Is Poker a sport?

newbie2

just glanced at this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055100774
and it got me thinking. is poker a sport? I mean is it a sport because it's on ESPN? Is chess/backgammon a sport? What defines a sport?

This has probably been done before - if so delete thread and send me a warning !:eek:

5starpool

Hotdog eating is on ESPN as well.

I don't think poker is a sport per se, but it is a game with a lot of wedge in it.

Game, pasttime, occupation, but not a sport imo.

TripleAce

IMO poker shouldn't be classified as a sport...of course sitting down and play for 12-15 hours in a row could be physically tiring, but call poker a sport is incorrect IMO. Poker is a game.

You are suppose to be fit if you practice a sport - most poker players are not. And it is NOT good for your health either

qt9ukbg60ivjrn

i think that sport requires a certain high level of physical exertion

i know poker can be gruelling, but its more a mental battle than a physical one

ArmaniJeanss

I like the wiki definition.

Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports (a common name for some card games and board games with little to no element of chance) and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors. Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play.

newbie2

5starpool wrote: »

Hotdog eating is on ESPN as well.

ESPN 8 - The OCHO

HIVeindhoven

A handy rule of thumb is that if you can do it while sitting on the toilet taking a dump......its not a sport. Therefore poker is not a sport.

Neither is darts.

tipp86

No - That is all pretty simple - Anyone that plays sports will agree - Anyone who has never is just trying to make up for lack of sporting ability by claiming it is.

newbie2

HIVeindhoven wrote: »

A handy rule of thumb is that if you can do it while sitting on the toilet taking a dump......its not a sport. Therefore poker is not a sport.

Neither is darts.

Bocha is a sport and you do that sitting down (possibly taking a dump)!

bohsman

ITs been recognised as a sport in Russia.

newbie2

is pool/snooker a sport?

Hosef

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I like the wiki definition.

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

,

HIVeindhoven

tipp86 wrote: »

No - That is all pretty simple - Anyone that plays sports will agree - Anyone who has never is just trying to make up for lack of sporting ability by claiming it is.

LOl, so true. love the way every second big online player you see interviewed in the mags only took up Poker after a cruel injury struck down their nascent professional sports career. Who are they trying to fool?

bluenose abroad

bohsman wrote: »

ITs been recognised as a sport in Russia.

Only to allow numerous poker clubs to open if/when the casinos lose their licences next year.
It also makes getting visas easier for travelling abroad to play tourneys.

edmunds

newbie2 wrote: »

is poker a sport?

IMO its more of a cross between degenerate habit and debilitating disease than a sport.

cardshark202

HIVeindhoven wrote: »

Neither is darts.

Wrong, darts is a sport. Its not even debatable.
Pool snooker are also sports of course.

Mr.Plough

of course darts is a sport.

just look at the athletes who dominate it

cardshark202

Mr.Plough wrote: »

of course darts is a sport

.

hopalong85

poker is a game not a sport. lol at those who think otherwise.

cooker3

I wouldn't call it a sport but like honestly it just doesn't matter

RealJohn

tipp86 wrote: »

No - That is all pretty simple - Anyone that plays sports will agree - Anyone who has never is just trying to make up for lack of sporting ability by claiming it is.

I'm willing to entertain the idea that poker is a sport and I take part in competitive sports (not professionally admittedly but then, I don't play poker professionally either).

Personally though, I'd be leaning more towards considering it a game rather than a sport.

elshambo

HIVeindhoven wrote: »

A handy rule of thumb is that if you can do it while sitting on the toilet taking a dump......its not a sport. Therefore poker is not a sport.

Neither is darts.

What about pocket billiards?

CourierCollie

Strangely enough the UK Advertising Standards Authority recently adjudicated on a complaint against a Pokerstars ad in which poker was described as a sport,
Quote: "We considered...that poker was a well known card game, and that the description of poker as a sport was unlikely to materially mislead members of the public about the nature of the game. We also considered that the definition of 'sport' as a game, pastime or recreational activity was a definition that could be applied to poker."

Though I suppose pocket billiards could be both a pastime and a recreational activity too.

Sabre0001

I am often interested in these kind of debates (mainly because I'm interested in the "professional video gaming" scene - which tournaments push as a sport).

