The origins of poker nerds

[sfer]

Playing with some 2+2ers last Saturday one confessed that he found poker like many people, by playing Magic. He also mentioned that a respected Mid/High HE poster was so good at Magic as to have a card named after him. I've had only sporadic contact with Magic--i.e. seeing my younger brother play it and guys in the dorms in college.

So else discovered poker through Magic?

I'll confess that I was taught the basics of HE a friend and former pro, but didn't play seriously until I got bored with other casino games.

EDIT: BTW, this is in no way an attempt to minimize my own nerdiness, which is abundant.

[lucas9000]

there were a number of young players who did well in this year's wsop main event who were previously magic players. i think the guy who overslept and david williams were previously magic players, but i'm not 100%.

i know NOTHING about magic...maybe that's why i suck at poker.

[IndieMatty]

Magic is for Dorks.

I went your route. Bad gambler, got into Poker through roomie, now Im still a bad gambler. But I pretend to win and stuff.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

I don't know anything about Magic, but it seems that the skills developed and required to do well there translate very well to poker. It's just like a lot of the older generation of poker players are/were championship caliber backgammon or bridge/gin/whatever.

[Shajen]

<<<<


the master taught me.

(No, Magic is a little too dorky for me.) No offense to magic players.

[davelin]

Played Magic for awhile but didn't discover poker through that.

[Paluka]

I'm the nerd with the card named after me. Magic players have been pretty successful at poker overall. Noah Boeken just won a cool $200k in an EPT event this week.

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm the nerd with the card named after me.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, that's like ubernerd status. does this work as a pick up line ever?

--turnipmonster

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm the nerd with the card named after me. Magic players have been pretty successful at poker overall. Noah Boeken just won a cool $200k in an EPT event this week.

[/ QUOTE ]

First name Chris right? Am I a bigger nerd for knowing which card it is?

[fsuplayer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm the nerd with the card named after me.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, that's like ubernerd status. does this work as a pick up line ever?

--turnipmonster

[/ QUOTE ]

not everyone can just flash their huge wads of cash at the ladies. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[DMBFan23]

I played magic, AND what?

yeah, I found hold em through a couple of guys who I played magic with.

[Gainsay]

It boggles my mind that Noah Boeken is good at poker.

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
Played Magic for awhile but didn't discover poker through that.

[/ QUOTE ]

So did I, I stopped in 6th grade when they closed down the comic book store near my house.

I got 2nd place in the only magic tourney I ever entered /images/graemlins/laugh.gif (40ish people)

[fnord_too]

I learned how to play poker when I was 5 or 6, along with just about every other game I could find.

btw, I think you need to post a pic of you in your velour sweat suit.

[pshreck]

Isnt 2+2 the origin of poker nerds?

[astroglide]

i was a part of the original magic/irc migration to poker. my first online account was with delta poker, registered in may of 1999.

[CCass]

Are 2's and 1 eyed J's wild in Magic?

[KowCiller]

[ QUOTE ]
Played Magic for awhile but didn't discover poker through that.

[/ QUOTE ]

[stabn]

Which set did it come out in?

I used to a lot of magic tournaments when i was in college but stopped because i was spending waaay too much on cards. My switch to poker had nothing to do with magic though, since i stopped playing it several years before i started playing poker.

[Paluka]

It is the Meddling Mage, it is in Planeshift. It attacks for 2.

[Ponks]

Didn't that guy who got 2nd place in the WSOP used to be a huge Magic player?? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else, but I also think he got accused of cheating in a big Magic tournament. I've never played, but my friend who got me into poker used to play a lot of Magic.

Ponks

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
It is the Meddling Mage, it is in Planeshift. It attacks for 2.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.pojo.com/magic/COTD/2005/Jan/18.html

[lucas9000]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is the Meddling Mage, it is in Planeshift. It attacks for 2.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.pojo.com/magic/COTD/2005/Jan/18.html

[/ QUOTE ]

"This card fit right into the scheme of the Invasion block. Decently priced at UW, the blue says "counter something" and the white says 2/2 bear. This dude is primarily found prowling around in blue/white control decks where Meddling Mage is particularly effective at curtailing the opponent's play of an easily predicted part of their winning strategy, especially when the opposing deck is based around any kind of a card combo. When you played booster draft in the Invasion block (this card is obviously from Planeshift) multiple colors wasn't too much of a problem, so Meddling Mage could be drafted and played fairly effectively even in limited.

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL: 4.0
LIMITED: 3.0"

i understood exactly none of that.

