Sports betting in a game like Poker involve a socio-economic activity with extensive use of skills to beat your opponents. The definition of a sport is any activity that requires physical exercise and skills where a participant competes against other players to determine the eventful winner. By definition, as a sport, there is controversy as to whether to consider poker as a sport. This is because there is no much physical exercise involved in it, or instead, there is any indication of athletics.
Social-economic activities
Poker, however, satisfies the other half of the definition of a sport as it intensively involves skillful play and there is competition among players. The idea of competing with other players surely ranks poker as having the same socio-economic activities as other sporting activities such as soccer, tennis, etc. It allows for the interaction among different individuals and most importantly fetches a lot of income, thereby fulfilling both the social and economic aspects of sporting activity. Poker gained popularity through the years as from its invention in the 19th century. Moreover, poker has been revolutionized and can poker players can now play poker online. The internet has amassed many poker players, and it has gained popularity as the geographical limitations are solved with the internet.
Poker in sports activities
Whether or not a person considers poker as a sport depends on his/her perception of the events unfolded when playing poker. It is important to note that when playing poker, a player competes against other players and not the house. Poker requires the active application of skills as you are facing fellow human beings and the competition makes poker qualify more like a sporting activity. If poker was being played against the house, then one will be correct to classify poker as being a pure gamble, but there is the social interaction with other players. Another, misconception as to why people would consider poker as being a gamble is that it is normally played at the casinos.
Tournaments
Additionally, just as other sporting activities have seasonal tournaments, poker too is not left out in the race. For example, there is the annual world series of poker which features poker tournaments in Las Vegas, United States. The tournament allows poker players to showcase their prowess in poker and win the grand prizes offered to winners. Poker super lovers do not need to go to the United States to enjoy playing poker. Online platforms such as poker sites, PC and mobile phone applications have enabled poker fans to join in the game and play online poker. Additionally, poker shows excellent resemblance with other games considered as sports such as the billiards. This is because they both require intensive mental activity and little physical activities.
Conclusion
Poker online weighs more to being a sporting activity than gambling due to the reasons given above. Therefore, it fits consideration as a sport. Moreover, poker as achieved the milestone of being a socio-economic activity as there are millions of people from different parts of the world engaging in the game, especially following the invention of online platforms.
Normal
0
21
false
false
false
EN-GB
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Normal Tablo”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”,serif;
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
