[Jaii]

Its curious that you say you need way more elements to be a good poker player than SC2 player. You definantly dont need twitch reaction or strong motor skills / hand eye coordination to be a top poker player, just as you dont need strong basic math/probability to be a sc2 player...

BRM is one example, but you could even apply a basic version of it to a simple stop-loss laddering technique. Math skills you dont need in SC2, but fast decision making you do (even when the clock is called with you holding a straight on a flush draw, you still have more time to react to that than an unscouted proxy stargate).

I would say more people would be capable of becoming profitable online poker (5% rake) players than excellent (high diamond+) sc2 players. Math, reading people, dealing with financial pressure and considered decision making you can teach and learn with experience; fast, accurate control and reactions most people will never have, and progressively lose for every year they age past 30

[aztecx]

Originally Posted by Jaii

I would say more people would be capable of becoming profitable online poker (5% rake) players than excellent (high diamond+) sc2 players. Math, reading people, dealing with financial pressure and considered decision making you can teach and learn with experience; fast, accurate control and reactions most people will never have, and progressively lose for every year they age past 30

I don't agree with this. When you lose a game of Sc2, you can watch a replay and generally see where you made the mistake. Whether it be your macro slipped, you micro'd poorly or a misjudgment in strategy. All these things can be changed and results will be noticed immediately. With poker you may find yourself in a certain situation numerous times, and whilst you seem to be winning it does not mean that you are playing well. Winning a hand generally doesn't mean that you played the hand correctly and very few players can play each hand they are a part of in a way which maximise profits and minimise losses. Since poker is a game of variance and slow return, changes in strategy may often only be noticed over long periods of time.

I feel that it's fair to say Sc2 is more like a sport, generally the more you play and practice the better you will get. Obviously there may be certain exceptions but that's the same with everything. Just as in any other sport, participants will often have a prime and once they grow older their bodies won't be able to function at the rate they used to be able to which will cause a slide in performance. Poker on the other hand is almost completely a mental game and whilst everyone can learn the rules, I believe that a LOT of people no matter how much they play will ever be able to truly learn the game and be able to improve. Whilst the human mind is very clever and capable of learning and adapting, certain changes in brain chemistry caused by gambling can overpower rational thought. Some personality traits that I believe will almost instantaneously disqualify someone from becoming a good poker player are superstitious beliefs and being prone to gambling addiction.