Pokémon world champion visits Warrnambool to school locals on secrets of success

Pokémon master Henry Brand visited R.N.G. Tabletop Gaming after a chance invitation from father James Watson, from Warrnambool on the Victorian south-west coast, whose son Charles is a die-hard fan.

R.N.G. owner Jai Ceratops was under the pump trying to accommodate the gamers, but said it was great to see younger people interested. "It's an unexpected turnout, but I'm very happy," he said.

Mr Brand was quick to emphasise he was the "former world champion", but thanks to COVID-19 he reigned for an unprecedented three consecutive years.

"I won the world championships in 2019 and then with COVID the whole competition froze for two years," he said.

"It was like a Costco deal: buy one, get two free."

The 23-year-old science student said Pokémon helps him pay the bills as he accrues ranking points for next year's championships in Japan.

"I basically do Pokémon as a job, some group coaching and private coaching. People really want to play at world championships," he said.

Mr Brand said he had been playing the card game for 10 years, but had only dedicated serious time to it since leaving school.

"In the lead up to a tournament I'd want to be practising six to eight hours a day."

He said while for many amateur Pokémon card collectors winning a game might come down to who had the best cards, that wasn't a factor in the top flight.

"Everyone at tournament level plays with pretty similar cards. You can only use cards that have come out in the past two years and a top deck might cast $150-$200, so you don't win by having better cards," he said.

Mr Brand said the game had strategic and tactical elements of both chess and poker, "but simpler than both of those".

"There's some strategic theory, and you might come into a game with a plan, but at the same time you don't know which cards are going to come out at which time, so you're constantly figuring out the probabilities of certain cards coming up," he said.

"It's actually a really good educational tool for kids, especially kids under 12. It teaches everything from probability, to arithmetics, strategic thinking as well as helping their concentration."

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