Is Poker A Sport
There is an on-going debate about considering poker a sport, a game or form of gambling. Poker enthusiasts argue that it is a sport or game, while many regulatory authorities hold a different. In some quarters, poker is championed as a sport. In others, it is classified as a skill game or mind game. Amongst many members of the older generation, it equates to a sordid form of gambling. Jan 01, 2017 Believe it or not, poker is in fact considered a sport, a mind sport to be precise, having being accepted as so by the IMSA in 2010 (the guys in charge of that kind of thing). Other than this technical tag, though, what else does poker have in common with other, more conventional 'sports'?
In 2012, A New York businessman faced ten years in prison for running an illegal poker business. But just when he thought the judge was about to validate his conviction, his case was tossed out. According to the judge, Jack Weinstein, poker is a game of skill and should never have been classified together with other illegal gambling games.
Throughout history, there have been great poker players—and people who thought they could play the game. Some people, like the unbeatable poker expert in the Cincinnati kid film, win more than others. So, is poker really a gambling game or a sport?
The Official Classification
Poker is classified as a mind sport by the International Mind Sports Association in 2011. Unsurprisingly, its official classification didn’t stop critics from identifying poker as a game of chance. There are good arguments to call poker a game of chance and they’re reasons why it fits the bill of a sport.
Why Poker is a Gambling Game
Cards are Randomly Produced
Before the start of any poker game, cards are shuffled either by RNG software or by human dealers. Players then receive 1-2 cards per round randomly. This way, anyone could have hands with higher values than other players.
Of course, it’s not always that the player with the highest hand wins, but more of this later. Still, the fact that cards are shuffled and given out randomly means everyone has an equal chance of winning or losing. This is not the same case for many sports. Teams with better squads are favored to win even before the game begins.
Luck is an Important Factor
All casino games share one thing in common: they’re won through luck. Whether you wager $1 or $1000, only luck can help you win in a slot or roulette game. Sometimes players go on winning streaks but it’s mostly luck that helps them win.
Texas HOLD’EM is somehow different from other games. While all cards are delivered face down, players can quickly determine the value of their cards. If they hold a high-value hand, they can then increase their bets to maximize potential wins.
Does not Involve Physical Exertion
Sport is defined as “any activity that involves physical exertion and skill.” The definition also states that a sport must involve an individual or a team competing against others for entertainment or other reasons. Poker falls into the second part of the definition but not the first.
So, what definition holds more weight? It depends on who you ask. Most people define sports by whether they involve physical exertion and not necessarily because they can be played against others.
Takes Place in Casinos
Another reason why people tend to define poker as a game of chance is based on the fact that it’s found in casinos. It doesn’t take much knowledge to know that casinos don’t support games of skill. They offer games of luck so that when players lose money, they can keep it as profits.
Poker fans defend this argument by noting that casinos make profits from some poker variations differently. Instead of keeping money lost by players, casinos keep a small percentage of every player’s wins during live dealer games. Casinos let winners keep most of their money in online poker sports tournaments, giving poker the same treatment as traditional sports competitions.
Reasons Supporting Poker as a Sport
Fanaticism and Fan Culture
Chris Moneymaker, the 2003 Main Event World Series of Poker winner is credited for helping poker gain a cult following worldwide. He learned about the game online, qualified for the WSOP invitation online and won the event, taking home more than $2 million.
Since then, poker has earned a fan base as huge as that of football and basketball. The only difference is that poker isn’t played at large stadiums. Poker fans also don’t wear jersey but instead own hoodies and site patches.
In true sport spirit, poker fans also get to meet and interact with their gaming heroes. Sports bookmakers are also involved in poker sports, often evaluating players and giving them appropriate odds for betting purposes.
Entertainment
Is poker entertaining? Is golf entertaining? Ask these two questions to sports fans and you’ll get quite some intriguing answers. In reality, whether a sport is entertaining or not depends on who you ask. Poker fans find the game interesting enough to become fanatics.
On TV, poker is a hugely popular game. In 2004, the National Hockey league experienced troubles paying players and was locked out of TV for a whole season.
Networks quickly searched for sports to replace hockey and settled on poker. The bet paid off as tournaments would attract hundreds of thousands of viewers every week.
