A genie makes you the best in the world at your chosen Sport/Game for a full calendar year- what would make you the most money in that year?

[Boclfon479]

I do fencing and there really ain't much money in the sport outside of a few people that got deals with Nike and such


That being said, I choose poker. You can make a LOOOT of money in a year playing poker or Texas hold em probably

 

[Patriiick]

Poker is the boring answer and you're not really getting into most sports immediately that pay out the decent money.

 

[kowhite]

Yeah it's a card game. Poker. Give me that. I don't want to exert that much effort, I just want money.

 

[Hambulance]

Can I choose trading card games.

Take the MTG, Yugioh, Pokemon etc crowns simultaneously, become the King of Games.

Then crash and burn retire the following year.

 

[unicornKnight]

F1 and not for the money.

 

[caliph95]

I will just copy what others said and choose poker

Seems like the easiest choice to make some money

Like football players makes the most sense but it would take too long to get in the big leagues and too much attention

Poker if it counts I could just earn money by joining Poker matches for a year

 

[Tygre]

Chess.

Click to shrink...

Chess would be a great answer if the tournament schedule lined up better and the payouts were bigger

It's a game with zero chance or variance, and the barrier to entry is negligible, so if you are legit the best in the world you will be able to demonstrate it and gain ranking quickly.

FIDE Ranked events are held constantly, there are dozens in the next month in the UK, so establishing yourself would be quick and you could fairly rapidly rise towards the top assuming you simply won every game of every match at every tournament you entered.

The problem is turning those wins into money. The big money events happen infrequently, and the money isn't all that big. The WCC has the biggest payout of £2 million but only happens once every two years. Other tournaments just don't have that big a cash prize.


I suppose you could go the Twitch stream route, go from zero to #1 in the world in ~11 months, and then parley the fame of that meteoric rise into a bunch of money matches... maybe.

F1 and not for the money.

Click to shrink...

Even if you magically transformed into peak Fernando Alonso, you can't get into F1 inside a year unless you're also a Billionaire.

 

[Macheezmo]

While certainly not the best for money, I'd love to be the best at like Street Fighter or something like that. Just get into EVO and completely mop up as a complete unknown then never be heard from again.

 

[Devil]

No professional sports team of any sports where you can earn big money is going to hire a 30+ year old nobody who hasn't proven himself in a professional team just based on "look at how good I am, though", even if your Youtube reel show the most insane skills.

So it has to be something open for all contenders and also likely not a team sports, but one for single "athletes".

With these conditions in mind, I still don't really know the best answer. But due to my personal interest I'd just go with being the best at SF6 for a year. You can easily enter tournaments that qualify you for Capcom Cup and then go on to win the $1,000,000 grand prize. On the way you're already making a name for yourself to be easily invited to inviational tournaments with big prize pots like Red Bull Kumite or that Saudi thing.

Retiring a year later with about $2,000,000 is by far enough for my needs and I would have had the time of my life, traveling and competing thanks to an actual hobby I enjoy, while getting rich enough to retire afterward.

 

[WedgeX]

I'd either go:

Cross country skiing because it's about love of the game, make my way through some qualifiers and win the hardest sport.

Or MLB. Become a one-year wonder in the minors. Get Scott Boras as my agent. Fleece some big market team with a hefty contract. Retire after year 2 as the greatest bust of all time, live my days reading that wiki page with my millions.

 

[Zippedpinhead]

Was originally thinking baseball, mainly because no salary cap.

BUT rookies are always underpaid AND I likely wouldn't even get a look at my age.

But reading the thread. Poker is where it's at.

Take a small bankroll into a local tournament, take a trip to the lodge in Texas. Warm up to build something bigger then play in Vegas to build up the bankroll until the championships and end of year stuff

 

[XaviConcept]

F1 world drivers champion, probably more so if there performance related clauses.

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If you're the best driver in the world without the best car you're pretty fucked so I dont think this would work.

Golf and tennis seem like safe bets. I wonder how much you can make in Sumo if you just come in for a year and wreck everyone with minimal effort.

 

[regenhuber]

Golf, I think. Looking at the requirements for eligibility I think if I'm the best in the world I can get to the tour and start earning big bucks relatively quickly.

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You would also be a media phenomenon.
IRL Happy Gilmore.

Probably helps that LIV and the PGA are fighting atm If you manage to blow up on social media, LIV would 100% give you a chance to make their tour.

 

[Zachary_Games]

Golf easy.

 

[Mcfrank]

Pretty sure this lady found this genie and picked golf

Nelly Korda grabs historic 5th straight win, 2nd major title with victory at Chevron Championship

Nelly Korda is now just the third player in LPGA Tour history to win in five straight starts, and the first since Annika Sorenstam did so in 2004-05.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[werezompire]

Skateboarding. Live that youtuber life, sharing videos of you doing impossible never-before-seen stunts.

 

[sph3re]

I don't have the insight needed to properly assess the ease at which amateurs are transitioned into professional leagues or any of that, so I'm just gonna say chess so I can beat Magnus Carlsen and feel smug about it.

 

[Cousin From Boston]

Baseball. Gimme that long term Ohtani deal.

 

[livefromphilly]

You would also be a media phenomenon.
IRL Happy Gilmore.

Probably helps that LIV and the PGA are fighting atm If you manage to blow up on social media, LIV would 100% give you a chance to make their tour.

Click to shrink...

That's a great point, I didn't even think about LIV.

 

[T002 Tyrant]

I'm banned from most sports so 🤷‍♀️

 

[MadMod]

Yeah instant thought for within a year would be Poker or Tennis, as many have said. Although Snooker gives you a solid shot, win around £2 million a tournament. Think it's similar to Tennis, with 17 tournaments a year.

 

[Sadire]

How would this work with physically demanding sports, would I just get beefy overnight?
Will that muscle stay on after the year?

Because I'm thinking ice-skating.

 

[Fiction]

Poker is definitely the correct answer.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Just wanted to reiterate something for poker. Daniel Negreanu is one of the best poker players in the world and has had some recent years that look like this for net profit:

2016: -$1.24 million
2017: -$86,000
2023: -$2.23 million

Poker as a career is a long run average of success. No guarantee that you come out on top in a year even if you're elite.

 

[Faddy]

Golf and Tennis have the most accessibility to get immediately into the BIG money

Boxing?

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Even if you went with a rushed schedule the chances of becoming a star within a year is low. Hard to stand out from the chumps who are also putting up perfect records and there is a lot of politics involved in getting a big fight which could take months or even delayed until your wish ends.

You would be better off and safer with Darts.

 

[M3z_]

Just wanted to reiterate something for poker. Daniel Negreanu is one of the best poker players in the world and has had some recent years that look like this for net profit:

2016: -$1.24 million
2017: -$86,000
2023: -$2.23 million

Poker as a career is a long run average of success. No guarantee that you come out on top in a year even if you're elite.

Click to shrink...

This is true, but Daniel is also someone with an ego and takes pleasure in facing tough opponents. Playing super high stakes against the world's best is gonna be volatile. For the sake of this challenge you would not have his bankroll so you would not start at his stakes and if you were smart you wouldn't get bogged down with trying to face the best people given your ability will expire in a year so trying to showoff is horribly short sighted. You just focus all your efforts on the softest targets at the stakes that you can reasonably afford. In those situations, your edge should be pretty massive if you are truly given undisputed #1 poker player ability.