Is Chess Experience Good to Play Poker?

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17Fabrizio17

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I have heard that a good chess experience can be a perfect foundation for playing good poker.
How is it possible? Do you know what are the similarities between the 2 games?
 
Kenzie 96

Kenzie 96

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Chess teaches you to think beyond the move at hand. Thinking is generally good.
 
C

cheddachris

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yes for thinking ahead, figuring out all of the different possibilities that can happen for each move (raise.... fold... call what will you opponent do?) and it also gets you used to figuring out the probability of possible outcomes
 
Worak

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I was 2nd in the german national school championships 20 years ago - thinking analythically is key to both games - so yes it helps.
 
alaskabill

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I have played tournament chess for 20+ years. The skills developed in chess definitely have helped my poker development. In chess you do a lot of study and analysis away from the board to prepare for competitions. You have to study your past games to find mistakes and study future opponents games and style to prepare for them. Doing these things in poker are a must to get better.

Also, I personally find the study of pre flop play very comparable to the study of openings in chess.
 
qia1989

qia1989

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there also very different between the chess and the poker,chess had no badbeat,you can beat poker pro but you can hard beat the chess pro.
 
rounder22

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Yes chess background is good for poker in that you always have to think ahead so I don't see why it would hurt, only could help.
 
okeedokalee

okeedokalee

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I find poker involves more thought than chess, add in time and money pressure.

Chess planning to set traps or build up gradual pressure, is different, than the quicker decisions poker needs, where portions of your bankroll can be at stake.:eek:
 
Dreams of Tragedy

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it works for howard. why not
 
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mig2169

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It is game theory, the more u work on situations and thinking out side the box, u will win money at poker.
 
bhood1776

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Don't forget about the aggresion factor. Putting the person your playing against on the defensive is very effective in both games.
 
MrPokerVerse

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Great question, never heard any comparisons between the two. Heard of people playing other games including chess and transition to poker.

Both games are of strategy, with chess you see everything going on, there are no hidden varables. Poker your always trying to figure out what the other players have by numerous methods. Besides looking ahead to what going to happen further along, really is there any tangible transferable skills?

Sure preparation and evalutaion of past play are important, but that can be seen in anything you do. Just don't see the correlation between the too but I do enjoy both games.
 
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Bovinity

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Chess and Poker both have large elements of looking ahead, planning your actions several steps down the road, trying to anticipate what your opponent's actions will be, those sorts of things. I can see a great amount of value in chess experience.
 
The PoolBoy

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I would say yes, especially heads up. Poker requires a huge amount of analytical thinking as does chess. Chess is very much like Poker without varience. Game theory is key sspects in both.
 
Poker Orifice

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It certainly seemed to carry over well for former child chess prodigy - Jeff Sarwer (the kid who won the World under 10 chess championship when he was 8yrs. old, on tv in the past putting on an exhibition playing 40games at once).
Jeff says some of his poker success directly translates to the analytical mind that made him a success in chess as a youth but also goes on to say that the reason why there aren't a bunch of former chess players taking down poker tournaments is that they aren't aggressive enough for poker.

sidenote - I used to play chess as a youth - a member of the local chess club & would regularly take down adults I'd play while being 10yrs.old. I think game theory, analytical mind for sure translates over to the game of poker. Also notice that some of today's (& yesterday's) poker greats (Tournament NLHE) were former backgammon players (Phil Lahk, Bill Robertie & Dan Harrington to name a few).
 
greywind50

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Chess helps your poker thinking but poker has alot of unknowns, where chess is open. You might not be able to analyze 5 moves in advance to "see" what is possible but it is there. In poker the cards are hidden till the showdown and you can only quess/estimate by your opps actions what hole cards he has. Then there is the "bluff"; which has no chess equivalent.
 
Misofer

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The only situation I can thing off is reading your opponent move before they do it. This applies in Chess and Texas Hold'em.
 
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JeTess

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Only in predicting

U r predicting ur opponents moves in chess, i think thats the thing that could help u in poker:)
 
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