Anyone else think the poker forum should be under sports rather than games?

insafehands

Hey,

Rather pedantic I know, but I feel poker should be classified as a sport as opposed to a game.

Anyone agree?

Regardos,
ish.

phantom_lord

sport (spôrt, spōrt)
n.

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.

A particular form of this activity.

An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.

I don't think so.

BrokenArrows

not really.

What sports would you go over to a friends house with a few cans and eat loads of junk food while playing.

Its also not physically draining but mentally.

You wouldnt classify chess as a sport would you

Gurgle

insafehands wrote:

I know, but I feel poker should be classified as a sport as opposed to a game.

Anyone agree?

lol

I think darts, pool and snooker are on the border.

Poker is 100% in the games category, between monopoly and chess

daraghburns

would you then proceed to describe a brilliant poker player as an athlete?

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

smurph

I think if you can hold your beer while playing, its not a sport:rolleyes: . Even in darts they put their drinks down before throwing the darts.

kippy

Would you class Snap, 25 and bridge as Sports?

MarkR

BrokenArrows wrote:

What sports would you go over to a friends house with a few cans and eat loads of junk food while playing.

Softball?

brianmc

I've yet to suffer a poker-injury, although my shoulder gets pretty sore sometimes from crouching over poker tables for too long.

smurph

brianmc wrote:

I've yet to suffer a poker-injury, although my shoulder gets pretty sore sometimes from crouching over poker tables for too long.

lots of peoples ego's get fairly bruised but's thats about all ive seen, maybe some wallets get a major hammering.

5starpool

brianmc wrote:

I've yet to suffer a poker-injury, although my shoulder gets pretty sore sometimes from crouching over poker tables for too long.

I'm fairly sure I got RSI in my right pinkie from chip riffling.

brianmc

5starpool wrote:

I'm fairly sure I got RSI in my right pinkie from chip riffling.

Damn it! This started out light-hearted and funny but now I'm wondering if that's what the pain in the little finger side of my right hand is... I'm going to have to cut back.

Imposter

daraghburns wrote:

would you then proceed to describe a brilliant poker player as an athlete?

“Jockey Wilson . . . What an athlete.” - Sid Waddell

5starpool

Jockey Wilson was my favourite darts player in the 80's. I used to love seeing him beat that cocky Cockney Bristow.

insafehands

I just see it as a game with massive amounts of skill, whereas other games mentioned such as snap requiring very little skill.

I would see chess and darts as sports, as they have people who excel and earn a living from it; same with poker.

It's definitely a game - like football is a game - but I think it's possible to classify it as a sport... Maybe I'm just talking sh1te!

kippy

25 and Bridge are two (among) many other card games, which also require a pretty big element of skill.
I can never see it being categorised as a sport but you never know. Card games, no matter what they are, at the end of the day are not sports. Poker, when you break it down is simply another card game.
Kippy

slegs

brianmc wrote:

Damn it! This started out light-hearted and funny but now I'm wondering if that's what the pain in the little finger side of my right hand is... I'm going to have to cut back.

either that or the other thing u are doing with your right hand

ArmaniJeanss

I suspect that poker isnt going to sign up anytime soon with the World-Anti-Doping-Agency people, like virtually all sports have done.

patmac

It's shown on Sky Sports and as Murdock now controls the world of Sport it must be a Sport.

Hitman Actual

Every definition of sport implies some sort of physical or athletic capability. There's no way poker is, or ever will be, in this category (or at least that's my hope). Darts is definately borderline, as already mentioned.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

kincsem

A friend of my father's once asked me (very seriously) was angling a sport. I said no, as there was skill, but little physical strength / speed / fitness needed. He was a bit miffed as he was a keen angler, and they were lobbying the government for a few grants. This was his "ask a guy in the street" survey, and he didn't like the answer. You had to be a sport to get the cash.

Poker is not a sport, although the Americans always call it a sport. It might be better if it was a game of chance (for tax purposes).

I saw some overweight Yanks on the TV extolling the merits of the "sport" of barbecuing. The Olympics were mentioned. :rolleyes:

Rb

Athlete?I think not...

Lafortezza

It's about the 4th or 5th busiest forum on Boards so it'd be nice if it was in a bit more prominant place in the menus. Under Rec maybe.

DeVore

Games like Chess, Go and Bridge are NOT analogous to Poker as they are 100% skill games, the best player of those playing right at that time, will win. In fact, you could define it the other way around and say "the person who wins was the best player". You can´t say that about poker reliably.

If you wanted a reasonable analogy to poker it would be Backgammon. You play to the odds, you maximise the good outcomes and minimise the bad ones but you can still get done by some lucky c·nt who roles 6´s all the time.

On the OP... its not a sport if you dont have to shower afterwards.

DeV.

hotspur

It's kind of hard to argue whether poker is a sport or not in the absence of an agreed definition of a sport. Ignoring little dictionary definitions there isn't an accepted definiton of sport. You would think that the Olympic International Committee would have one but they don't. In the 90's they recognised chess and bridge as sports. Then they brought in the classification of 'mind sports' a few years ago, and I think I recall Russia having an official list of mind sports. Mind sports aren't considered for Olympic events.

