Football players spotted in casinos

Playing football and playing casino games of strategy have a lot more in common than may seem obvious at first glance. This is more true for the managerial aspects of the “beautiful game” than it is for the play itself – but even at player level, there are a lot of similarities.

With the football management side of things, though, it’s definitely easy to spot the links. Football managers may decide to be bold and to gamble – throwing everything forward and playing a generally attacking side in a bold formation. Sometimes this works and the team’s boss is lauded by the fans. But sometimes it doesn’t and the opposite is true.

The “percentage” coach, on the other hand, may settle for a one-nil victory to bag three essential points and be happy to come away with a one-nil win despite playing defensively for the bulk of a match in his team’s own half.

These two profiles, of course, closely match the two main playing styles of those who partake in casino games that require strategy like blackjack, poker, baccarat etc. There’s the swashbuckling all-in gambler and the careful percentage type of player. Each style has its merits and most players find themselves somewhere along the scale between the two extremes depending on their innate nature and what they want to try and achieve with any given game.

When it comes to individual football players, though, the similarities are harder to spot. After all, players should, theoretically, try to do what the boss tells them to as they’re part of a team and a bigger strategy. In other words, they’re part of the manager’s overall game plan. But there are times when individual football players face similar decisions to casino gamblers. This is particularly true with the psychological aspects of the games. It’s often said, for example, that a poker tournament is won or lost before a card has been dealt. This may be an exaggeration – but there’s certainly a lot of truth in it. If one player believes s/he has the upper hand and is the better bluffer, they tend to “become” so to a large extent. And the same is very true of football; a player who can really believe he is the best often is. Psychology and performance go hand in hand with both poker and football (though luck and strategy also play huge roles of course).

It’s for all these reasons that casinos are popular with football players – particularly once they’ve retired from professional soccer – both in real casinos and in major online tournaments.

Of course, playing in an online casino is a different phenomenon, but the essence is the same and the psychology is the same. This is perhaps why so many players have succeeded at both football and in casino tournaments. Included in this list are players such as John Carew, Teddy Sheringham, Tomas Brolin, Gerard Pique and Jan Molby. Each of these players has competed in gaming tournaments whether online or in physical casinos.

Tony Cascarino has fared notably well. He finished 14^th in a European Poker Tour event in London in 2007, and won the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour event in 2008.

Better still is former Dutch player Jan Vang Sorensen. In fact, Sorenson has enjoyed greater success in his poker career than he did at soccer. Jan won two WSOP bracelets in 2002 and 2005, and was also victorious in the 2008 Master Classics of Poker main event.

So don’t be surprised to find yourself sitting next to a big name from the footballing world the next time you’re in a casino – whether in Monte Carlo, Las Vegas or online!