Skill is a Factor
Poker may not involve a lot of physical exertion but requires a fair share of good skills to win. In the Cincinnati Kid film, the undefeated master uses his experience to drain his opponent’s bankroll by producing a straight flush.
The kid had a full house hand which gave him the confidence he could win but was not skilled enough to figure out the master held a better hand. It’s this kind of experience that drove Chris Moneymaker to once say, “The beautiful thing about poker is that everybody thinks they can play.”
And true, poker looks like a simple enough game to play and win. But once you go against the professionals, you may find yourself losing even when you have better hands than they do.
To Conclude
Sport
Is poker a sport or a game of chance? It depends on who you ask. The International Mind Sports association believes poker is a sport. Most sports fans believe it is a gambling game. But irrespective of the reasons people give for supporting or dismissing poker as a sport, they’re things they can’t deny about it.
First, poker involves some level of luck. It also involves skills to some degree. Based on these two factors, some people are able to beat others at the game consistently.
Want to read more?
Most professional players tend to think that poker is a kind of sport. Indeed, poker has every reason to cater to sport: tournament structure, rivalrous aspect and variety of games.
Those, who aren’t closely familiar with the game, suppose that poker should be considered a gambling game, i.e. a game which success is defined by pure luck. And this is not surprising, as most of beginners attribute their pitfalls to bad luck, however, not to the lack of professionalism. Of course, there’s a strain of luck in poker, but on closer inspection only. In the long run, only the professionalism of the player holds cards in poker.
The strain of luck is the very thing that attracts recreational players, as everybody believes that learning all rules of poker enables you to join tables and play as an equal against professional players, who have previously spent hundreds of hours studying different aspect of the game.
Many classify poker as a gambling game simply for the fact that this is a money oriented game. Yet still take tennis tournaments for example - the overwhelming majority of such tournaments require admission fees and the strongest players usually become winners. How come “usually”? Because the strain of luck cannot be ignored either.
Poker and the Olympic games
So what is poker nowadays: a kind of sport of a gambling game? At some point, the editorial director of Poker Player magazine - Dave Woods - was trying to see into the matter in one of his publications.
Is Professional Poker A Sport
It turned out that in 2005 several poker promoters in the UK along with a sports manager Barry Hirn were getting their teeth into including poker into the Olympic Games program when in London 2012.
“Right now poker is one of the most popular kinds of sport in the world and that’s why it deserves to be included in the Olympic Games program”, - insisted Hirn. Barry also compared poker to synchronized swimming adding that poker can suggest much more to the public.
The fact that poker wasn’t eventually included in the Olympic Games program is no way a sign for poker not to be classified as a sport. Wood takes karate, squash, golf, roller sports, rugby for example which were at their time rejected by the Olympic committee while being professional and amateur kinds of sport at the same time.
According to Collins English Dictionary sport is a group or individual activity in a form of exercises of as entertainment which involves physical training and competitive game.
'Poker answers this description as much as the 'Monopoly' game does'- suggests Woods. Poker doesn't involve physical training; however, no one will argue billiards or dart to be kinds of sport.
The fact that poker will finally be considered a sport will facilitate those who wish to legalize it worldwide. According to Alex Dreifus, the head of Global Poker Index, this is the only way to legalize it in all countries. It’s also expected that television companies will benefit greatly as WSOP broadcasts on ESPN channel draw very big audience.
Reddit website took up an opinion poll to reveal that 460 people considered poker the 56th out of 56 activities which can be considered a sport. With 10% only it was outperformed by chess and checks.
Poker in Russia
Poker has cause mixed feeling in Russia as well. Thus, on March 16, 2007 Vyacheslav Fetisov endorsed a law acknowledging poker as a kind of sport in Russia. Sport Poker Federation was strongly promoting this decision. Nevertheless, poker didn’t enjoy this status for long in Russia: as in two years Russian minister of sport and tourism, Vitaliy Mutko, signed an executive order to deprive poker of this status.
And what’s the net result? The administration is tough to disclaim poker’s sport status with poker organizations at the same time doing their best to change it.
The best about poker
Is Poker A Sport Or Game
- Five reasons why I've made money and continue doing this playing pokerThe psychology of poker
- The fundamental theorem of pokerPoker theorems
- The probabilities of getting specific starting hands on preflopPoker mathematics