I don’t play poker, especially Texas Hold ‘Em.
I’ve never really been attracted to it. Even when much younger.
My card game of choice growing up was knock out whist. I played it at secondary school during tutorial time. I played it a lot with my dad’s aunt (she really was a card shark).
However recently I’ve become more interested in it. Or to be more accurate some of the theory behind the game.
Apparently, and I read this somewhere a while back but I don’t recall where, that top MtG players have done really well in poker tournaments because they are MtG players. It appears that although totally different games. MtG players are used to making decisions based on incomplete information, reading the board state, etc. The skills are transferable so to speak.
I follow the chess content creators the Botez sisters on YouTube, and the elder sister Alex (?) in the past has taken part in poker tournaments.
I think because I watched those poker videos YouTube throws up from time to time a poker video in my feed.
Add in that to complete my Knizia books I got his book “Poker Plain and Simple: A Brief Guide for Beginners, Spectators, and the Curious” which also peaked my interest.
So I’ve started down the rabbit hole and bought a couple more books on poker, “Essential Poker Math, Expanded Edition: Fundamental No-Limit Hold’em Mathematics You Need to Know” by Alton Hardin and newly arrived “Modern Poker Theory: Building an Unbeatable Strategy Based on GTO Principles” by Michael Acevedo.
Obviously I’m not claiming that I’m going to become a master poker player over night.
However I think just like MtG has transferable skills to poker. I’m proposing that some of the poker/MtG skills are transferable to other games. It’s a bit like the Discovering Chess Openings book that clearly has ideas/theory that transfer to other games, particularly war/skirmish games. Really.
I’m particularly curious about the game theory side. I can see that side being a big rabbit hole to dive into.
My progress might be slow through these books because I tend to read them whilst sitting outside, getting shade under the tarp as the monster squad chill out.
So bare with me as I start this side quest, which might even see me play a game of poker.