Is Poker A Sport? Hell yes it is!
Is Poker A Sport?
This entry was written by Nick, posted on June 18, 2004 at 9:26 am, filed under Quickie and tagged poker. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
53 Comments
I’ve always put “sports” under something that you have to be athletic for, but each day I begin to doubt that a bit more.
But aren’t those called “Athletics”?
Yeah….It is a sport. Sports editors and journalists are haveing a hard time dealing with this but its time to join in with the real world or get left behind. Poker is here to stay and theres no doubt it will be considered a sport amongst most circles within a couple of years
Is Poker A Sport
Yes poker is a sport.
What about the luck in the game? In Amreican Football if the ball bounces left and goes out of play or right and stays in play, its luck and can have a huge impact on the game.
I’ve recently been having this dispute with my best friend because she doesn’t think that Poker is really a sport because it doesn’t involve much physical activity. I beg to differ though. Although it’s not so physical it takes a lot of mental strength to play the game. Not to mention you have to sit at a table for hours on end and somehow make the right decisions to get yourself a little further in the game.
She says that if you play the sport more often than others you’ll consider it to be a sport, but if you don’t play poker than you won’t consider it to be a sport. I can’t validate that that’s technically true or not and I don’t believe it to be true, but in some cases it may very well be true. I’d have to do some in depth research though.
It all comes down to a matter of opinion.
Poker’s a game not a sport. It requires no more physical ability then a long game of checkers. If you consider poker to be a sport then what about slot machines? or roulette? Those long roulette sessions can be pretty draining. And then you’d have to call math and everything that has to do with math a sport as well. Poker’s definitely not sport!
a sport is when you exericise a certain muscle in your body. when you play bowling, it is your arms. if it’s running, than it is your legs. poker exercises the most important muscle in your body which is your brain. not any fool can play poker just like not anyone can be jordan. let that be a lesson to be learned you ignorant biotches!!!!!
yes poker is a sport. y? sport- an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs & is often engaged competitively.Now go watch ESPN and tell me otherwise…. i dare you.
I love poker and think its the best game there is. I still cant bring myself to consider it a sport. I dont believe chess is a sport either.
Poker does take considerable talents to be able to be a winner, but physical prowess isnt one of them. Darts, which i consider at the bottom of the sports list, is still a sport. Many many hours and years of practice are required to be a top dart player. Same with golf.
Poker you make decisions, thats it. I know you have to sit for hours, which can tire you out, but you dont have to train your body to be able to slide a raise into the pot.
For an activity to be defined as a “sport”, all 3 of these must be true, according to definition:
1. Has a competitive nature.
2. Requires skill or physical prowess.
3. Is an ATHLETIC activity.
Poker meets the first 2 components of the definition, but fails the third.
An athletic activity involves use of your muscles. Although, picking up cards and pushing and collecting chips minimally uses certain muscles, this can be applied to ANY activity (e.g., turning the pages while reading a book). BTW, the brain is not a muscle (as someone else mentioned) as muscles contract and expand to move body parts.
Poker Bus you are an idiot if you think poker isnt a sport and excuse me for a secound but
”If you consider poker to be a sport then what about slot machines? or roulette?”
where is the talent in pulling a handle or watching a ball go in circles, let me think oh yes…….. none!!!!
i would be willing to wager everything i own in a poker game against you because with comments like that its clear you dont know anything about poker whatsoever.
FUCK NO ITS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
POKERS FOR PUSSYS!!!!
Poker is not a sport.
SPORT:
A sport is an activity requiring physical ability, physical fitness or physical skill which usually, but not always, involves competition between two or more people.
It’s a game. If poker is a sport, why not monopoly? You use your brain more in monopoly then you do poker.
Phillip W. is a idiot! I dare you. please.
Webster definition;
Sport:(1) : physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) : a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in
Game:(1) : activity engaged in for diversion or amusement
The point is all sports are games but all games are not sports. To me a sports is something you condition for.
Poker is a game! Not a Sport.
The international olympic committee consider Bridge a sport (http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/index_uk.asp)
If that’s a sport then Poker must surely qualify, unless the gambling aspect specifically excludes it.
