Poker seems to attract debate like flies on a… well, you get the point. The argument we’ll be tackling today is whether poker should be considered a sport or simply a recreational game that some people happen to make a living from.
HISTORY OF POKER
The game of poker is fairly recent within the grand scheme of things. It is said that poker’s ancestors were the games called As-Nas — a Persian card game — and poque, which was a French game.
The fusion of the two games happened in 1800s America, while the deck of playing cards expanded from just 20 to 52 in the mid 19th century.
So how exactly did poker go from an entertaining pastime during the American Civil War to an ostensible sport in the span of 200 years?
Suffice to say that society’s attitude towards poker changed drastically over the years, so much so that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event prize pool goes in the tens of millions of dollars.
WHAT EXACTLY IS CONSIDERED A SPORT?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term ‘sport’ as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”.
Furthermore, the American Heritage Dictionary explains the term ‘sport’ as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively”.
The common denominator of both definitions is that for something to be labeled a sport:
- it must be a physical activity
- it requires skill
- it has to be a competitive activity
IS PLAYING POKER A SPORT?
Now, let’s take each of the three components above and see if poker lives up to the definition of the two aforementioned dictionaries.
IS POKER PHYSICALLY DEMANDING?
Poker is definitely a game involving physical exercise. In Long and high-stakes poker sessions, players require a great deal of physical endurance to keep their eyes on the ball for the duration of the entire game. One tournament can last for many hours, which means that players have to rely on their physical ability to remain attentive for the entire duration of the competition.
IS POKER RELIANT ON SKILL?
Definitely. Poker is more than an active pastime to a professional poker player, who most likely spends copious amounts of time nestled against a poker table to refine their skillset. In fact, certain skills like perception, intuition and calculating probabilities are absolutely crucial to professional poker players.
IS POKER A COMPETITIVE ACTIVITY?
Just like all the major sports in the world, poker has its own competitions that attract the attention of millions of people around the world — not just the glamorous casino scene of Las Vegas.
The WSOP and the Triton Super High Roller Series feature many professional players vying for the usually multimillion-dollar prize money. Just like professional athletes in other sports, poker players can be inundated with new strategies and developments in the sport, but their drive to remain on the pulse of the poker scene always prevails.
IS POKER A SPORT? YES OR NO?
In our opinion, yes, poker is a sport since it qualifies for the very definitions we quoted previously. Poker requires a sound physical and mental state, it heavily relies on skill and its competitive nature cannot be underestimated.
The only difference between poker and many sports is that you won’t see many sweat-drenched poker players — not that often, at least.
IS POKER AN OLYMPIC GAME?
At the moment, poker isn’t part of the Olympics, but this is looking to be rectified in the years to come. If poker is a sport, then it definitely deserves to feature in the Olympics, doesn’t it? The International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) is said to be making progress in accomplishing just that, so only time will tell whether we’ll get to watch the elite players play poker on such an international stage.
WHY DON’T PEOPLE CONSIDER POKER A SPORT?
Although we cannot speak for everyone who holds this opinion, poker is sometimes not considered a sport since its physical nature is severely downplayed. “How physically taxing can it be to play a poker hand?” one might posit.
Most people who watch sports can tell how gruelling a sport can be. After all, physical injuries and time-outs aren’t situations that a poker player has to deal with.
Nevertheless, we believe that each of the three components we explained above certainly makes poker a sport.
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