How Poker Spun the Magic Cards
The game of poker defines what the heart and mind of America today because it's not only one of the most popular card games; it has also become America's favorite game.
Yes, poker is back with a vengeance, let's say, after a long period of hibernation. Hundreds of players, whatever their backgrounds are, are finding success on the game. But arguably the most successful players recently are the graduates of the strategy card game called Magic: The Gathering. Magic graduates cobtained two of the 10 spots at the final table of the 2004 World Series of Poker, that filtered from 2,576 contestants. One of these finalists is 23-year-old David Williams, who took 2nd place and pocketed $35 million. With Magic: the Gathering players commanding one-fifth of the poker tournament, the media have heralded it as an astounding feat that cannot be called just luck.
Alongside Magic player Williams is Jon Finkel, who grew up as a typical weird kid that other kids (and even nerds) hated. Finkel is fat and slow and occasionally moody too, which created a subbasement life childhood life. Yet he was a near genius and, eventually found fulfillment, success, and fame in Magic. This intricate, beautifully drawn, card game, combined the elements of chess, poker, and Tolkien fantasy. The game was invented in the early 1990s by a mathematician turned Dungeons-and-Dragons fan, Richard Garfield. In Magic: the Gathering, card holders play the roles of wizards and warlocks and attempt to beat each other by fistfights and casting spells. A winner is declared when his/her opponent's power reaches zero.
The game didn't require technology, but was far from being cheap. Nonetheless, it captured a worldwide audience, where millions and millions of cards were sold and resold in the first year of production. All Magic cards were unique; each player compiled his hand that can be assembled by choice by buying some in a local store. The players kept coming to buy some more because the cards too sometime elevated to collector's item statures.
Magic tournaments grew in popularity and respectability. Jon Finkel, still under 21 years of age, was regarded as the most successful Magic player on the globe. He joined numerous tournaments and won most of them, winning up to $85,000 in just two years. Finkel admitted to have learned a lot from poker and blackjack. Most of his strategies were permuted from Poker.
However, because poker and blackjack relied on a limited number of cards in a deck, it's a step below from Magic cards. So, poker's mathematics was easier to master than Magic; conversely, when he used Magic's mathematics to poker that got him to the finals and won big. He calls his win in Poker as a classic revenge-of-the-nerds' story.
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