Is there a relationship between video games and poker? Just ask Ivan Demidov or Bertrand Grospellier, to name two. These are both poker champions who started out playing video games. Grospellier, known as “ElKy” at PokerStars – one of the best online poker sites for us players - was one of the most famous Starcraft champions in South Korea, while Demidov played both Starcraft and Warcraft professionally for several years. Since then, Demidov has made two World Series of Poker main event final tables, one in the U.S. and one in Europe, and Grospellier has collected both World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour titles.

Why Video Game Champions Find Themselves Playing Poker

In most cases, video game enthusiasts find poker when their friends introduce them to the Internet game. Internet poker is a natural relative of multi-player PC video games. Both involve a lot of time in front of the computer clicking buttons to compete with other players across the globe. The video gaming community is a close-knit one, so the popularity of poker becomes viral, as the first few players who get into it end up telling hundreds of friends about the great game of poker.

Why Video Game Champions Are Good at Poker

Video game proficiency suits one particularly well for tournament play. Video gamers tend to play for hours on end without stopping, which is exactly what you need to do to win a poker tournament. They are also used to staying focused and trying to always make the right decisions, which are some key poker tournament skills.

Lack of Popularity of Poker Video Games

Given the relationship between video games and poker, you would expect that poker video games would be very popular, but they are not, unless you consider Internet poker to be a poker video game. Betting is the soul of poker, and a video game played for play money does not quite capture the spirit and intensity provided by actual poker play. Fortunately, there are plenty of other types of video games to keep gamers busy and plenty of real Internet and live poker available for when these players need to get their poker fix.