(André Akkari, the brazilian world champion, in Las Vegas, Nevada)
“Do you play Poker? Watch out, huh! My aunt has a friend that was addicted, he lost his ranch playing it!”
This is a speech that poker players are used to hear a lot. That old story about an undercover match disputed in a dark room, with cheating and cigarette’s smoke are kept in the mind of many people. If you are one of them, I recomend you to read this article to open your mind. If you are not, here is a great source of arguments to use when you hear, again, that “a friend of my aunt lost everything”.
The International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) recognized poker as a mind sport in april, 29 of 2010. Since then, what is still considered for many people as gambling has become something like chess, for example. The official acknowledgment was the result of an impressing growth. For comparing causes, in 2005 Brazil was counting with 200 players. Nowadays, there are more than five millions of practitioners. Many of them become professional and stand out in international circuits.
André Akkari, from São Paulo, is currently the biggest name of brazilian poker. Since 2005, when he started his career, he accumulates almost 5 million of reais in prizes. He is a professional player, sponsored by the biggest poker site of the world, the Pokerstars, and he spends the days playing in 15 online poker tables, simultaneously. Except when he is traveling to dispute major tournaments. In 2011, Akkari won one of the phases of the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas. He defeated 2.856 players and got the prize of 675 thousands dollars, besides the gold bracelet - the emblem of the victory, the poker trophy.
But why mind sport?
That is because poker requires strategy, studies and calculation of probabilities. It is not a gamble game, at all. Several experts analised Texas Hold’em, the most popular genre of poker, and they reached a conclusion: the player’s hability in the dispute decides 88% of the time. In other words, the lucky factor is irrelevant in long term. And it is that long term that will bring a profit to a professional player, for example.
Then can I give up of my college studies now to become rich playing poker next week?
No. If you are in university it is probably because you are getting pro in something. And you know that, to reach this level, there are much time and study required. With poker it is absolutely the same. Yes, it is possible to turn the chips and the cards in work tools and yes, there are plenty of people that gets rich doing it. But it is just like soccer. There are lots of people playing it, some of them become professional and some rare of them are extremely differentiated, that are the best of the world and can earn millions of dollars.
Ok, so I won’t give up college, but I want to play poker. Isn’t it illegal in Brazil?
The Brazilian constitution prohibits casinos and gambling. But since poker doesn’t fit none of those classes it is completely within the law. And it is very easy finding where to play around here. If you are just getting started, the best choice is to get together with your friends and do some poker matches in your house. After you have got the hand of it, there are many poker clubs that organizes daily tournaments and deliver great prizes.
The easiest option is to play online. The PokerStars, the biggest poker site of the world, opens thousands of tournaments everyday, in every hour and for the many pockets' capacity - from cents to millions of dollars.
Reminding that, first of all, it is good to give a little study. It is possible to find a lot of material on the internet, besides plenty books released, including of brazilian authors. The Raise Editora offers nacional and also international titles, translated to portuguese. Different from the TvPokerPro, the best brazilian webpage if you prefer to learn with video lessons.
Finally, go to practice. Citing the most famous quote used in Las Vegas to give the introduction to the matches: shuffle up and deal!
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