Honestly, I don't think it matters if it is or not. Classification as a "sport" does open it up to grants but I don't think there are a number of benefits associated to calling it a sport. The professionals don't concern themselves, they just get on with their job. When I hear people pushing things as "sport", sometimes it seems to go overboard and actually creates the opposite effect where I think they must be pushing it so hard that it's not actually true.

DaXiS

Hell no it is not a sport, what an insult to true sports and people who play them.
If you make poker a sport, you have to make a million other things a sport like video games and whatever. No its not a sport, you are sad if you try to prove it is. And yes I play a contact sport so thats why I'm pretty adamant about this.

Kamaldihnio

TripleAce wrote: »

IMO poker shouldn't be classified as a sport...of course sitting down and play for 12-15 hours in a row could be physically tiring, but call poker a sport is incorrect IMO. Poker is a game.

You are suppose to be fit if you practice a sport - most poker players are not. And it is NOT good for your health either

Snooker, Pool, Darts, Chess, Archery??

Im not sure but I think it is anyway!

jbravado

HIVeindhoven wrote: »

LOl, so true. love the way every second big online player you see interviewed in the mags only took up Poker after a cruel injury struck down their nascent professional sports career. Who are they trying to fool?

LOL-this always amuses me aswell. I think it reflects more the total delusional tendancies and egomanical streak a lot of poker players have.

hotspur

It's a sport to an authority which recognises it as a sport and not to one which doesn't. There is no single international body which defines what constitutes a sport so the question of what defines a sport has more than one answer according to the authority in question. We can all decide if we think of it as a sport but we are probably using a naive understanding of definitions and taxonomies.

Read this, it may help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_resemblance

Hectorjelly

cooker3 wrote: »

I wouldn't call it a sport but like honestly it just doesn't matter

Yeah who cares, its just semantics (Im surprised Gholi hasn't made a post yet)

I think poker is a sport (i used to think otherwise), but it won't make anyone fit

coillcam

This thread needs before and after Andy Fordham pics imo.

Apparently the guy used to drink a crate of beer (bottles) before he played back in the day.... Does that make darts less of a sport?

For me anyway Darts, pool and snooker = sport. Poker is a game

DubTony

Proof that poker is a sport!

There's a guy who plays professionally (I think he's won a few of those bracelet thingys) who walks a marathon during every WSOP. Every time he's beaten in a hand he gets up from the table and does his version of jogging on the spot. He then proceeds to walk around the table waving his arms and jumping up and down. He has been known to partake in that often used sporting tactic (seen on every good GAA pitch) of abusing his opponent and even questioning the marital status of the guys parents*. Sometime he takes a break , or a time-out, sits down for a few seconds and will suddenly jump back up and do it all again.

I get knackered just looking at him. If that's not sport, I don't know what is.

* This may or may not be true.

Wolves

Poker is clearly not a sport.

In what sport do players have to pay to enter the competition? I can't see too many people paying entry money to try and beat Tiger Woods or Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Maybe if poker was ever to get to the stage where prize money was there for no entry fee (regularly not a one off) and if there was to be a governing body for poker then it could be classed as a sport.

But thats not gonna happen anyway so sorry, its a game.

elshambo

In sport as in life you create your own luck through making all the play/ making good decisions

Man United get lots of luck around the goal because they spend more time around the opp's penalty box slinging in crosses, shooting etc
Steve Davis was called the luckiest player ever in his prime because as Dennis Taylor often pointed out he got lucky because he was always at the table

In poker; the more times you make a bad play/ make a BAD decision
and get yourself in lots of positions where you need luck, you will get some eventually, players who usually make good decisions and get their chips in ahead need luck less and can only get unlucky

Therefore poker is not a sport, its is some sort of perversion:D
unless your a bad player and then its better than the lotto:(

Hectorjelly

Wolves wrote: »

Poker is clearly not a sport.

In what sport do players have to pay to enter the competition? I can't see too many people paying entry money to try and beat Tiger Woods or Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Maybe if poker was ever to get to the stage where prize money was there for no entry fee (regularly not a one off) and if there was to be a governing body for poker then it could be classed as a sport.

But thats not gonna happen anyway so sorry, its a game.

