Poker vs Starcraft

By Aslam Abdulla

Does being a good poker player translate into being a good Starcraft player? I believe so. In order to become a good poker player, one must educate themselves in the mechanics of the game and constantly learn and tweak their skills in order to get to the point where consistency in earnings is obtained. I don’t see how that’s any different than starcraft. The only difference I see is that poker enables you to make a living out of it while Starcraft doesn’t.

Being a good starcraft player requires training in mechanics, builds, strategies, and adaption. Those are the exact skills you need to be a good poker player. I originally played a lot of poker and was quite good at it. I loved the thinking aspect of the game. I loved that there is so much knowledge out there on how to be better on all aspects of the game. Starcraft 2 is exactly the same. I made the transition into starcraft because of the exact similarities as poker.

Which do I prefer? To be honest its quite an easy response. I would definitely choose Starcraft. I have completely stopped playing poker and have taken up Starcraft. There are a few reasons for this.

1. I can take breaks while playing SC. Each game lasts 30 minutes at most. Poker on the other hand usually takes 6-8 hours (tournaments) in order to have a good profitable run. Some of their major tournaments take 10-12 hours at least.

2. SC is very interactive. You can have a community of friends on your home SC page while in poker there is no such application. I love being able to play with friends or against them. Its tough to organize that with money involved in poker.

3. There is no long term stress with SC. Poker can have its devastating runs which can be extremely frustrating.

4. SC can have teams. You are all alone in the gloomy world of poker.

Which is more addicting? I find starcraft to be a lot more addicting. SC has a lot more reasons as mentioned above to remain an addiction. If you run out of money in poker, its not like you can satisfy your addiction.

Starcraft is my major form of entertainment. Poker used to be but once Starcraft was discovered, I find poker to be boring and well the hours I used to put into it just isn’t worth the amount of money that I could potentially win.

Aslam is our first play to get paid employee. Last season his record 4v4 record was 504-234 and he was ranked 2^nd in North America. He is currently a Terran diamond player in every category.

Being the best at 4v4

Being the best at 4v4

By Aslam Abdulla

4v4 games are such that you never know what will happen. Usually the best unit composition between the 4 teammates wins each game. The best of the best teams compliment each others units very well enabling them to win games within 10 minutes. Even though I know the strategy required to win 4v4 games, I usually don’t play such a style. One of the main reasons for that is because I have beaten the best of the best quite a few times.

I watch streams of some really good teams and basically the same strategy is used every game. They employ this strategy to mass wins day in and day out. However, once a counter has been found for their strategy (I know of a few), they lose because they don’t know how to react once their only strategy fails. They are so comfortable with the same build that when it comes time to adjust and try something different, they are slow and inadequate as they haven’t tried a different build in weeks. The reason I know this is because when I face such teams, I throw a curveball to see how they react and the end result for them is a loss. I believe I am superior to them in skill because I have mastered many different builds. I can do hellions, banshees, mass marines, MMM, etc. Mastering different builds not only helps to beat the best teams, it helps when I play 3v3, 2v2 and 1v1. I believe being the best at SC2 is not only by winning each and every game, its by learning different builds, mastering them and then out performing your enemies using these strategies.

You may be thinking that either I’m one of the best with an excellent win/loss ratio or that I’m just some average schmuck. If it’s either case, you are correct. My win/loss ratio hovers around the 70% mark. That’s not as good as some of the best teams (90% win ratio), but to be honest I do it with random players and I employ different strategies every game. Each loss I take teaches me something new and how to better my build/strategy to outperform them the next time. There are very rare cases where I will lose to the same team twice. I have watched a few streams and after a loss they will still employ the same strategy. I believe my win/ratio to be superior because I play with random players. The downfall to this is there is a lack of efficient communication, each player employs different builds, some love to just cheese and some just aren’t that skilled. It’s tough to win games with so many disadvantages yet I have a 70% win ratio. Also, I am usually the top scorer in every game using any build/strategy.

I have found that many players have just one build that they are so used to that they will use it each and every 4v4 game they play. In my eyes that is one of the biggest weaknesses of a true Starcraft 2 player. I can’t emphasize enough how important mastering different builds/strategies is. You can beat anyone, you can counter anything, you can be efficient in any situation, it helps your awareness, scouting will become so critical and it will help you when you play other types of games. RTS games are such that there is no one strategy that will win you each game. I hope that we can all master many different builds and strategies so that you can be one of the elite in Starcraft 2. Best of all, you will have the most fun knowing you can do anything and be great at it.

Aslam is our first play to get paid employee. Last season his record 4v4 record was 504-234 and he was ranked 2^nd in North America. He is currently a Terran diamond player in every category.

Get Paid To Play StarCraft 2

Everyone has dreams... How many dream about getting paid to play a video game?

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But if you want this for yourself you have to be ready to face the challenge. Win 5 games against our team and you work for us. Win 3 or 4 and tell us what you can bring to the table... It's not going to be easy, we have the best of the best working for us... But if you make it... Imagine the possibilities....

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