Timeline for What board and card games have professional players?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
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| May 16, 2021 at 2:44 | comment | added | Alexander Woo | @MobeusZoom: There are also lower-level bridge pros. Making Life Master rank in N. America requires a certain amount of Gold Points, which one earns by placing well (or at least not too badly) in Regional Tournaments. Some basically competent but far from expert players who are well-to-do but by no means wealthy will hire a pro as a partner for a Regional to help them win some Gold Points. Probably a few dozen pros make a living primarily this way, and more make some money this way to supplement their retirement. They basically get clients through word-of-mouth. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 22:31 | comment | added | David Siegel | ... Many other pros earn by writing and publishing books, and giving personal lessons. Culbertson and Goren followed this path, and many others after them Often such a pro will play with a client in a major event, as a "playing lesson" but if the pair or team wins, the client shares in the masterpoint award, and part of the fee is for helping the client do well. (Sometimes a team is 2 pros, each partnered with a client. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 22:27 | comment | added | David Siegel | @Mobeus Zoom ther are several different routes to professional status in bridge. One interesting case is the famous "Dallas Aces". A wealthy bridge player (Ira Corn) wanted the US to do better in international events which had been dominated by italy for 10+ years. So he hired 6 players who were near the top of the US tourney lists and had done well in international play, and seemed likely to play well together. They were paid full-time ($800-950/Mth, 1968) to practice and play high-level bridge. Corn also paid for coaches and a dedicated computer. Some other pros followed this path ... | |
| May 14, 2021 at 22:07 | comment | added | Mycroft | I'm not the person to ask; I went down a different path (I'm PT, but does "full time organizer and referee" count as "professional"?) I know a few full-time pros well, and several others to "hello" to when I'm working; I know a few players who get paid for teaching sessions, or paid by playing pros to fill in their teams, but it's definitely a sideline only for them (now, at least). It's a weird world, and I wouldn't want it; but for those who can, it's very rewarding. | |
| May 14, 2021 at 20:34 | comment | added | Mobeus Zoom | @Mycroft that's very interesting. How then do they become those pros? Is there an element of competition? Do they have to win extremely competitive events and the winners are then de facto sponsored by wealthy clients to play with those clients? | |
| May 9, 2021 at 17:43 | comment | added | Mycroft | Note that bridge is weird; even those that make their living from playing as opposed to teaching or mentoring don't make their money from prizes or sponsorship in the classic sense; they play team-of-4 matches at high level 5-pros-and-the client, who pays for everything. Since the clients are people like the former CEOs of Adidas, Bear Stearns, and Standard Oil, or "came back last week from Italy, where he was looking for a winery to buy", 5 pros can be paid a good living out of "petty cash". There are very few bridge events (almost none in North America) with significant prize pools. | |
| May 9, 2021 at 3:43 | comment | added | Mobeus Zoom | Thanks for confirming bridge. Chemin de fer = baccarat? Note that as I defined professional players, they need to win from competition with one another, not against 'the house', so blackjack doesn't count. I don't know if other 'casino gambling games' fit these terms - of course poker does, but are there others? | |
| May 9, 2021 at 3:28 | history | answered | David Siegel | CC BY-SA 4.0 |