New poker champions are often university students

Fourth article of the series

The characteristics of today's poker champions are very different to those of yesterday. Today, a good percentage of them are university students or new graduates who were introduced to poker through online gaming, often playing during their studies to earn a living.

With so many changes in the poker world, it has been interesting to understand what has caused professional poker players to make the leap to full time playing. At the same time, changes in the poker industry itself have had an effect on how and why players are turning pro.

Where did the champions of yesterday come from?
In the past, a professional poker player came to the game by chance, most frequently after seeing parents or relatives playing for fun or after having been introduced to the game by friends. In most cases, these people devoted all of their time to professional poker and never had a different job.

This does not mean that no past professional poker players did not have additional jobs, however, many were poker devotees, some even had degrees from prestigious universities.

Whether these champions arrived at poker as a first career or while working elsewhere simultaneously, major international live poker event champions were, until a few years ago, professional poker players.

The analytical and strategic skills students acquire during their studies help them in their careers as professional poker players.

Where do today's champions come from?
The "rehabilitation" of poker, the broadcast of major live tournaments and the spread of online poker has led to a significant change in the characteristics of both new poker enthusiasts and new poker champions. Winning and gaining fame at a very young age, these champions’ short biographies often reveal that they are university students, recent graduates or young professionals who pursued their profession for a very short time.

Some of these students consider poker a way to make a living while studying, a kind of part-time job. Playing at the various online poker rooms available on the net, they also participate in qualifying poker tournaments for major live events. They often participate to see if maybe they can qualify, and often players do succeed and participate in major international poker events.

It is quite common that these students are unknown in the live poker world, but are known and feared poker players in the online poker world. Very often they enroll at live tournaments with the nickname they usually use when playing online.

What do poker champion-students study?
By examining what university departments students poker champion are coming from, it easy to find a rather clear common denominator. In most cases, they are students or recent graduates in science or science seed fields. Computer science, economics, business and mathematics are the subjects most frequently studied by new champions.

The fact that these students are gifted for poker is not surprising. The chosen subjects require good analytical skills and the development of action strategies, exactly what is required to be a good poker player.

Continue to study or play poker? That is the dilemma!
These new poker champions do not always end up finishing their studies and starting a career in their chosen profession. The temptation to continue winning large sums in a game they enjoy and excel at is quite strong, and often takes precedence over the desire to make a career in the area they studied at university.

It remains indisputable that the analytical and strategic skills acquired during their studies help these players in their careers as professional poker players.