Can poker become an Olympic sport?

Although the question we ask ourselves would surprise the most purists, the truth is that it does not apply to the eSports community or to those who play poker physically or in virtual tournaments. We are going to see what reasons are used to defend its conversion into an Olympic discipline.

beyond chance

For any discipline to be considered a sport, it has to have some competition and skill and, therefore, not be completely subject to luck. Critics of the IOC considering this game as a sport maintain that poker is a simple matter of luck.

However, they are wrong. At least the International Mind Sports Association is pretty clear on that. For these experts, poker goes far beyond a simple game of chance and is more related to chess than to playing the lottery.

The point these experts support is that to play and win a game of poker requires a great span of concentration and very solid strategy skills. You can win a hand of poker by luck just as you can win a game of football by chance, but neither a game of this card game nor a thirty-game league can be won by luck alone.

The Rise of the Championships

The truth is that the first to realize that poker was more than just a game of chance were those in charge of the best online casinos.

These companies, especially those that operate in the online world, began a long time ago to organize events in the form of tournaments that put the best in the world to compete.

Nobody would think of doing the above with a discipline in which only the luck of each person comes into play, so there was a clear intention behind these tournaments to position poker as a sports discipline.

The same case as eSports?

The curious thing about all those who reject poker is that they are the same ones who say that eSports have absolutely nothing to do with sports. But the opinion of the majority goes in very different ways.

The broadcasts of FIFA tournaments and other video games compete closely with those of LaLiga or UCL matches, so there is interest in the population to follow this type of event. And the same is true of poker, so it is not an exaggeration to say that both disciplines have a lot in common.

Having seen things, the truth is that it does not seem that the IOC is going to include poker in the Olympic Games in a short time. However, the fact that this game is beginning to be considered as a mental sport is essential for its growth and for that of other sectors in which eSports can be counted.