Written By: TheSportsAffiliate.com

Have you ever wondered how much education plays into becoming a world champion poker player? I stumbled upon an article comparing poker players and fund managers. The article sparked my interest in researching the educational backgrounds of, not only previous World Series of Poker champions, but the current final table lineup as well. So, is an advanced education important in poker? You’ll find out in this article.

Here’s an except from the article I mentioned about fund managers and poker players. It is published by Netgroup Investors, Matthew de Witt.

Interestingly, like top fund managers, good professional poker players generate significant profits over longer periods, but have mixed results over shorter periods as there is a random element (or luck) to the cards dealt.

So I decided to do some reasearch on past winners of the World Series of Poker Main Event winners.
Chris Ferguson - 2000 - PhD Computer Science
Juan Carlos Mortensen - 2001 - Professional poker player - Studied Physics and Mathematics
Robert Varkonyi - 2002 - MIT Graduate - EE CS
Chris Moneymaker - 2003 - Accountant (Masters in Accounting)
Greg Raymer - 2004 - Patent Lawyer
Joe Hachem - 2005 - Chiropractor
Jaime Gold - 2006 - Entertainment Law
Jerry Yang - 2007 - Health Psychology (Masters)

These winners do not validate the fund manager theory, however the trend is that your chances are better if you are highly educated. With the exception of a few players who win, the majority are extremely educated with advanced degrees. It shows how poker is a game of critical thinking and how the mind is in play at all times. But as always, you can’t count out luck and chance in the short term.

Here are the bios for the 2008 WSOP Final Table “November Nine”
Dennis Philips - Account Manager for Commercial Trucking Company
Ivan Demidov - no occupation listed - Professional Poker Player
Scott Montgomery - no occupation listed - Professional Poker Player
Peter Eastgate - no occupation listed - Professional Poker Player
Ylon Schwartz - NYC Chess Hustler - Professional Poker Player
Darus Suharto - MBA Indiana University - Accountant
David Rheem - no occupation listed - Professional Poker Player
Craig Marquis - College Student
Kelly Kim - UC San Diego - Busines Analyst - Professional Poker Player

Subscribing to this theory, Darus Suharto (17/2) should have the best chance if you take into account occupation and education. Not to doubt the professional poker players. I’m sure they are all smart people. Dennis Philips (3/1) the chip leader has the best chances because he is the chip leader, but I would put him at #2 for this theory. The next two Kelly Kim (25/1) and Craig Marquis (10/1) are at the bottom of the chip lead, it will be tough for them to come back. But if the theory proves to be true they will make a come back. They would be the #3 and #4 seed for the theory rating.

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