Poker As A Sport

Well this is a very controversial issue, but today I do not come to throw in your face the fact that poker is or not a sport, because really both positions: "poker is a sport" and "poker is not a sport "They have enough points in favour and I think that the final answer is quite subjective.

Subjective? Of course, we should first see the definition of "what is a sport?", in my case I agree with this "it is all physical and mental activity that takes place in a competitive way, that follows a regulation and requires previous training", based on this Games such as chess can be considered sports; a mainly mental sport.

We should also clarify the confusion between physical activity and sports, because not every physical activity is a sport. We need the ingredient of competitiveness and another thing that I would like to mention is how much physical wear should there be so that an activity can be considered a sport? In the case of the javelin throw, wear is minimal and almost unmatched by some other Olympic sports.

It is proven (you can investigate by your own) that being part of a poker tournament involves both physical and mental wear, being so many hours under constant pressure and stress can quite affect a person.

Some people argue the factor of chance as something too influential in poker, because on the one hand we can say that unlike other activities here the luck "could end" giving you the victory, in the long term and mainly in the tournaments you do not get to win by luck, in the end, the most experienced and skilled will survive.

If it were a game totally dependent on the chance like blackjack (21) or roulette, there would simply be no tournaments of such repercussion; (Have you ever seen a roulette tournament?)

The majority of the players only play by hobby, but obviously there are people in different parts of the world (not only in the USA) who live professionally in poker and are considered athletes by several institutions; others say that the "betting" factor, which is a concept that is not used in another sport as a real part, makes it an impossible game to be a sport.

There are endless books, videos and material created by players to present their ideas, strategies and other guidelines to understand poker and have the ability to put mathematical probabilities in your favour, it also has a great psychological component and that is mainly seen in the profiles that the players have, it is not the same to see playing "slim yellow" as "Phil Ivey"

Poker is the natural symbiosis in which skill, intelligence and chance mix. But as I told you, the ability has more weight in the balance than luck.

For my part, such as the chess and other games that have come to be considered sports for the competitive level they have, I think poker is being discriminated against although I like that there are institutions that classify poker as a mental sport

I will upvote all the opinions!!