Mohsin Charania sat down at Parkwest Bicycle Casino for Day 1b at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker event for only his second tournament of the year. It was a rare trip for one of poker’s most accomplished players, who has only played four tournaments in the last two years since he moved on to new challenges during COVID.
Charania is one of poker’s rare Triple Crown winners. Only nine players have won an event at the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour, and here at the WPT. He was the sixth person to accomplish the feat when he secured the final leg with his victory in the $1,500 NLH bracelet event at the 2017 WSOP.
He had previously won the 2012 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo before he picked up his two WPT titles at the 2013 Grand Prix de Paris and the 2014 Five Diamonds World Poker Classic.
In total, Charania has earned just over $6.5 million in tournament poker. His career has been a model of consistency both live and online, and he was a fixture at major events all around the world throughout the last decade.
A New Set of Challenges
Things changed for Charania when COVID hit. There were no events to travel for and not enough online poker in the United States, so he took a job at a trading firm in his hometown of Chicago. It was a challenge, Charania says, one that ended up being very similar to the challenges he enjoyed most about poker.
Charania had the opportunity to catch up with PokerNews during a break at WPT Legends of Poker.
“I just started my job a little over a year ago, and just like when I started playing poker, I get really into getting good at something and studying it.”
Trading captured Charania’s ambition quickly. It’s another pursuit that rewards a well-informed risk, but on a much bigger scale.
“Trading is like poker. It’s a zero-sum game and one side is going to win while one side is going to lose. Just like in poker, you can run replays to see what was the correct play, or what could have been the optimal play. Similarly, in trading, you know the results of your trade pretty quickly. The feedback is the same.”
Markets evolve just like poker, Charania says. What might be a good play against one player could be a bad play against another player. He makes a direct comparison to trading, where a trade can work in one market but go badly in another.
Trading is like poker. It’s a zero-sum game and one side is going to win while one side is going to lose.
“You are constantly making high-level decisions when you’re trading, so it’s just like playing a Sunday session or being deep in a WPT where every decision is so important. But this is for a lot more money.
"It is a similar skill set, and there’s a learning curve with constantly evolving markets and players. The number one ranked player in poker five years ago probably wouldn’t be a Top 200 player right now if he stopped studying. It’s the same with trading. What worked five years ago probably doesn’t work now.”
Finding Time for Poker
The challenges of trading have satisfied a lot of Charania’s desire to learn and push himself. He doesn’t play as much poker as he used to, largely because of the demands of his new job and the goals he has set for himself.
“This is my fourth poker tournament in the last two years. I final-tabled one of them, so it’s fun to not play poker and just to show up to tournaments and do well.”
The two-time WPT champion is referring to his fifth-place finish at the Five Diamonds World Poker Classic at the end of 2021. Charania collected $342,645 for the final table run after a field of 716 turned out for the $10,400 event.
“My goal is to find tournaments that work around my work schedule. The main event is 8-10 days long. I would try to show up but it’s just not feasible.”
Charania is enjoying the freedom of his new recreational schedule and his head is still in the game. He will always be considered one of the best players in the room wherever he shows up.
“I still follow poker enough and I still know people that play, so I think I have a good grasp on what types of hands are going down. I will read some of the updates and see the plays people tend to make, but it's definitely not a source of income anymore. It’s just something that I do for fun when I get the time, like today.”
Keep it with PokerNews all week long for more coverage from WPT Legends of Poker at Parkwest Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California.
2022 WPT Legends of Poker Schedule
| Date | Time (PT) | Session |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, August 29 | 12 p.m. | Day 1c |
| Tuesday, August 30 | 12 p.m. | Day 2 |
| Wednesday, August 31 | 12 p.m. | Day 3 |
| Thursday, September 1 | 1 p.m. | Day 4 (Final Table) |
Feature photo courtesy of Joe Giron/WPT