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't that guy who got 2nd place in the WSOP used to be a huge Magic player?? Maybe I'm thinking of someone else, but I also think he got accused of cheating in a big Magic tournament. I've never played, but my friend who got me into poker used to play a lot of Magic.

Ponks

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes David Williams is a magic player, I've been friends with him for years (although we have had our rocky periods). Dave was banned for a period of time for cheating, and it is widely believe that he was guilty.

[GuyOnTilt]

http://home.comcast.net/~thepier007/images/195.jpg

GoT

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
btw, I think you need to post a pic of you in your velour sweat suit.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is one thing the world decidedly does not need.

[Reef]

[ QUOTE ]
Played Magic for awhile but didn't discover poker through that.

[/ QUOTE ]

me too. Magic was in 4th - 6th grade for me.. damn, like 10 years ago.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

Is everyone in that picture old enough to drive?

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

Yeah, I used to play magic (you can probably tell from the avatar/name) and basically quit because of poker. All of my friends that I met through magic also did the same. One of them is now pro.

It was fun while I played, as most of my friends now came through magic, but I'm glad I discovered poker as magic didn't pay that well especially since I wasn't on the PT.

[Ulysses]

I had no idea what that game was until I started playing poker online. There are definitely a ton of these dungeons and dragons guys among the high-limit online poker scene. ZeeJustin and David Williams are two of many. There are also a lot of guys in high-limit online poker that are or were very serious about a variety of different computer games.

[astroglide]

[ QUOTE ]
these dungeons and dragons guys

[/ QUOTE ]

don't take the bait, folks!

[stabn]

Smooth. Never heard of it though. I quit right before the 6th edition rules went into affect.

[Justin A]

[ QUOTE ]
I had no idea what that game was until I started playing poker online. There are definitely a ton of these dungeons and dragons guys among the high-limit online poker scene. ZeeJustin and David Williams are two of many. There are also a lot of guys in high-limit online poker that are or were very serious about a variety of different computer games.

[/ QUOTE ]

I saw a thread recently about TillerMaN being a video game pro before he started playing poker. I didn't even know there was such a thing as being a video game pro. I'm still trying to figure out how to beat Tyson.

[Reef]

*too busy fixing my pocket protector to reply*

[B Dids]

Tillerman is apparently the Paluka of Warcraft, and there's a cat who hangs out in IRC who was like the Paluka of Quake.

I'm bummbed that being a band geek doesn't seem to correllate with poker skills.

[housenuts]

i found about out online poker through this porno i downloaded called Inari Vachs AKA Filthy Whore. in one scene this girl gets bent over a Craps table and railed. i thought it looked interesting so i went to the local casino to see if that's what really happened at the craps table. When I arrived unfortunately none of that was happening. I saw a very hot chic at the poker table so I thought maybe if I played poker she would bend over the table for me later in the night. I sat down and played but that never ended up happening. This is when I discovered how much I liked poker.

[ClaytonN]

What am I supposed to be looking at GoT?

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
...and there's a cat who hangs out in IRC who was like the Paluka of Quake.

[/ QUOTE ]

Rusted Corpse?

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
What am I supposed to be looking at GoT?

[/ QUOTE ]

MaxPower.

[B Dids]

Hakeem. If you're a Quake nerd, (which seems even worse than a MTG nerd) I guess that means something.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
Hakeem. If you're a Quake nerd, (which seems even worse than a MTG nerd) I guess that means something.

[/ QUOTE ]

I played at Rusted Corpse's home game a couple of months ago and he was spanking Johnny Boom Boom at Quake. At least I think it was Quake. He said he used to compete.

Also, I'm a nerd free of adjectives. The best kind. Unfettered social awkwardness.

[astroglide]

tillerman was absolute #1 in warcraft during reign of chaos. hakeem and paluka were big names in their respective games but had higher opponents who were more life-dedicated to the games at the time (fatality and jon finkel come to mind).

[Lawrence Ng]

Dared use to be a Starcraft champion.

[Skip Brutale]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm the nerd with the card named after me. Magic players have been pretty successful at poker overall. Noah Boeken just won a cool $200k in an EPT event this week.

[/ QUOTE ]

So is this Chris Pakula?

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]

So is this Chris Pakula?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi, I'm Chris Pikula.

[Gainsay]

Is this Chris Pikula the magic player? Do you know Randy Beuhler? I think Randy Beuhler is fat. He will never stop eating pizza.

[StacysMom]

I played magic seriously for about 4 years. I actually played aroound 5 or so PT's before my roomate (goblinmason) turned me to profesional poker. About david williams; I played him in magic a couple times, beat him day 2 of a Grand Prix (not that most ppl here would know what that means). And it is not widely accepted that he was cheating although he was banned.

