Yes, Poker is a SPORT

Guest View: Poker goes from painted dogs to TV dorks

The rest of this RIDICULOUS and INCORRECT article is found here...

First let's take a look at the DEFINITION of the word SPORT...

Wikipedia's definition is as follows: A sport consists of a physical activity or skill carried out with a recreational purpose: for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill, or some combination of these. A sport has physical activity, side by side competition, and a scoring system. The difference of purpose is what characterises sport, combined with the notion of individual (or team) skill or prowess. This definition can be found here...

Also from Wikipedia:

Mind sports A.K.A. Mental-Skill Game

Sports that require little or no physical abilities (see also board games).

• Bridge
• Chess
• Checkers (draughts)
• Poker
• Go
• Scrabble
• Shogi
• heksup
• Dominoes

Let's look at an INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION - International Mind Sport Association (IMSA).

On the occasion of Sportaccord held in April in Berlin, Germany,

- The World Bridge Federation (WBF), represented by Mr. J. Damiani, President
- The International Chess Federation (FIDE), represented by Mr. G. Makropoulos, Deputy President and Mr. D. Jarrett, Treasurer
- The World Federation of the Draughts Games (FMJD), represented by Mr. W.van Beek, Vice-President
- The International Go Federation (IGF), represented by Mt. E. Puyt, Vice-President and Mr. R. Yamamoto, General Manager

met together under the aegis of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).

Mr. Marcos Breton of The Sacramento Bee claims that POKER is not a SPORT, but he didn't even bother to look up the definition of the word SPORT. Just a little homework would have saved this writer wannabe a whole lot of embarrassment. He certainly loves to use colorfully offensive words to attack Poker and it's followers, obviously he has either no luck, skill or both, and probably lost his ass in a poker game, once.

The fact that a player liked to sip a little beer in a tournament, he twists into a phrase of attack "booze-swilling louts"

Another fine depiction of his is to classify poker programs shown on ESPN, FOX, and BRAVO as "All of a sudden, at all hours of the day and night, we're seeing corpulent, pasty guys with bad skin and bad attitudes hunched around sleazy tables like derby-wearing mutts in a dime- store painting." Personally, I think the man needs some prescription glasses.

More asininity... In one statement he says "Who are these people? Better yet, who cares? Why are they on my TV screen? Why are they in my paper? What does it say when poker ratings on ESPN are almost as high at 3 a.m. as they are during waking hours? That's right, poker is watched by the thousands across America in the dead of night." and in the next statement he says "Poker now draws more than 1 million households per viewing, a staggering achievement of programming muscle, considering it is a sedentary game played at a table - like Parcheesi." Uh...Parcheesi...another MIND SPORT!, probably his mind couldn't handle that game either. And 1 million households per viewing, that's who cares!

If he doesn't want to see poker on HIS TV, the he should change the channel and if it's truly HIS newspaper, the he should have HIS editor(s) not print the poker news, else he should shut the hell up and find another section to read!

And guess what buddy, those "TV dorks" make a hell of a lot more moeny than you. By the way, Marcos, do you think that unfilteres cigarettes are any worse than the filtered ones or even the lights? Get a grip on reality!