Chess Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade Defecting To Poker

PokerStars "Mind Sports Ambassador" bridges the gap between two kings.

Woman’s Chess Grandmaster Jennifer Shahade is one of the chess game’s more notable names. While she may have spent the bulk of her youth mastering how to protect her king, nowadays she’s talking about getting aggressive with aces. She’s the PokerStars Mind Sport Ambassador and it’s her job to portray poker in a similar light as that of her native game chess – one of skill.

“The biggest similarity that chess players can often translate to poker is the approach of always trying to play the best move – not just get lucky and win,” Shahade said. “That’s a very useful mentality that you need in order to get better at poker.”

In this article publish on St. Louis Public Radio, the chess world fears losing one of their own high profile players to the sexy world of rounders. But as Shahade is quick to point out, it need be not one or the other that people can enjoy but with both games finding a common ground on “making the best moves possible”, poker and chess are more like cousins than enemies.

Bonus: Shahade recently gave a TED talk of her own:

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling (VACPG) helpline at 1-888-532-3500
published 10 years ago • by permalink

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