Sporting a Spectator's Hand

Poker is not a Sport
Ryan Rigdon, staff writer

Now that the world’s attention is focused on a card game, we can finally debate whether poker is truly a sport.

While looking at one of my favorite websites the other day, I noticed that a part of the sports section was dedicated to poker.  Don’t get me wrong.  I really enjoy poker, but as a sport?  Are you kidding? 

With so many people picking up the game of poker all over America, there is no question that it is trendy.  Texas Hold’em poker has gone from virtually unheard of to world renowned within the span of a few years.  But just because something is trendy and will sell advertising doesn’t mean you give it a label that it hasn’t earned. 

The reason I find it so hard to visualize poker as a sport is that it is a game of chance.  What cards will I get dealt?  To fold or to call, that is the question.  There is without a doubt a great deal of skill involved in the game of poker, but each hand originates out of a randomized deck of playing cards.  Name a sport in which value is determined by some statistical randomization.  I can’t think of one. 

There is a sport that uses a coin flip to determine who gets the ball first.  But after that, the random act has very little affect.  In Hold’em, the cards you get are the same ones you will have until you either win or lose.  It is that simple. 

Someone must have a clue as to why poker has become such a popular game.  Websites are devoted to it.  Program downloads are available to play others online.  Major cable networks show tournaments on a daily basis.  Trust me, I can see the trend.  But I refuse to label it as a sport. 

Baseball is a sport.  Football is a sport.  Basketball, hockey, and countless others are sports because there is a direct level of competition with other athletes.  The dictionary definition of sport is “physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.”

The key word there is physical activity.  Athletes have to tone their bodies to be able to compete, and there is a definite difference between a football player and a professional poker player. 

Now, I’m not debating that there is a serious amount of skill involved in playing a sophisticated game such as poker.  But what I am saying is that the physical aspect of poker is very subjective.  Whether someone is bluffing or not is perhaps only told through the look in someone’s eyes.  Or, it could have just been that they caught a fleck of dust under a contact.  Who knows? 

Poker is a fascinating game, one that I enjoy greatly.  It just simply is not a sport, by the traditional definition.