IS POKER A SPORT?

Is poker a sport? It's a game with competition that requires skill and the best players become professionals and make a lot of money. Sure sounds like a sport to me. It seems like anything that involves risking your money is not considered a sport. Maybe you could argue that poker is not physical, therefore shouldn't be called a sport. Maybe it should be called an investment or just plain gambling. Looking this stuff up in a dictionary can drive you crazy.

GAMBLING: Risk money or anything of value on the outcome of something involving chance.

INVESTMENT: To commit money or capital in order to gain a financial return.

One dictionary says, the act of gambling is to get a thrill. The thrill is the reward. Making money in the stock market is called investing as long as you don't get a thrill (I guess). I always thought the difference between gambling and investing was a complicated issue, but as you can see, it's rather simple. Hmmm?

Anyway, I can't help but notice how many comparisons there are between a good poker player and a good sports handicapper. Poker players and sports handicappers are programmed to collect information. They both deal with odds and always find value. Poker players and handicappers try to avoid tilt and there's always a bad beat looming around the corner. Ask a poker player how important money management is and you'll get the same answer from a handicapper. I guess I'll never understand if poker is a sport or not, but I can't help but think good poker players would make good handicappers.

Quote: duckston09

Is poker a sport? It's a game with competition that requires skill and the best players become professionals and make a lot of money. Sure sounds like a sport to me. It seems like anything that involves risking your money is not considered a sport.

I think, the determining factor is whether the winner is determined by skill alone, as opposed to luck.
You can play chess for money, but it is still a sport. Poker is not.
There are sporting leagues of contract bridge for example. The element of luck there is eliminated by having the opposing teams play the same exact hands and comparing their results only between themselves. That is sport. The regular rubber bridge is not.

If some similar methodology could be developed for poker, that variant could be considered sport. The way it is now, it is not.

I like the definition "If you can do it with a beer in your hand, it's not a sport."

So playing horseshoes at a bar the other night doesn't make me an athlete.

It might depend on what country you're in. East Asian countries typically consider Chess and Go sports, and regulate tournaments under their Ministries of Sport; Cuba's national newspaper Granma frequently covers Chess tournaments on the front page of the sports section. Sometimes abstract strategy games (to include Bridge) are collectively referred to as "mind sports"; it would seem reasonable enough to include Poker in that group, if it isn't already.

It strikes me as more of a matter of semantics than anything else. Pool, Snooker, and Carrom are sometimes collectively called "cue sports", and British TV usually broadcasts dart championships as sports programming. FWIW.

Quote: FarFromVegas

I like the definition "If you can do it with a beer in your hand, it's not a sport."

So playing horseshoes at a bar the other night doesn't make me an athlete.

I've always considered sports to have some element of hand-eye coordination, or having some sort of athletic requirement.

Quote: weaselman

I think, the determining factor is whether the winner is determined by skill alone, as opposed to luck.

All sports include elements of luck.

Just using Baseball as an example:
Is it skill or luck if the catcher calls for a pitch that you're expecting, and you can make a hit?
If it you decide to swing at what turns out to be a sinker, and miss, was that skill or luck? What about for the pitcher/catcher?
If you hit a long ball towards the foul pole, is it skill or luck that determines which side of the pole the ball flies?
If you hit a ball right to a fielder who makes an easy catch, was that skill or luck?
If a fielder bobbles a ball, skill or luck?

I could go on, but I think you get the point.


For what it's worth, I read once that professional foreign poker players use a sports visa when coming to the US, so that might give you an answer right there.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

All sports include elements of luck.

Just using Baseball as an example:
Is it skill or luck if the catcher calls for a pitch that you're expecting, and you can make a hit?
If it you decide to swing at what turns out to be a sinker, and miss, was that skill or luck? What about for the pitcher/catcher?
If you hit a long ball towards the foul pole, is it skill or luck that determines which side of the pole the ball flies?
If you hit a ball right to a fielder who makes an easy catch, was that skill or luck?
If a fielder bobbles a ball, skill or luck?

I could go on, but I think you get the point.


For what it's worth, I read once that professional foreign poker players use a sports visa when coming to the US, so that might give you an answer right there.

I think most of those questions were all skill based.

Poker is not a sport - It's a game. It doesn't mean there isn't skill in it.

As for poker players receiving a sports visa, I wouldn't read anything into it. I doubt there is a "games visa"

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I got a really bad cramp in my tuchus during a tournament once, would that be a, "Sports-related injury?"

Quote: weaselman

I think, the determining factor is whether the winner is determined by skill alone, as opposed to luck.
You can play chess for money, but it is still a sport. Poker is not.
There are sporting leagues of contract bridge for example. The element of luck there is eliminated by having the opposing teams play the same exact hands and comparing their results only between themselves. That is sport. The regular rubber bridge is not.

If some similar methodology could be developed for poker, that variant could be considered sport. The way it is now, it is not.

Sports are NOT defined by not having luck involved. Simple examples--- golf -- early tee time---- windy------ late tee time--- calm.
Football --- COIN TOSS in overtime
Baseball--- ball hits pebble
Etc.....