Poker, Sport or Game?

I was wondering at how you look on playing poker. Do you play for just the money or do you wish to dominate because it's a competition?
The money for me is a way to keep score. I play poker because of the competition factor. It's a need to win and to get better till I win at most games. I have played at most games this way, focusing in on my flaws of play and bringing them up till I win consistently.

For me, in the long run, poker is then a sport, to be played till there is a winner,(me). I guess that's also why I like tourney play better then straight games. There is one clear winner on top.

I am the same very competitive in all the sports I play especially golf and poker now that's about all I can do at my age LOL but golf and poker makes me some cash which is always good but to win when doing it is the bestest thingy to do.

I have always been of the opinion that any game that one can play with a beer in your hand and a cigarette in your mouth is not a sport. I can see the logic of calling poker a sport, but it just doesn't work for me.

-n

BUT i say its a sport game like Hockey its considered a sport but it takes a Game to make a sport.

Ive played golf like that !

Chess is a sport, yet it requires no physical action.

well, you know there are some people who might argue that golf is not a sport, though not me. When i play i always have to put my beer and cigarette down before i swing. and i've never even heard of chess being called a spot, though i wouldn't argue it.

technicaly, Webster's dictionary defines a sport as any recreational activity, game, or competition requiring bodily exertion.

i think one can play a game and want to be the best at it. if you want to call poker a sport, i think you would also have to include such games as billiards, darts, bowling, even blackjack, craps, roulette, backgammon, scrabble, fox hunting, competitive spelling, competitive eating, heck even video games as sports as well, as they require just as much, if not more, bodily exertion as poker does. i'm not arguing though.

-n

Neither.

Poker is a love affair...

If you dont take it seriously it is no fun...

If you do take it seriously, it will break your heart.

-Bill

Great quote Bill Sounds like my relationship with poker that's for sure.

BBB,

I have to say myself Sport. I know you are sitting for hours at a time (and you may be able to smoke and drink beer at some places) but when your heart pounds from the adrenaline(sp)rush and if you are playing for a very long time fatigue sets in(such as at the WSOP(not from personal experience just read that several times). It's a sport. I very much like the competition(money is just a bonus!!!)

Well, how you can call poker a sport. You're not doing sports playing poker.
It's maybe a fight or even a war a psycho war.

Webster definiton of sport is:

a source of diversion, physical activity engaged in for pleasure.

In that case, I say poker is a sport.

To Tribal, chess is a board game, not a sport in my opinion.

Sport to me means physical activity. Banging your head against the wall or kicking the dog after bad beats don't count.

Definitions of 'sport' (spôrt, spōrt) - 15 definitions - American Heritage Dictionary

sport (n.) Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
sport (v.) To play or frolic.
sport (v.) To display or show off:“His shoes sported elevated heels” (Truman Capote)


So it is a sport.. it is physical.. not very.. you do move your arms..it is goverened by a set of rules and it is competitive.

I found this article by Alan T. Sherman that I think does a great job of proving that sports don't have to be physical. I also believe you can apply this article to prove that poker is a sport.

The fact that various sports directories exclude chess is not evidence chess is not a sport; instead, this omission merely reflects that large segments of our culture do not currently view chess as a sport. The National Sports Federation of the Netherlands, however, classifies chess as a sport, and chess plays a significant role in many atheletic departments in Belarus and in other eastern republics. Many people consider chess the national sport of the former Soviet Union.

The ancient Greeks greatly valued activities of the mind and included a variety of intellectual performances (including poetry reading) in their sporting events. Negotiations have been underway to make chess an Olympic exhibition sport.

The noun sport comes from French and Latin as a contracted form of the verb disport, which means to make merry. Thus, the core meaning of sport is simply pastime, diversion, or recreation. Like many other sports, chess is also a game (a competitive activity governed by rules) and a competition (a rivalry involving the demonstration of skill or ability). Futhermore, and typically unlike ice-skating, chess is an adversarial sport: the outcome of each chess game is profoundly affected by the opposing interaction of the players.

Chess requires extreme physical demands: a single game might last six hours or more, and several such games might be played in one weekend. A study at Temple University reported that tournament chess caused physical changes similar to a comparable session of boxing or football. For these reasons, chess competitors undergo extensive physical conditioning.

Though chess is not a physical sport, it is nevertheless a sport. I refer to it as an intellectual sport, because chess depends crucially on abstract reasoning.

Come on its just a game.

The question is not the definition of sport, but the definition of poker, and as per Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: 2po·ker
Pronunciation: 'pO-k&r
Function: noun
Etymology: probably modification of French poque, a card game similar to poker
: any of several card games in which a player bets that the value of his or her hand is greater than that of the hands held by others, in which each subsequent player must either equal or raise the bet or drop out, and in which the player holding the highest hand at the end of the betting wins the pot

Very clearly it is a game.