He had 4 marked cards in his deck that where only marked do to manufacturing, (they were foil. which curves a bit with humidity) yet they where not the cards i would choose to mark if i were to do so. So i think he just was sloppy and got burned, but what evs

[WillMagic]

I didn't FIND poker through Magic, persay, but I played Magic seriously before poker, though without as much success as Zee and Pikula and others - I have three PTQ top 8's and a nationals grinder 5-1 to my credit, to those who know what that means.

Ask any serious tournament Magic player what he thinks of the fantasy element of the game, and the response will range from "I couldn't care less" to "Occasionally it's fun to say the names....heh, Meddling Mage, heh." I played Magic because it is a fascinating strategic game, where finding the right play or sequence of plays turn after turn is quite challenging, and even if you play perfectly you will lose a good portion of the time. Magic players are used to bad beats, and they are used to looking for the one right play at every given opportunity, so I don't find it much of a surprise that the skills translate so well.

[nongice626]

when someone cheats at magic. do you punch them in the face ro email them a computer virus?

[Reef]

It would be interesting to see if there are more chess to poker players than magic to poker players.

[JaBlue]

A very, very high percentage of strong Russian chess players plays poker.

[Paluka]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this Chris Pikula the magic player? Do you know Randy Beuhler? I think Randy Beuhler is fat. He will never stop eating pizza.

[/ QUOTE ]

nice hand.

[nongice626]

[ QUOTE ]
A very, very high percentage of strong Russian chess players plays poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

1 minute chess is where its at. anything else is limit holdem, aka faggot holdem.

[Jack of Arcades]

I think someone should make a poll that covers magic, chess, bridge, backgammon, and a few other games.

[MaxPower]

I was playing holdem before you hit puberty GoT.

I never played Magic, and I hate Star Trek. I played dungeons and dragons once for 5 minutes.

I'm still a nerd though.

[peachy]

ok...this is gonna sound dumb...but what is magic??

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
ok...this is gonna sound dumb...but what is magic??

[/ QUOTE ]

It's the original what they now call a Trading Card Game that debuted around 1993 or so. It consists of two players taking on the role of wizards dueling each other with their customized deck of spells. Each individual card represents very generally a spell to be used to against the other opponent. A winner is declared when one player goes from 20 life or hitpoints to 0.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm bummbed that being a band geek doesn't seem to correllate with poker skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your kind prefer to be called Band Fags, don't they?

~D

[peachy]

ok..and yet again...here is mah stupidness shining through...what is quake?

[sthief09]

I didn't discover poker through magic, but I did play magic in elementary and middle school, so about 8 years ago

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
ok..and yet again...here is mah stupidness shining through...what is quake?

[/ QUOTE ]

Video game what they call a First Person Shooter. The game Doom is the most well-known game of this kind.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
ok..and yet again...here is mah stupidness shining through...what is quake?

[/ QUOTE ]

Find out what Google is and then you won't have to ask these questions anymore. You can find information about Google here. (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=google)

[peachy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
ok...this is gonna sound dumb...but what is magic??

[/ QUOTE ]

It's the original what they now call a Trading Card Game that debuted around 1993 or so. It consists of two players taking on the role of wizards dueling each other with their customized deck of spells. Each individual card represents very generally a spell to be used to against the other opponent. A winner is declared when one player goes from 20 life or hitpoints to 0.

[/ QUOTE ]

hrrmm dunno it

[peachy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
ok..and yet again...here is mah stupidness shining through...what is quake?

[/ QUOTE ]

Find out what Google is and then you won't have to ask these questions anymore. You can find information about Google here. (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=google)

[/ QUOTE ]

uumm i DID try this...but 923402939402309 different things came back...how am i supposed to know WHICH one they r talkin about? /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[B Dids]

Dude, we were in JAZZ BAND. Way less faggy, no-uniforms.

[bcunha]

[ QUOTE ]
Dared use to be a Starcraft champion.

[/ QUOTE ]

The good old days.

I played MTG in early high school. I played Starcraft for all of high school and a little bit of my first year of college. I was practically semi-pro before I quit.

[fryKing]

I am the wizard-nerd who started SFer thinking about this topic. I wasn't very good at Magic, and I'm not very good at poker. So I would say there is strong correlation.

Also:
http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/images/smilies/needpics.gif

Therefore:
http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/planeshift/meddling_mage.jpg

[Monty Cantsin]

http://www.decisionproblem.com/lag.jpg

/mc