Date Posted: May 18, 2011
Print Edition: May 13, 2011
By Jennifer Colbourne (The Cascade) – Email
Despite the fact that poker is featured on sports TV channels and sports bars, many deny poker its rightful place as a true sport. It is just a “mere” gambling game, a game that belongs in a casino, not the athletic field, gymnasium, or arena. However, the time has come to give poker its rightful due as a game requiring all the skills of an athlete.
For starters, poker is more than a game of luck. Sure, luck plays an important part in what cards are dealt, but so too does luck play a role outdoors on soccer fields or in a tight game of hockey. It’s what a player does with his hand, with the opportunities he is faced with, that matters. Poker is a game of strategy as much as football; the play depends on adjusting to constantly changing conditions. It requires quick wit, cunning, and flexibility. Poker players need to keep on their toes, to be 100 per cent alert and ready for action.
On that note, further unlike a game of pure chance, success in poker requires talented players. There are no “slots” champions; it is the skill of a player that takes them to the top just like with any other athlete in a professional sport. Poker champions are heroes too, and like other sports stars, they make obscene amounts of money. There is a wide divide between the professional and the amateur; it takes blood, sweat, and tears to become a winner.
And while some may be tempted to rule out poker as a sport because it’s missing athleticism, such a criticism couldn’t be further from the mark. Poker requires utter control over the body. A successful poker player must learn total discipline of the body, refusing the slightest twitch to cross his or her face, keeping the hands completely steady, and ensuring a proper posture that isn’t too relaxed or too tense. The body is also used as a weapon; the poker player subtly manipulating and misleading the other players by faking reactions to the table. By the end of a game, often a poker player ends up as soaked in sweat as any other professional athlete would after a tough match.
Lastly, like any other sports event, poker draws an audience. This may be why TV and sports bars are ahead in recognizing poker as a sport. It holds within it all the intensity of a breathtaking game of hockey; the rising stakes for winning and losing constantly increase everybody’s excitement and anticipation. Poker is more than just a game. It’s a real sport. Maybe one day the world will finally recognize its value and make it an Olympic event. It might not happen in the near future, but if dancing around with a ribbon counts, so too should high-stakes poker.
