Poker Is a Sport!

Friday, April 30, 2010

Poker Is a Sport!

There have been many people talking about poker as a sport in recent times. These discussions are primarily due to the new World Team Poker. World Team Poker (WTP) is a new concept in poker where countries choose a team and of course team captains where they compete against the rest of the world to see which country has the World Team Poker Champions. This new concept runs kind of like the olympic games with countries such as Australia, Israel, United States, Italy, China and more all competeting to see who is the best.

With even things like patchwork quilting we can compete to see who is the best. We can score teams around the world as the best patch work quilters. We could play games like monopoly and see which countries match up as the best. Is there anything which sets poker aside from other activities and card games that makes it a sport or is it "Just another cardgame"?

I consider poker a sport for many reasons. I believe it is a game that you could participate in as part of the olympic games. Poker is like most sports, it takes a lot of preparation to be able to play an A-Grade game. Poker takes a lot of stamina, skill, focus, concentration, poker is a game that can be played at an elite level and when it is shouldn't be taken lightly.

When people are chosen for poker teams it is obvious that the team coaches or leaders / captains choose the best players at their disposal. These players have proven themselves time and time again alike olympic swimmers, throwers, runners, and table tennis players.

Poker can take a lot out of a persons physical body. Competing at the olympic games as a poker player day after day is sure to be no easy task, it is not for the amateur or light hearted. Players have little sleep in large tournaments such as the WSOP, EPT, Aussie Millions. They eat when they can and have few breaks. Tournament play can go on for hours and hours and hours. These things cause weight loss and sleep deprivation and these show that poker can be a very physical sport. In saying this I am not talking a sit and go or a cash game where you can stand up and leave at any time you desire, I mean a deepstack tournament with a multitude of players.

Poker pays money, trophies and endorsements and is therefore in the same category as many sports that participants can win medals in. A professional sprinter also recieves these things, money for wins and places, they get paid out for their win, they recieve endorsements from shoe companies and take home trophys too! How many people that play card games such as solataire, hearts or the like recieve anything near what a poker player does; one who would take down the EPT at any given location?

I am really glad to be seeing World Team Poker ready and set to go.

World Team Poker features a unique concept of team poker with the thrill of international
competition between top professional poker players from countries throughout the world battling it out for “Pride, Passion, Country.” World Team Poker’s season will culminate in a World Team Poker Championship Event in the tradition of the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, or Baseballs World Series, where the teams will compete for the ultimate title: World Team Poker Champions!

With this statement made by World Team Poker Executives and it distributed throughout press worldwide; need I say that many people in the world agree with me that Poker IS a sport!

Congrats to WTP for making this statement beyond "just words" and good luck to participants and to each and every countries poker teams that are involved. Sorry to say though; I am going for the Aussies all the way! Go Aussies, bring home the first ever trophy from World Team Poker xoxo