sashime76

ESPN airs poker tournaments regularly, just exaxctly how does playing poker qualify as a sport? I'd say playing slot machines or roulette would require more physical movement. Pushing a shopping cart takes much more than sitting at the table calling cards but we don't see a shopping cart race on ESPN.

Sure, playing poker is largely a mind game but taking an IQ test for sure kills more brain cells than poker. Perhaps there isn't much else to cover thus the poker tourneys?

buclao

ESPN also plays the National Spelling Bee and Scrabble championship. Do they count as sports too?

djtestudo

Entertainment & Sports Programming Network

Now, you could make the argument as to whether they are ENTERTAINING or not...

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Bill O'Rights

If you don't think that Scrabble is a contact sport...you're just not playing it right.

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It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

Blackthorn

What about Bowling? Or an even better one....the much dreaded CHEERLEADING? These are competitions but are they sports? If you can place a bet on it...I'll usually take odds and the action you've got so call it what you want

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Jesus Malverde

To me, a sport is any game where there is actual defensive personnel. I don't think poker is a sport, but its sure has spread like wildfire over the college aged crowd. Two summers ago, I had never played a single hand of Texas Hold Em, but this summer I there wasn't a week that went by without at least 3 tourneys going on that I would hear of. ESPN shows poker because they know it will get the ratings.

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radioguy

i'm gonna have to say no because it's too passive. sport is all about physicality. there is none in poker.

CheesePizzaMan

There are plenty of things that I can marginally call sports, such as Nascar (leave it alone, I'm entitled to an opinion) or Golf (likewise) that require great amounts of hand eye coordination. I just look at these two events more as games than sports. I KNOW that Golf, at least, requires natural talent and hard training/dedication, but there's just no way that you could make a case to me that it is as challenging physically as playing a game of football, hitting a 95 mph heater, or having to defend Kobe for 30+ minutes.

So, IMHO, poker is a game. Thats it. And I love it but I wish I could have my ESPN back--put it on the Travel Chanel or BRAVO or something.

Lockjaw

Dodgeball is more of a sport. First person shooter video games are more of a sport.
Poker is a game.
Pool is not a sport. Bowling is not a sport. Golf is not a sport. Just because something is difficult skill wise(bowling and Golf) doesn't make it a sport.

LIMilf

I don't think Poker is trying to be a sport, its a game. Thats it. The reason why FSN, ESPN and the Travel Channel is taking advantage of showing Poker right now is because poker is hot right now. A good number are playing every week, and the networks love to take advantage of that. If badmitton some how took off in America, believe me, we would see a lot more of it on TV

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gboz

It seems a little silly watching poker but I know people who know all of their names and follow it fairly closely. I prioritize my time differently.

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darkness1162

poker is a game, not a sport. IT's all a matter of definition. There is nothing wrong with being a game, but I define sport as requiring physical strength and coordination to some degree. I don't count pool as a sport either.

scott_p_1

I don't think I'd consider poker a sport. If it's considered normal to drink scotch and smoke cigars while playing, it's not a sport.

bundy

my opinion is that if you can bet on it... then its a sport.

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Jimellow

Define a "sport", and you shall have your answer.

soloist124

definately not a sport.

la petite moi

Not a sport.

YellowBlaze654

It is definately not a sport. It is a card game. Calling poker a sport would be like calling monopoly a sport.

MikeyChalupa

Poker is not a sport. I disagree with you though, lockjaw. Bowling and Golf are in fact sports. Cheerleading is even a sport. I didn't think NASCAR was a sport for a long time but now believe it can be classified as a sport.

I'm not a fan of any of those things (except cheerleading, and it's really more like I'm a fan of cheerleaders) but just because you don't follow something or aren't a fan doesn't mean it can't be a sport. Or because it's not an olympic event or one of the MAJOR league sports in the USA. To me, the definition of sport is an athletic competition between individuals or teams in an event or game that has a clear rule structure and point system. To me the lack of athletics in poker, combined with the huge element of luck and chance, which don't play as big a part in any "sport" as much as skill, dexterity and/or strength, disqualifies it.

Poker is a game.

-Mikey

canuckguy

you just made a ton of childhood memories come flooding back in! i miss the yahtzee punch ups with my sister.

msf518

No way can poker possibly be considered a sport, but it is a game which can be very mentally taxing and emotionally draining if you are playing against some of the better players. I play online regularly, and if I play for long enough and concentrate on playing for a few hours I become tired and fatigued, like a real sports player would. It is a different type of challenge contrary to when I play a pickup game of basketball with my friends, and is intellecutally benefical to other aspects of my life away from the table. Also, reading other people thoughts and emotions has become a heck of a lot easier to do after playing lots of poker.

he_haha

if poker is a sport, then chess is too