Bill great post. I enjoy poker it relaxes me and I love the competition........Rock

I believe Bill gave the definative answer...nice one Bill!

Rock you and I are on the same wave link with poker,relaxing, competive an it's such a rush when you nail the hand. Like a cat playing with a mouse but not eating it,just yet! LOL

there are no odds in chess. its a mental sport. if one is willing to gabmle and rely on luck in his game where luck and gambling are a big part of it , that right there kills the whole idea of a sport. poker is not a sport - u cannot know what the next cards are going to be - u can only know what odds u have to win while in chess if u are good enough u can set up the game in your favour with your first move. same thing with blackjack....u can count cards and calculate odds but u have to gamble...only true geniouses can beat the blackjack game... and i am willing to say that balckjack is closer to a mental sport than poker....cheers

I like it! And VERY true!

I vote for 'game'.

I reckon those who are claiming it to be a sport are physically incapable of playing sports and want to claim that they are at least good at one 'sport' Just kidding people.

As for golf... hmmm... it's a sport in the loosest sense. And I agree with the person that said there's no other way of playing golf than with a beer and a fag in each hand!

I would go for game.. this is my argument: (I just grabbed it out of the air so please correct me cause I'm probably wrong...)

Since the cards are randomly distributed you base your decision on statistics when you play poker. For me it is a dynamic mathematical problem. I have never heard of a sport where you make all your decisions based on mathematics. Therefor.... a GAME!

I have never heard of a sport where you make all your decisions based on mathematics.

Golf is based apon math.. how many yards determines which club you use.
Every shot taken is based apon #'s

Pool is always based apon angles.

Darts, Horseshoes are others that are based apon math decisions.

I could go on..

Its an intellectual game of skill. The only physical attribute really involved in being a good poker player is endurance. You have to be able to be alert and awake for hours on end (if you play for extended periods of time). I would never refer to poker as a 'sport', but thats just me.

With respect to the posters who make excellent points in favour of poker as a sport, I would say it is a game.

1 - I think that the definition of sport as a competitive physical activity precludes poker. Sure, you need to move your arms, but hey sleeping requires breathing and moving your lungs. It's not physical activity the way such is meant.

2 - Everything I can think of in the English lexicon... "games of chance", "games of skill", "game of poker", the word that always fits best is game.

This is not to take away from poker, I think it's a great game and I don't think it would be improved if the players played while skipping rope, but I don't think we can really fairly call it a sport.

Personally, I see the link between chess and poker, and the logic that if chess is a sport then so is poker, but I think the link to chess as a sport is not really rock solid either so it's not enough to convince me.

Poker is a game to me. But don't feel like I do not love it.

But I also do not count:
Car Racing
Golf
Figure Skating
Body Building
and many others

Just because I consider a sport something between 2 teams where a score is kept and there is a possibility of injury.

one group of players teams up and another group of players form a tam and they play each others team for points, also , money. Like hockey the teams play each other and win the Stanley Cup.

By this logic tennis (singles) is not a sport. Nor are most athletics. Do you really not consider these to be sports?

Nice quote, Bill. Competitive love affair works for me.

Does it really matter?

just to make a point... Chess is considered a sport...and in fact, it was in the sports almanac last i remember....and poker is nearly the same as chess IMO.

We have had team play here and as for injury, I've taken quite a few hits to my bankroll playing poker.

Baseball
Football
Hockey
Basketball
Soccer
Rugby
Volleyball

OK Fine any game where you sweat, play offense and defense, can get injured by an opposing player, and most importantly it is not something someone over the age of 65 can do.

To begin my post, I would like to say, chess is a sport. Before moving on to play poker, i used to play chess at a pro level, if you could say. I had gained a tittle and i used to travel around the United states playing big tournaments, with had buy ins ( raging from 50 dollars to 2000 dollars ) . In chess you recieve rating, with measures your strength. You can check www.fide.com the official world federation page or www.chessbase.com , that gives information on all of chess world news. Most of the top ranked players have played since they where 4, and didnt even go to school, they live out of this profession. As for poker, i believe that as long as you can read books on a subject, and you can train at it, and prove by means of skill, that you are better then someone in something, it should be a sport. Some people say poker aint a sport because you play to win money, well , in every major game you are playing for money. Do you think Allen Iverson would be happy to play on the NBA for free ? NO!, this is his profession and this is what he lives for. Take Allison Fischer for example, she plays billiard in the worlds biggest and strongest pool tournaments, and she makes a living out of it, although she doesnt just play for the pure joy, she plays for the money .