Swapping their keyboards and mice for a deck of cards

 

 

What do online strategy games and poker have in common: a good set of skills. It takes years for professional gamers and poker players to be good at their game. It’s not surprising to see poker players turn online gamers and vice-versa. With the challenges, monetary benefits, and opportunities poker has to offer, here are some popular gamers turned professional poker players: 

 

Dan "Rekrul" Schreiber 

When Starcraft enthusiasts hear the name “Rekrul”, they’ll immediately tell you that “He’s the guy who won first place during the WCG (World Cyber Games) USA Starcraft tournament in 2003.” After playing for Team Hexatron in South Korea, he decided to try his hand in poker. Schreiber started researching about poker and visited websites like partypoker.  "For the first three months, I lost $450 on the penny tables," he said. "I would lose a pot with AA vs KQo all-in pre-flop then tilt money away." 

He eventually won a WSOP Bracelet and over $425,594 in prize money. According to him "I did not try to make myself a poker pro, I was just someone who really enjoyed it and saw it as a game of skill, a skill that I wanted to master." 

 

Victor "eVERLAST" Martin 

eVERLAST was one of the first non-Koreans to participate in the Tooniverse Programer Korea Open in 1999. He was one of the Starcraft players who became very popular in Korea, and played in the league for a couple of years. However, his passion for the game waned and he wanted to try something new. Since he learned that some of his fellow gamers are now playing poker, it picked his curiosity and decided to try it out. Martin said that “I decided to give it a shot and started doing well for myself almost immediately. The more you play poker the more you realize that it’s a game of skill and not luck. At least in the long run.” 

For him, playing online strategy games helped him be a good poker player: hand-to-eye coordination, decision-making skills, and ability to multitask during tournaments. Also, he believes that it’s more of a game of skill, rather than a game of luck. 

 

Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier 

Placing second during the 2001 World Cyber Games in South Korea, Grospellier cemented himself as one of the top-ranked Starcraft players in the world. After playing as a professional gamer for 3 years, Grospellier decided to make his mark somewhere else; poker. Currently, he holds the Guinness World Record for the Most Sit & Go Tables Played Simultaneously in an Hour. As of 2012, his total live tournament winnings amount to $ 10,661,629, and he won his first WSOP bracelet during the 2011 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship. 

According to a recent interview, Grospellier said that “I love playing poker and I love SC2 so I try to have time for both but if there are some tournaments that don't take a lot of time, i.e. online tournaments I might be able to play more.”