“Everything in the world is changing. Of course, games too,” says businessman Mikhail Anshelevich. - And card games - especially. First of all, poker." When poker was recognized as an official sport, Mikhail was among the initiators of the creation of the Russian Sports Poker Federation.

Mikhail Anshelevich has been waiting for such a decision for a long time. He thinks: “That’s fair. Sports poker attracted me personally because of its competitive atmosphere and the opportunity to think several moves ahead and think logically.”

Mikhail was always fine with logic. His mathematical abilities showed up in school: he cracked problems like nuts. At the institute, I didn’t memorize formulas, but quickly deduced them. His favorite subject was probability theory - he liked to evaluate different options. This has come in handy in life. Having graduated from the institute and having worked for several years as a mechanical engineer, he at one point clearly calculated that this was not his calling at all - he desperately attracted business with its inevitable risk.

Just then perestroika arrived - it gave us a chance to really develop. Mikhail was in no hurry; again, he calmly calculated which area of ??business was most in demand and threw his efforts there. Things got going, and when the initial capital was accumulated, the businessman felt that his energy needed additional application. Our hero became interested in billiards.

Russian surprise

His passion for billiards played a very important role in Mikhail’s life. It turned out that he was a very accurate shooter, and soon our hero became one of the city’s elite in this sport. Ironically, at one time, when billiards was officially declared a sport in Russia, Anshelevich joined the initiative group to create a billiards federation for our city. “Billiards was then secretly considered a relic of bourgeois culture, and officially it was not particularly favored,” recalls Mikhail. - In a city of millions of people, there were only a few “points” where it was possible to “fight” without hindrance. We insisted on opening billiard clubs.”

Now Mikhail is very glad that, thanks to his efforts, there are many places in the city to play billiards, championships are held, and foreign guests come to us. He recalls that at one time he was the only representative from Russia to some world championships. Now our masters have mastered billiards no worse than foreigners. With a smile, my interlocutor recalls the first visit to St. Petersburg of an Italian star in this sport. He gave Mikhail a head start... and unexpectedly lost. It was a surprise for the guest that in Russia there are strong players, and even with the back of the cue. How was he to know that his opponent was the best pool player in the country in such an unconventional way?

Texas game

The experience of promoting billiards to the masses helps Mikhail a lot now. For a while, business distracted his attention from his previous hobby, and when he finally had free time again, he accidentally noticed a card game that was unfamiliar to him. It was poker, but not the kind grandma played. To himself, Mikhail called it “poker for advanced players: all players have two cards, then the dealer (game host) lays out three more, and then two more times on the card, so that everyone, based on seven cards, can make their own combination of five cards (straight , pair, flush and others). It turned out that this was “Texas Hold’em”, a type of poker that only the smartest people played here. This is exactly what Mikhail thought at first.

Gradually, he began to master a new game, which gave everyone the opportunity to fight on equal terms and enjoy it. It's like beach volleyball - several people team up to play and compete for several hours. Only in poker, the duration of the competition depends on how many tournament chips (points) are included in the game in accordance with the tournament regulations. Tell me, what’s especially exciting about this? Sheer pleasure! “Poker is a pure sport, on an intellectual level no lower than chess,” says Mikhail. “It’s for the mind what billiards or bowling is for the body.”

He understood: for the development of a new sport, clubs are needed (not casinos, of course, where the rules of the game are completely different, and our people still have a certain fear of such establishments), where anyone could come and calmly compete. The prize is the opportunity to enter a tournament of a higher level, and then even higher.

“The World Poker Championship is vividly depicted in the new American film “Lucky,” says Mikhail. - Those who watch it will lose their last prejudices against this game. One of the events of the established Sports Poker Federation of St. Petersburg will be the presentation of this film.” People will also see documentaries about tournaments and understand how interesting and accessible they are. What about the prize fund? It is expected in any competition - both in tennis and chess. They will be provided by sponsors, who, according to Mikhail, will definitely appear, because following the game and commenting on it is also very exciting.

According to the theory of relativity

The main thing in poker is not to try to enter the game with any set of cards in your hands and to manage them skillfully. You need to have instinct to assess the situation and wait for the right moment.

What if beginners definitely want to participate in every round of the game? Here, Mikhail’s favorite theory of probability states: the percentage of success and failure is the same, let them take risks if they want. By the way, this very risk is why our hero fell in love with the game. He believes: “No matter how long the tournament lasts, the player enjoys it, the adrenaline level rises, and only in case of failure you will be disappointed for a second. Hours of fun versus a few moments of frustration is the highest percentage for any game."

Daniil Segal