport.
Poker, though, presents a greater challenge given the randomness of cards. This compels a player to learn how to deal with any card in any given situation and against any opponent in order to win.
Carlsen’s game is a testament that the sport requires every player to decipher challengers through constantly varying probabilities and behavioral patterns on the table — and this is the mental exercise that chess players seek in poker.
The growing mainstream popularity of poker as a legitimate sport embodies and reflects the vision of Masters Poker Club to enlighten Filipinos that the game requires skill and strategy instead of luck — with enough practice in honing that skill, anybody could make poker a profession.
And the club continues to promote the sport as it crosses over down south with the much-awaited grand opening of its newest branch in Biñan, Laguna.
“We’re excited to announce the opening of Masters Poker in Biñan, Laguna this May. We are bringing poker closer to the south and we are looking forward to seeing everybody at the felt,” says Masters Poker Club marketing head Gio Palacios.
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