Not all sports are physical in nature, but we often associate sport as something related to strength and stamina. But see, tactical thinking is the universal language of sport. Although the athletic arena is not necessarily a battle of wits all the time, winning involves muscle memory—something that includes the coordination of muscle and mind.
Athletes are always quick to think on their feet. They employ the same skills honed by poker professionals with persistence and a focused mindset. That’s why up to date, the industry is still debating whether tactical games are considered legitimate sports. See, casino patrons are not likely considered “sportsmen”, especially so that most games are done sitting. Its staple games like poker, is sedentary by nature. So naturally, the term “sport” is questionable with the lack of physical activity involved. But since a lot of card sharks are consistently making it at the final tables of major poker tournaments, this just means that skill is more prevalent than luck.
Chess is considered a sport, so why are card games a little different? Is it justified to call the likes of GM Garry Kasparov a sportsman while poker pros like Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson are not? In both tactical games,the key attributes of versatility in adapting strategies, pattern recognition, reading tendencies are used. There are also parallelisms when it comes to their audience wherein the rise of gaming portals gave the public a chance to develop their skills in strategy-related games. Chess gamers can always turn to Online Chess in the same way casino patrons can turn to Castle Jackpot for their poker and casino games. But even with these parallelisms, strategy-based “sports” are still living in the shadow of physical competitions. Luckily, with growing acceptance, we might soon find more of them gracing the sporting world, perhaps even in the Olympics.
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