The thing is that people watch, and play, because there's always the chance that some relative beginner can reach the finals, or even win over the pros. That's the luck of cards. How much chance is there that a typical club player goes to an open tournament and ends up defeating Anand or Topalov?

I would tend to agree. Professional poker players as modern heroes? Another sign of imminent collapse of the Western Civilization.

Well, a squillion to one, but that's not the point. *Chess and poker are different games*, and should be treated as such. Hey, at least with poker you can actually win something.

I do think a whole lot of the current popularity of poker is because an average guy (with the amazing last name of Moneymaker) won the World Series over the "legendary" players, inflaming the imaginations of thousands of weekend players.