I’ve no axe to grind either way, but the IOC clearly take a different view of the definition of sport than those presented here…
I don’t think Poker is a sport. It’s frustrating watching on ESPN Classic or ESPN when they have Poker so much. A sport should center around doing somehthing physical. Yes, Poker uses your brain. But it doesn’t really use the other parts of your body. They should make a gaming channel and put poker on there. I’d rather see sports rather than Poker on ESPN.
Thanks.
If bridge is considered a sport, why not poker????? By Olympic standards, Bridge is an olympic SPORT!!! if that is a sport…. why not poker??? poker takes a lot more mental endurance and PHYSICAL endurance to play than bridge. yeah.. its not that hard to sit in a chair… but sitting in a chair for 15hours a day 7 days in a row, that takes a toll on your body and if you havent done that before, then shut your mouth…. NOOBS
Of coarse poker is a sport. i dont even play poker, tried it but i lost so i dont play any me or still it takes endurance and skill to win. sitting that lonnnng would kill me. p.s Nolan Chalmers is gay.
poker is a sport cos it involves luck and skill and there are pros at it and national championships using slot machines as an example dusnt mean anything seeing they only involve luck there is no skill behind them so POKER IS A SPORT GET USED TO IT ASS HOLES
Look, to argue this, I only like to repeat some fine statements, I think Dan summed it up best, sports require physical activity, sitting is not a fucking physical activity, the guy who said doing that for 15 hours a day 7 days a week, I wouldn’t consider a fat guy on the doll being a sportsman, playing sport. I like to lie down for that much sometimes, is lying a fucking sport?
Also, your brain is technically not a muscle as it doesn’t move and contract to move others parts of your body, also thinking doesn’t really consider it to be a sport in my right opinion.
So yeah, if poker is a sport, then Monolopy, and Risk, and connect-fucking-4 should be sports too. I sit while playing them, and also think to win, so yay, sports for everyone!
No, sarcasm that was. Poker is not a sport, its a game and will stay that way.
look u faggot poker is a sport wat does sitting have to do with anything ur just looking for a stupid reason to argue omg they it while playin it it cant be a sport who says all sports have to be physical is bridge physical no its also a card game but has been named a sport and poker takes much more brains and skill to win hugh gay faggot just lie down and admit ur wrongness
lol sup blair
i agree with you book myfriend! or how bout we just get over it, i mean does it really matter! there is no point arguing about it and then just not getting a corrwct answer, we all got our own opinions!
i agree with u snogga u namless person i hav never met lol but yea we shud jus stop fighting and say that yes indeed poker is a sport hey i might just go watch it on SKY SPORTS or ESPN which are SPORT channels
Book ruffel, you are an idiot. Your arguments suck. Using your brains is not a sport, and whoever the hell named bridge a sport are complete idiots, but they haven’t named poker a sport then have they?
I also said about sitting for the fact that alot of people argue the several hours of sitting classes it as a sport, but that is completely stupid as that means a fuckload of stupid activities would be defined as sport, I’m gonna go take a shit, I’m training for the fucking olympics. etc.
Better your argument book, and then perhaps you could sway me.
(ESPN = ENTERTAINMENT and sports programming network. Poker is entertainment.)
lowshank your a fucking retard, you can’t use sleeping as saying that could be a sport because there is not competition in fucking sleeping unlike the competition in poker. now if you can make competitive sleeping then you can consider it a sport because there would be something to compete over and i guess technically there is physical activity. also in poker, and only real poker players will get when i say this, when you bluff and push over 500 dollars into the pot or alot of you stack, depending if your playing cash tables or tourny, you start to sweat cause you know if the guy calls your bluff your out of all your money, your heart starts pounding and you start to sweat rapidly like a fucking beast. your heart rate gets going faster then any other sport you can do and you sweat more then if you were to play football, then when the other guy folds and you just won over 2000 dollars you just collapse cause your legs are so wobbaly it feels like you just ran a marathon. and if people say poker is not a sport well they are fucking idiots.
