Dear, Magnus Carlsen

Dear,
Magnus

You're not a poker player. Your high stakes games look like me and my friends, sitting around a card table playing with vacuous chips. Which means, you'll likely develop a gambling habit, and my experience with your game, is that you're at an amateur level. Your call wasn't so hard, based on the betting of the player in front of you.

Literally, your poker looks like me and my friends playing with blank chips. Meaning, you get to a certain level, or you continue down this path, you're going to get your clock cleaned. Poker is still gambling. Chess is not.

Please, if you don't like chess, that's fine. But, don't pick up poker as an alternative career, as your opponents are trying to lose, in order to spare you the humiliation. I know just enough about poker, and just enough about chess, to evaluate your true skill. That poker tournament was fluff, and they were trying to make you win. A real poker player doesn't all in on a bluff hand like that. Ever. They'll at least make sure they have a somewhat credible hand. Anyone could have read through the betting that you had a strong hand from the beginning. This is not your calling. Chess is. As a friend, stick to chess. Don't go in guns blazing. Chess is not gambling. There is an objective level of skill. Poker, the level you play, it will always be a gamble, and you also have more to lose, such as getting into a bad gambling debt or poor reputation.

Don't go in guns blazing like Brisco. It's not a good career change.