The highest-rated chess player in history is also solid at the game of poker.
Magnus Carlsen, widely considered the greatest chess player of all time, recently finished 25th in an event at the Norwegian Poker Championship. More than 1,000 players competed in the tournament. Carlsen scored roughly 5,000 euros for the deep run, nearly making a final table.
During his run in the event, Carlsen played an interesting hand featuring him turning pocket aces into a bluff. See how the hand played out below.
Carlsen, rated an extraordinary 2864 in chess, defended his World Chess Championship title late last year. He’s been the world’s top chess player for roughly a decade.
Carlsen seemed pleased with his 25th place finish in the poker event. That’s quite different than how he typically acts after he doesn’t win a chess tournament. Carlsen clearly knows there is much more of a luck factor in poker than in chess.
Thats it for me. Finished 25th
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) April 9, 2022
Lawrence Trent, another world-class chess player, said on Twitter that Carlsen could be a poker pro if he wanted to put in the time. Hard to argue with that.
40 left in the Norwegian Poker Championships & @MagnusCarlsen has a decent stack. I’ve played a lot of poker with Magnus and can confidently say: 1)if wanted to be a world class player, he could (easily) 2) Careful when he has the 62o he loves 5 bet jamming this bag o’crap #poker
— Lawrence Trent (@LawrenceTrentIM) April 9, 2022
Earlier this month, Carlsen extended his ambassador role with the online gambling site Unibet. That deal involves sports betting, not poker.
