Since when did playing poker become a sport????

[tonyzackery]

What the heck is this "gaming recreation" doing on "sports" channels?? These wacky Canadian sports channels for whatever reason enjoy broadcasting this stuff.

Gotta be cheap to produce these events, and the price for purchasing the rights to broadcast must be as dirt cheap...On any given day, on the "sports" channels up here I can check out the curling, dart throwing matches, poker tournaments, or perhaps some even more suspenseful 'poker after dark'...

 

[steve]

noun /spôrt/
[COLOR= rgb(118, 118, 118)]sports, plural[/COLOR]

• An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment - team sports such as baseball and soccer
• - a sports center

[*] Entertainment; fun

• - it was considered great sport to trip him up

[*] A source of amusement or entertainment

• - I do not wish to show myself the sport of a man like Williams

[*] A person who behaves in a good or specified way in response to teasing, defeat, or a similarly trying situation

• - go on, be a sport!
• - Angela's a bad sport

[*] An animal or plant showing abnormal or striking variation from the parent type, esp. in form or color, as a result of spontaneous mutation

verb /spôrt/
[COLOR= rgb(118, 118, 118)]sported, past participle; [/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(118, 118, 118)]sported, past tense; [/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(118, 118, 118)]sporting, present participle; [/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(118, 118, 118)]sports, 3rd person singular present[/COLOR]

• Wear or display (a distinctive or noticeable item) - he was sporting a huge handlebar mustache

[*] Amuse oneself or play in a lively, energetic way

• - the children sported in the water

 

[tonyzackery]

LOL! So what's your point, Steve?? Poker supremely fails to fit ANY of those definitions in my book...and yes, entitlement gives me the right to say ONLY my opinion is valid...LOL!

 

[crowbar]

Yeah, it doesn't fit any of those defs. lol. Not a sport, neither is Chess, or video games or eating cheetos watching NASCAR.

 

[FatNuts1983]

They are plastered on the sports channels here in the USA, at least here in Texas where I live. I guess cause sitting at a poker table for an extended amount of time constitutes some sort of endurance. haha

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by crowbar .

Yeah, it doesn't fit any of those defs. lol. Not a sport, neither is Chess, or video games or eating cheetos watching NASCAR.

Actually chess is a physical pursuit believe it or not.

World Championship games sessions last for 5 hours at a time. You need to be in relatively good shape to sit there for 5 hours and be able to concentrate intensively for that period of time.

 

[tonyzackery]

Originally Posted by limerickman .





Actually chess is a physical pursuit believe it or not.

World Championship games sessions last for 5 hours at a time. You need to be in relatively good shape to sit there for 5 hours and be able to concentrate intensively for that period of time.

Yeah, I hear they prep for their tournaments by sitting in front of houseplants and watching them grow for 3hr intervals, take a 5min rest period, and then another 3hr interval. They try to keep their heart rate in the fat-burning zone for as long as possible so as to maintain glycogen stores and finish the set with a 30 minute sprint finale.../img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[Look 566 Rider]

Originally Posted by limerickman .





Actually chess is a physical pursuit believe it or not.

World Championship games sessions last for 5 hours at a time. You need to be in relatively good shape to sit there for 5 hours and be able to concentrate intensively for that period of time.

Poker Tourneys are as long or longer. Depending on number of entrants, tourneys can last days and past the week time span. Each day may be up to 12-13 hours. Poker is a game of strategy, maybe not to the same level as chess, but still...

So think this way. Baseball is a game. So is poker. Badminton is a game. So is poker. Auto racing is just that a race, do we consider this a sport? We can do this all day.

So therefore, I consider poker a sport! Just one guys opinion.

 

[tonyzackery]

I suppose it does take some athletic ability to get out of your seat when you or your opponent goes "all in". LOL!

Driving a racing vehicle takes considerable physical exertion. Please let me know when the same can be said for playing poker. Hmmm, are the poker players experiencing a few g-forces when they check-raise on the "turn"? When you're "on the button", is that the same as being "on the rivet"? LOL!

 

[davereo]

The only sport worth watching is Womens Brazilian Beach Volley Ball. Everything else is just a game.

Just think of what your fantasy line up would look like.

 

[micycles]

which makes poker a sport, I've played in tournaments which have lasted 2+ days doing 12-14 hours per day, it's physically and mentally exhausting. Poker isn't just limited to a few fat degerate players playing drunk online ;-)

Originally Posted by limerickman .





Actually chess is a physical pursuit believe it or not.

World Championship games sessions last for 5 hours at a time. You need to be in relatively good shape to sit there for 5 hours and be able to concentrate intensively for that period of time.

 

[bigpedaler]

Actually, somewhere along the line, "sport" was redefined as a contest to show who, figuratively, had the biggest balls. Not the best skills, but the willingness to "face down" the other.

Soccer and rugby fans are willing to go to war for their teams.

The NBA looks more like a playground than a multi-million-dollar sport.

Pro cycling takes place behind a decrepit pharmacy.

Baseball sits down in front of CONGRESS, FFS!

The NFL 'uncovers' a bounty system for injuring/crippling opposing players.

It's all pushed by suit-wearing sociopaths who prove daily that "everyone has a price".

I'll still watch the NFL, until it gets too deep; did the same with MLB and the NBA, and the pro cycling circuit. None of them ever got a dollar from me from the advertising, anyway, I'm too cheap.

Pedaling still does more for me than all of those.

 

[Nukuhiva]

When people got too fat to get up.

 

[cyclightning]

Poker, aka "the real bills doctrine". Those poker chips are just chips. If I had a car, it would be a Fiat, but who will kritik it ?

 

[tonyzackery]

LOL! A few years on now and I actually watch the stuff and get twisted in knots with the suspense! Who knew?!

 

[djcycling]

Well, time travelling a bit. But, this thread was really fun. Its true, Poker is not sports. I could never get it either. What's wrong with sports channels.

 

[mpre53]

Actually, somewhere along the line, "sport" was redefined as a contest to show who, figuratively, had the biggest balls. Not the best skills, but the willingness to "face down" the other.

Soccer and rugby fans are willing to go to war for their teams.

The NBA looks more like a playground than a multi-million-dollar sport.

Pro cycling takes place behind a decrepit pharmacy.

Baseball sits down in front of CONGRESS, FFS!

The NFL 'uncovers' a bounty system for injuring/crippling opposing players.

It's all pushed by suit-wearing sociopaths who prove daily that "everyone has a price".

I'll still watch the NFL, until it gets too deep; did the same with MLB and the NBA, and the pro cycling circuit. None of them ever got a dollar from me from the advertising, anyway, I'm too cheap.

Pedaling still does more for me than all of those.

You forgot the NHL---where grown men can commit felonious assaults, sometimes with a weapon, without having to worry about being arrested.

 

[Jcycle]

I don't consider it a sport, but until recently I never considered cycling a sport either. Cycling certainly is a lot closer to being a sport than poker is. I think people these days tend to treat any competition as if it is a sport. I admit I was wrong about cycling, but not about poker.

 

[Regalia]

A sport?! Is society today so corrupted and lazy that it threw actual sports under the rug just to make people who sit on their butts for hours a physical activity? Cause moving your arms and fingers calls for medal handouts.