It's funny that everyone accepts that poker is a game but that nobody could give an all encompassing definition of 'game' which constituted a set of necessary and sufficient characteristics. In fact the word 'game' was famously used by the linguistic philospher Wittgenstein to show that definitions based on sufficient and necessary conditions are inadequate and what we should be looking for is 'family resemblances' between examples. See if you can come up with a definition of game which is reasonably economical and covers all the examples of a game you can think of.

insafehands

Your ideas intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

hotspur wrote:

It's kind of hard to argue whether poker is a sport or not in the absence of an agreed definition of a sport. Ignoring little dictionary definitions there isn't an accepted definiton of sport. You would think that the Olympic International Committee would have one but they don't. In the 90's they recognised chess and bridge as sports. Then they brought in the classification of 'mind sports' a few years ago, and I think I recall Russia having an official list of mind sports. Mind sports aren't considered for Olympic events.

It's funny that everyone accepts that poker is a game but that nobody could give an all encompassing definition of 'game' which constituted a set of necessary and sufficient characteristics. In fact the word 'game' was famously used by the linguistic philospher Wittgenstein to show that definitions based on sufficient and necessary conditions are inadequate and what we should be looking for is 'family resemblances' between examples. See if you can come up with a definition of game which is reasonably economical and covers all the examples of a game you can think of.

RoundTower

DeVore wrote:

Games like Chess, Go and Bridge are NOT analogous to Poker as they are 100% skill games, the best player of those playing right at that time, will win. In fact, you could define it the other way around and say "the person who wins was the best player". You can´t say that about poker reliably.

If you wanted a reasonable analogy to poker it would be Backgammon. You play to the odds, you maximise the good outcomes and minimise the bad ones but you can still get done by some lucky c·nt who roles 6´s all the time.

On the OP... its not a sport if you dont have to shower afterwards.

DeV.

??

ArmaniJeanss

RoundTower wrote:

Bridge ??

Played a tiny amount of bridge a few years ago (my mum wanted someone to teach her so I did a 5 hour crash course in the library) and from memory it is 100% skill. Theres a random deal but the pair with the best hand from that random deal may lose that 'rubber' because they look to get too many tricks.
I could be wrong though.

Scotty #

My mam's a Grand Master in bridge, playing about 3 nights a week for last 30 years, and reckons its 90% skill. I don't play it at all so have no idea but I'd imagine if you have equal skill players at a table wouldn't the best hands win? ie. Whoever got the best cards - which is luck. She did say as well that the international bridge association has being lobbying to have bridge as a recognised sport with the Olympic council for years.

I think all sports are games but not all games are sports. Poker is a game.

DeVore

Sorry, I should have been more accurate with my language. I meant Duplicate Bridge (I think it may also be termed "contract" bridge as opposed to "rubber" but I wouldn´t swear to it).

Its a style of bridge where only the difference between two teams scores with identical hands.

DeV.

Earwig Eddie

Scotty # wrote:

I think all sports are games but not all games are sports. Poker is a game.

The 100m sprint is hardly a game though is it?

insafehands

Earwig Eddie wrote:

The 100m sprint is hardly a game though is it?

I'd say the 100m is part of athletics like Omaha is poker. It's part of a larger game.

Also, the 100m sprint is one of the events during the Olympics Games.

Lazare

Earwig Eddie wrote:

The 100m sprint is hardly a game though is it?

No, it's a narcotics anonymous meeting.

Jesus Wept

No, clearly a game, not a sport

any activity that you can drink a beer during is not a sport.

insafehands wrote:

Hey,

Rather pedantic I know, but I feel poker should be classified as a sport as opposed to a game.

Anyone agree?

Regardos,
ish.

nicryan

DeVore wrote:

If you wanted a reasonable analogy to poker it would be Backgammon. You play to the odds, you maximise the good outcomes and minimise the bad ones but you can still get done by some lucky c·nt who roles 6´s all the time.

*pedantic mode*

yeah but if you roll all 6's you can't move the 2 pieces that start in your first quarter...

*/pedantic*

Nic

Brayruit

DeVore wrote:

Sorry, I should have been more accurate with my language. I meant Duplicate Bridge (I think it may also be termed "contract" bridge as opposed to "rubber" but I wouldn´t swear to it).

Its a style of bridge where only the difference between two teams scores with identical hands.

DeV.

This doesn't show that bridge is 100% skill.

The better players, in duplicate or any other form, will get close to an optimum contract and will play in closer to the optimum manner to maximise their scores in the long run. But poorer players may, through luck, fall into a better contract, or misplay their cards and through chance end up with a better score over the short run.

That sounds pretty close to poker too.

You can certainly say that in the long run bridge is 100% skill. But the same goes for poker.

(Not relevant to the OP I know)

On the subject of the OP, it depends on what YOU mean by "sport". For me, poker is certainly not a sport as I understand the word.