Opinions: Is Poker A Sport?

We always played naked and the losers had to put their clothes on.

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Yo Eddie !!!

Too funny :rofl:

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Rail Bird you are truly and certainly a Replay Rep.

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Itā€™s a game not a sport. The fact that some find it mentally tiring does not make it a sport. I think some like to call it a sport, because they wish to justify the time they dedicate to playing poker. They might worry that people are judging them for spending time on a game, whereas sport is often perceived as a worthy activity.

I say, call it a game, but donā€™t worry about what others think. Staying mentally agile by playing games and engaging in other activities which stimulate the mind is a good thing.

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Poker must be a sportā€¦thatā€™s why I suk at it, lol ( hates sports )

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Earliest known usage c1300:ā€œany activity which offers relaxation, pleasure or entertainment.ā€ The physical aspect was not added to the original meaning until much later, c1500. eg: ā€œWar; the sport of kings.ā€
Take your choice, but keep your blade handy! Lol.

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Call it what you wantā€¦ But bear in mind, if Poker is a ā€œSportā€ then, so is ā€œBingoā€ā€¦

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And, Hopscotchā€¦

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And, Marblesā€¦

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Etcetera, etcetera, etceteraā€¦ (As the man once saidā€¦) ā€¦

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and, now that you know thatā€¦

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LOLā€¦

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Wait ā€¦ both take physical attributesā€¦ and thuss, Qualify as a possible sport.

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What Iā€™d like to know is ā€œWhy does it matter?ā€ Personally, having been on ā€˜the fieldā€™
where ā€œMen are men, and never the twain shall meetā€ Real ā€˜sportsā€™ is where that
happensā€¦ Obviously, the poker table ainā€™t part of the dealā€¦

Butā€¦ Who am I? Certainly, no expert, probably just another Male, Chauvinist Pig
escapee from the '70ā€™sā€¦

:>)))

Poker is a game. Any endeavor of competition that enables the opponents to smoke a cigar or drink a beer, while competing, is not a sport it is a game. Same applies to bowling, golf, cornhole and horse-shoes.

I guess college rugby isnā€™t a sport then because we did both :slight_smile:

No, poker is not a sport

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Been a while, been in a scrum, small ruggerā€™s jobā€¦vial

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Hahahaha, awesome :+1:t2:

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Weighing in Way Lateā€¦

A game involves more than one person

Sport pertains to an individualā€™s skills and performance.
Sport is carried out under an agreed set of rules.
Sport is related to recreational purpose, either for self-enjoyment or competition or for both

So how about both a game and a sport? SInce we keep individual statisticsā€¦ sounds like a sportā€¦ but canā€™t enguage it aloneā€¦ so is also a game.

OKā€¦ done for the weekend!!!

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Its a sport and if you learned to play where I first learned to play you would be well aware that it is a serious blood sportā€¦

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ā€œRolls eyesā€( just for you Sharon) So I guess monopoly, scrabble and checkers are sports also.

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No, Itā€™s just a card game, just like blackjack, etc

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No. The luck element is far too great in poker, especially holdā€™em, to ever consider it a sport. It is gambling pure and simple and luck is clearly 60 to 70 percent of the game. Also the idea that luck evens out over time is BS. Some people are far more lucky than others all through their lives.

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then why are there so many proā€™s who can live of playing poker. :wink:

of course there is luck in poker, and yes the short term (in which luck has most control) is longer then most think, but with good BRM you can control the luck side and make profit that way in the long term.

here a quick and easy example: lets say you play well and have an average of 60% winning against your opponent. of course itā€™s quite easy to lose when you hold just 60% chance to win. but lets say you play about 10 hands each hour till the end. (also keep in mind that 10 hands each hour is pretty low and easily can be more, which means even more profit. so this is more or less a worst case of a good player.) assume you play serious poker and take 40 hours each week, so about 170 each month and about 2K hours each year. multiply this by these 10 hands and you have 20K hands each year. so on average you win 12K of them and lose 8K of em. resulting in profit of 4K of these hands. of course the variance may alter this number a bit, but keep in mind these 8K hands are already the bad beats that are calculated in.
of course you can always get insanely unlucky, but you can also get hit by lightning three times after each other, but that diesnt mean you can go outside anymore. and if someone would offer you to invest a decent amount of money you can miss and guarantee you a very big profit a year about 99,9999% (not the actual number) of the time would you reject it? donā€™t think you will :slight_smile:. same is true in poker, you might lose to nasty hands short term, but if you play good enough and use BRM, you are guaranteed of (big) profit.

Believe me I understand the theory you are putting forth. But it
ignores a fundamental truth about all natural phenomenon, which is
that the distribution of natural phenomenon will fit the pattern of
the Bell Curve. Things in nature donā€™t balance out equally. They
conform to a very different distribution pattern. Some people make
a living at poker because, yes in part they have basic skills, but
mainly because they are just luckier than most other people. That is
why they were drawn to the game to begin with.

Luck is the biggest factor in poker in the short run and the long run.
Luck alone will rarely get it done, but neither will skill alone. It
takes both to be a really successful poker player. I call it the Phil
Hellmuth factor as he is not only one of the most skilled poker
players, he has some really bad luck to go with it.

Donā€™t get me wrong, I donā€™t like Mr. Hellmuth at all, but I do
understand that he has three or four times as many bad beats as most
top pros. LOL There is a reason for all his whining and complaining.
It appears his luck has changed over the years and even though his
skill level is greater today than years ago, his luck has gotten much
worse. So some people are lucky or unlucky their whole lives and
others will have periods of good or bad luck.

Skill can off set a lot of bad luck, but it really canā€™t offset it all
if someone is truly unlucky. Another one of the all time greats of
poker has lost his luck factor and that is Howard Letterer. He is as
smart and experienced as any and certainly as skilled as any, but his
luck has turned bad and he is really struggling and not for a month or
a few months but for years.

Anyway thanks for the reply, but donā€™t ever take poker too seriously
or anyoneā€™s so-called skill at poker. Even at a game like duplicate
bridge where people are scored against other people playing the exact
same cards, the luck factor is often huge ranging from 10 to 40
percent depending on skill levels of those involved. There the luck
factor is reduced considerably, but it never disappears. But in
rubber bridge or poker where the hands are random, the luck factor is
off the scale.

In short poker is a game of chance or luck and you can improve that
somewhat if you have good basic skills, but there are limits to how
much skills can over come bad luck, short term or long term. Trying
to call poker a sport is in my opinion a bit silly. It requires
changing the definition of sport.