Is 'Sportifying' Poker a Good Idea?
It's one of the hottest subjects in poker and has been for many years. When poker was reclassified as a mindsport in 2011, many players, observers and pundits were questioning of that classification. Poker was a game born as a gambling pursuit and forever should it be seen as such, they argued.
Others disagreed and point to the game of poker progressing from the aged romanticism of smoky, underground card games to a neon-lit world more in tune with video games than gamblers.
Should poker be seen as a sport or a game? As is it a good idea to 'sportify' one of the world's oldest card games? We spoke to some of our poker players at this week's 888Poker London Live Festival to find out.
Arron Fletcher: I like the thought of poker being a sport. I definitely feel like I'm a professional and like to think I train like an athlete. I have the same type of work ethic and obsession that they do especially lately.
Andy 'danwhiteninja' Wool: I played for Ipswich Town FC, and was a scratch, county golfer. You can't get away from the fact that poker is gambling, but I hate to call it gambling, being a semi-professional. I like to think I have some control over winning and losing, and I do. Gambling infers a game of luck, fixed odds set against you such as those associated with a game like roulette.
Charles Chattha: In my opinion, it's a sport. In the long run, it's 70% skill, and 30% luck. It's more geared towards a sport.
Marketing the game has become so much more geared towards sport, with advertisements, television and even participants linked with sport for a long time. Footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and even Teddy Sheringham, who has been playing in the Opening Event at this week's 888Poker London Live Festival.
Teddy Sheringham: It's not really a sport, is it? The game has generated from gamblers wanting to play something different. It's not a sport.
Steve Watts: It's so fifty-fifty. You can play it with your mates and it would be recreational and you can play it professionally and it could be like a sport. But it's never going to be in the Olympics, is it?
AF: In my own world, I consider myself a sportsman, but in the real world, it's hard to justify. I'd be more a professional Monopoly player than a hurdler!
Poker was reclassified, but not everyone who plays the game knew that it happened. The International Federation of Poker even held events at the time, including a game of poker where the London Eye was filled with poker players playing the same deal each hand for an orbit. The results indicated a highly skilful game rather than a gambling pursuit.
AF: I much prefer the term mindsport! If chess and backgammon are considered a mindsport, then so should poker be.
CC: The cream always rises to the top. Overall, it's a sport.
What do you think? Do you agree that poker is a mindsport, or will it always be the greatest gambling pursuit on Earth?