Tav, that has nothing to do with physical activity, its all in the mind, and comes across in the body. the mind does not count. being nervous has no right to be considered a sport, and competitive sleeping then? so you would consider blackjack, roulette, bingo sports? They will all have the same feeling as poker for stress when making bets, are competitive against others, so therefore must be sports? No my friend. None of them are sports. It’s absolutely stupid how many people can possible think poker a sport, it really obviously isn’t, the “physical activity” element is missing, and what you explained tav, doesn’t cut it.
poker=not a sport
lol if you watched close up last night in New Zealand they told the whole world poker is yes indeed a sport HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
bingo=sport yes
roulette=sport NO, roulette has NO skill
bj=sport is debatible,
well there is no skill in bingo wat u on bout POKER IS A SPORT
o right i was thinking of checkers my bad
bingo=sport, no, no skill
roulette=sport NO, roulette has NO skill
bj=sport is debatible,
Poker takes alot of skill and sometimes luck. I play poker and i am only 18. I am a rokie and i made it to the finale table in the wsop. Playing poker is a serious thing you have to know when to stop. Unlike one of my friends Alex gundrum lost 1,100 dollars to me over the weekend. Ryan Lee Rincones is just angry about me beating him with 10 3. i am not gay as matter of fact i have had mor girls than ryan will in his whole life. Like i said in the starting Poker is skill but also it is luck.p.s ryan is a dirty beaner.
all i have to say to that is LOL LOL LOL, you lie lie lie lie. if you are 18 then you couldn’t be in the wsop, you have to be at least 21 to enter. ALSO there never was a “Nolan Ryan chalmers” at the wsop final table. So nice try and stop you lieing. and just so you losing 1100 in poker is not that much, you make it sound like its devestating, i’ve seen people loose over 300,000 IN ONE HAND. so stop being a noob and get off this forum.
o ya and Nolan Ryan Chalmers aka dumbass lier, its final table not fanale table. are you sure your even 18??
poker is not sport but people playing poker are sportsmen
wow poker is a sport awesome
Poker is a sport. Poker is played over a long period of time and requires the ability to firstly have longterm stamina so one can keep 100% concentration for the whole session. One lapse can undo a whole days competition. To have this longterm mental stamina takes a lot of correct conditioning and the right diet. You can be a good player ignoring these things but you will not move to the next level and become a great player. Poker is a game of calculating percentages over this long period of play without making mistakes. The top players have the ability to bring their top game every day and sustain it all day (or as long as the session lasts- sometimes 24hrs or more) then recover quickly between sessions
Lowskank there are plenty of fat guys playing sport- John Daly among other fat golfers, about half the pro dart players, wrestlers etc. etc. Being fat does not stop one being a sportsman
i agree with the comment above mine and also to the other comment above that one so all you disbelievers take a look at that and just give up. Poker is a sport
It is too obvious that poker is not a sport. I could never stress this enough. Lowskank above is all too right, Mental activity and concentration are used in absolutely everything, yet we don’t name toenail cutting and curtain pulling sports do we?
Being able to be in a mental strain, to bluff your opponents etc. Is a life skill, its called lying, being brave and guiltless. All things good to have, but not at all required for sporting.
Simply, a sport is a game requiring physical prowess and activity, poker holds mental strain and perhaps the bigger tournaments tire you out, but that does not at all make it physical, it makes the players tired and uncomfortable. Go to church for that if you like too, but I don’t see many professional churchgoers bragging about their sporting skill.
Poker is not a sport, go to hell all who think the opposite.
NOOO ITS NOT!!!!!
Even if I play quite a bit of poker myself, I would have to say that poker is not a sport. A sport is where you physically activate yourself and no sport could include sitting down for hours and hours.
Would not matter either way, but just in case, loose some weight and try and see the difference. Watch WPT where this aussie guy, that sorta looks like a gaming pc lan guy I know, thought I don’t think he a sporting guy, he works at mines though. But he is quite overweight, and he ended up winning a poker tour challange himself. It’s all about the mind, and that’s what sport people would do anyway.
i dont think sooooo,but do link me up
Of course poker is a sport.
Poker is a type of card game, so as any other game it’s implies
competition, so it’s form of sport.
I agree with the Jack Daniel too. It’s all about having natural physical ability rather than mental ability.
Chess for instance is like poker in that it’s about mental prowess.
Thats why snooker is also considered a sport even tho it’s not very taxing. It’s about the physical ability to hit a ball at the correct angle and in the correct way.
Interesting question and some valid answers given! Poker is as competitive and popular as most sports out there. Just because it is a form of gambling shouldn’t detract from it’s sport status.