Why on earth would you think that the defining criteria is whether you pay to enter a tournament or not? Thats nonsense. There are golf tournaments people pay to play in, and there are poker tournaments that are free to enter. Its totally irrelevant

mormank

lol at ppl saying no its not a sport, its a game. so does this mean soccer is not a sport as it is also a game!! :rolleyes:

yes its a sport, no its not a sport. whatever. one thing that is for sure is that the definition for a sport is NOT something that will make you tire or physically fit.

a147pro

its not a sport because in no other sport in the world would a complete amateur stand a decent chance against a world champion

a147pro

that is to say the skill level is very low

pgodkin

Damn Pokers not a sport and here was me thinking that i was gettin fit :rolleyes: o no back to the threadmill for my fat ass!! :mad:

Mellor

a147pro wrote: »

its not a sport because in no other sport in the world would a complete amateur stand a decent chance against a world champion

I can't remember the event, but an amateur won a big (not a major) golf tourney this year. In july afaik

a147pro

Mellor wrote: »

I can't remember the event, but an amateur won a big (not a major) golf tourney this year. In july afaik

yeah but even a good, regular golfer would never beat Tiger, or a snooker player Ronnie.

my ma could dog eastgate HU!

Hectorjelly

I dont see why that is the crucial difference either. If the world cup final was decided on penalty kicks I would have a chance against top pros (obv I probably wouldnt win, but I might), similarly a very bad poker player has almost no chance of doing better than a good player over 100k hands. There's a huge amount of luck in tournament poker, I don't see why that should be the deciding factor, especially when thats just one form of poker.

Theresalwaysone

Hectorjelly wrote: »

I dont see why that is the crucial difference either. If the world cup final was decided on penalty kicks I would have a chance against top pros (obv I probably wouldnt win, but I might).

Right peg....chance.
Left peg.... not a hope.

a147pro

yes but the world cup isn't decided on penalties alone. I'm not sure if there is a form of poker which isn't so luck dependent as to make it a sport

a good player will outrank a bad one over 100k hands, probably over 1k hands. but in any real sport you'd only need 2 or 3 goes to ensure the merit

I think the luck factor is an important distinction. I also think less physical games like darts and snooker are clearly sports. but I'd say chess is too so its not just skill games.

its any game which is sufficiently physical, skill or strategy based that a better player will win out over a lesser player over a relatively small sample size

jesus 9 o'clock on a Sat night and this is what I'm at

Theresalwaysone

I feel like Ace2007.

Hectorjelly

a147pro wrote: »

its any game which is sufficiently physical, skill or strategy based that a better player will win out over a lesser player over a relatively small sample size

jesus 9 o'clock on a Sat night and this is what I'm at

But there is nothing in any description of the word sport that means that luck has to play a small part over a small sample size. In every sport every year teams win cups but clearly aren't the best team. So do those sports stop being sports? In the long run good teams will win more than bad teams. In the long run good poker players will win more than bad poker players.

The fact that it takes a extended number of iterations for skill to show out seems like a ludicrously arbitrary reason to class something a sport or not a sport

a147pro

well have you any better ideas?

I played football today, we won 2-1. we didn't deserve to, a draw would have been a good result for us.

WE COULD PLAY MAN U 10 BILLION TIMES AND NEVER WIN

someone who didn't know the rules of poker could win a 9 seat SNG with the 8 best players in the world maybe 1 in 2 or 3 hundred times

the most obvious differential for me is the luck factor

hotspur

a147pro wrote: »

but in any real sport you'd only need 2 or 3 goes to ensure the merit

Hectorjelly wrote: »

The fact that it takes a extended number of iterations for skill to show out seems like a ludicrously arbitrary reason to class something a sport or not a sport

=Winnar

a147pro since you suggest that your ma might dog Eastgate then a less gentlemanly poster than myself, perhaps that wag Yuletired, might suggest that maybe the only sport where you need 2 or 3 goes to ensure the merit is shagging your ma, I certainly wouldn't be so crude of course.

So to sum up just in case the Oxford English dictionary or the International Olympic Committee come to us for a definitive set of defining criteria, a sport is:
- something you must be fit for
- have high level of physical exertion
- something you can't do it on the toilet
- something you cannot pay for to enter a competition
- something you only get lucky at if you are good
- something an amateur cannot stand a chance of beating a world champion

To be honest based on those criteria I suggest that shagging a147pro's ma is most probably a sport.

a147pro

jesus I wonder what it was like before you edited it

Tristram

Not all that bothered about poker tbh but if they 'announce' darts as a sport I will fully support any similar venture regarding poker.

Dreaming also. Great sport.

shoutman

Don't feed the troll tbh.

Tristram

*gnom*