Do You Consider Poker a Sport?

MemphisGrind said:

Possibly... So you think they would just take the top GPI ranking players for the year or how do you think they would choose who makes the team?

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I have not researched this but in THE Olympics - the national Olympic committee for each country and related sport association selects their players. I guess in some countries the King can dictate to put his nephew/niece on the team!

So, citizenship is a requirement and then that country's committee related to the sport dictates the eligibility rules (as long as they comply with the international olympic eligibility requirements), etc.

If a country had a lot of eligible competitors then they could run a series of qualifying poker tournaments to see who the cream of the crop is.

I do not know how in many other countries, but in Ukraine now poker is the official sport and they are now opening offices in which you can participate in long tournaments and win cups and cash prizes!

Hi.
I think poker is a sport. I am convinced that in the near future poker will become an Olympic sport.

Nice question! According to me, poker is the perfection of the game.

yeah ,Weightlifting))

MemphisGrind said:

If anything I just don't think it will ever be an Olympic sport because, how would that even work? The whole excitement of the Olympic's is breaking world records and receiving medals. What records would their be for Olympic poker? How would you even choose who was able to compete? would their be a buy in and prize money? Would they turn it into a team event where they play something like a tag-team tournament country vs. country? I just cant' see the big picture as far as the Olympic's is concerned however, that being said it "IS" classified as a sport

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I believe that we could elect the participants with a ranking by results of the countries.

MishkaZL said:

Hi.
I think poker is a sport. I am convinced that in the near future poker will become an Olympic sport.

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Make your own olympic games then.

Poker is a sport without any doubt, that you need luck is true but in which sport you do not need luck to win, name me a single sport that depends 100% of the skills and luck is not important.

Greetings

Game and hobby a lot of people...

Of course it's like a sport. I experience it so much and I think it's the right expression for poker, it's a sport. Sure, it takes happiness, but knowledge is the first place. Skill, knowledge and experience are needed for poker and then no one can convince me that poker is happiness alone. Poker is everything, just not a game of luck.

I have a hard time trying to understand the concept behind these "mind sports". I understand that there is a lot of skill involved and you get prizes according to your performance, just like regular sports such as basketball or football. But the same is true for other competitions like MasterChef and The Voice. Are those sports as well? I think I tend to associate physical prowess with the concept of sport.

In any case, let's say poker becomes widely accepted as a sport. Even then I doubt it would ever be a part of the Olympics because it's definitely not consistent. In individual sports like Judo or Fencing you can see that the best athletes at the Olympics are basically the same from the last world championship. The best players will almost always perform very well and there is basically no way a low ranked player would come out of nowhere to get the Gold medal, which could very well happen in poker. A possibility would be to hold several tournaments with the players getting points according to their results on each of them. It would help but not solve the problem.

Also, people above noted that every sport takes luck and that's true, of course. But in poker you could very well see the fight for the Gold and Silver medals happening through a preflop all in flip like a pocket pair vs two overcards and you can't say any of them made a mistake by going all in with those hands. That's not really what the Olympics are all about.

I guess it is a sport. Broadcast on sport channels like ESPN and Fox Sport. I'd say it shouldn't be in the Olympics though.

To be honest I would say that Poker is a sport but nevertheless it´s a sport where you just can win when you firstly, stick to the rules and secondly, play for a long period of time.

Otherwise the variance will keep you away from winning and that makes it difficult for Poker to become a discipline in Olympics. Every time a different player would win and probably it would be very difficult to recognize a real talent. Hmm, not a very good answer from my side but nevertheless thats my opinion.

Greets!

It's not a sport, there's no aspect of physical exertion or dexterity required. Poker is mentally tasking, tournaments like the wsop that can have +12 hour days are brutal; but if that makes it a sport then writing the MCAT is a sport too.

Poker Olympiad

in poker there are elements of both gambling and sports components. The psychology and emotional component of the game are more of a passion. And mathematics, probably, of sport. But at the , all the same, it’s not the place.:icon_boun:icon_boun:icon_boun:icon_boun:icon_boun

Tournament poker is definitely a sport! Indeed, even in some countries there are federations of sports poker.

Poker is a mental game, same than Chess, e-sports, etc...

Poker is a sports game of chance)))
just like curling... throwing.. throwing.. but the result is not visible)))
:star:

It's true that the poker tournaments tend to be marathon, but I doubt that in sports luck is a factor to consider, which is unavoidable in poker

in sports, you have to be lucky your opponent is having a bad day.
You can't possibly compare poker with like a tennis game. seriously, guys

GameTooHard said:

It's not a sport, there's no aspect of physical exertion or dexterity required. Poker is mentally tasking, tournaments like the WSOP that can have +12 hour days are brutal; but if that makes it a sport then writing the MCAT is a sport too.

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Spoken like someone who has not played 12+hrs a day first hand! You are in fact both mentally and physically exhausted after a day like that! And whether you like it or not, Poker is in fact classified as a Sport. The tournaments are considered Sporting Events, and is also even acknowledged as capable of being a Spectator Sport. It's along the same lines as ESports IMHO.

Poker is not a sport. A sport is physically and mental enduring. Poker is mental, but you're not doing anything physical and athletic.

Of course, poker is definitely a sport. And someday it will become an Olympic sport.

Pharaoh39 said:

Poker is not a sport. A sport is physically and mental enduring. Poker is mental, but you're not doing anything physical and athletic.

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You know there are more categories of sports than just Physical right? Mind sports has been around for ages and Esports has been a thing for over a decade now.