Is Poker a sport?

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*

rag2gar

Jockey Wilson. What an athlete.