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Federation of Sports Poker

News / Poker - it's our way!

24 April 2007 15:04

Russia became the first country to recognize the ancient card game as a sport

The decision of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports to recognize poker as a sport caused a mixed reaction in society. One point of view: poker is not a sport at all, but an ordinary game of chance, no different from roulette and a slot machine. Another one is long overdue! Let's try to figure it out.

What kind of game is poker?

     First of all, you need to determine the subject of the dispute. What game exactly are we talking about? There is poker against the casino: the player is up against a dealer, whose actions are subject to strict rules. In this game, poker combinations are taken into account - four of a kind, straight, two pair. The less likely a combination is, the more the casino pays for it. Strictly speaking, this is not really poker. The casino has adapted the game to its requirements: the dealer acts like a machine - nothing depends on him.
     Real poker is a game between people, where there is rivalry, psychology, mathematical calculations, and bluffing. In this game, people compete with people - in skill, in the ability to calculate options. We call this version of the game club poker - just to distinguish it from playing against the casino.
     Over the past 30 years, club poker tournaments have become widespread. These tournaments have a great sporting component: all participants are given an equal number of chips, and they compete for the prize fund. If you lose your chips, you're out. Everyone is on an equal footing.
     You can’t just take chips and exchange them for money at the cash register. For example, the entry fee can be one hundred dollars, for which you will be given one and a half thousand chips. Or by five thousand: the number of chips determines the duration of the tournament, more chips means a longer game. You can often find tournaments with free participation (free roll). There the prize fund is provided by the sponsor.
     Hundreds of tournaments are held around the world: from the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas to club tournaments in almost all European cities. The prize funds of the most significant ones are amazing. Along with individual tournaments, team and women's tournaments are held. There is even an Association of Poker Tournament Judges, which considers refereeing problems, adjusts the rules, and acts as an appeal committee in controversial situations. There are at least a dozen poker associations and federations in the world, both national and international.
     Considering the above, the question of recognizing poker as a sport at least had a right to exist. It was submitted for consideration by the Rossport board on March 16 of this year at the request of the Poker Federation. And the board granted the request. Ten days later, this decision was formalized by order of Vyacheslav Fetisov...

     Arkady ARKANOV, a fan of poker tournaments:
     — What if the casino came up with a game using chess pieces? Would chess cease to be a sport? The game should not be considered and classified according to the principle of whether it is played for money or not. This path will lead us to a dead end. Today they play football, tennis for money... The prize funds of sports competitions do not surprise anyone. And the fees of great athletes too. This money is a measure of recognition of the merits of these outstanding people...
     Gambling is a game based on chance. This is roulette, toss. But chess cannot be called a game of chance. You can’t even call it bridge or preference. Poker is a great game! And it is absolutely indisputable that success in poker depends not on luck, but on skill. And I dream of learning how to play poker so that I can win a big tournament. This summer I want to try my hand at the World Championships in America.

Alexander ABDULOV, President of the Moscow Federation of Sports Poker:
     - About my relationship with poker, I can say that I fell in love with this game at first sight. It has everything needed for people to compete. Whether in knowledge of mathematics, or in the refinement of intuition, or in understanding human nature and the ability to understand the psychology of the enemy. As an actor, I've developed a habit of getting into character, and it helps me at the poker table.
     Can poker be considered a sport? Undoubtedly! You may be lucky in the short term, but you will never become a winner if you do not have the necessary qualities of a fighter, mathematician, analyst, psychologist. If I did not consider poker a sport and a worthy hobby, I would never have agreed to lead the newly created federation. Anyone who talks about poker as a game of chance may have simply not understood the basic idea of ??sports poker! These are tournaments. People do not lose money, do not play against the dealer, but fight among themselves for prize money.
     As a citizen, I believe that the wise and wonderful game of poker is a wonderful alternative to slot machines and roulette. And I wholeheartedly welcome Rossport’s decision to recognize poker as a sport.

Pavel PORTNOY, Chairman of the organizing committee of the bridge tournament “Glory Cup-2007”:
- Jose Damiani, President of the World Bridge Federation, came to Moscow as an honored guest and participant in the “Glory Cup” tournament. I personally had several meetings with Mr. Damiani in an informal and friendly atmosphere. “It would be very good if poker joined the movement of intellectual sports,” he emphasized. “There are all the prerequisites for this.” I find the emergence of duplicate poker especially interesting...”

From behind the hill

     Russia is the first country to recognize poker as a sport at the state level. The recognition of poker as a sport in Russia brought down an avalanche of congratulatory letters to the Russian Sports Poker Federation. The entire poker world, the top figures in this horizon, the brightest stars considered it their duty to share their joy and congratulate the Russians on such an unexpected and joyful event.
     It is enough to list such names as Robert Daly, director of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Doyle Brunson, a poker legend, two-time world champion and the strongest poker player on the planet. Their letters awaken in me the pride of a Great Russian.
     “Now I’ll definitely come to Russia to play poker” (actress Jennifer Tilly). “I would dream that the American Senate would borrow at least one page from Russian legislation” (Doyle Brunson).
     Such words from the mouth of a Yankee sound like music...

What is recognized as a sport?

     Only poker was recognized as a sport, in which people play against each other, and not against a gambling establishment. A competent game of poker is based on logic and mathematical calculation of various probabilities and chances. As in any intellectual game, of the two opponents, the one who goes deeper into the enumeration of possible actions and calculates their consequences will always win.
     Our compatriots have already earned recognition in the world poker arena. Kirill Gerasimov won the prestigious international tournament in Barcelona, ??Alexander Kuzmin won the Paris tournament, Nikolai Losev won the tournament in Vienna. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, once the first racket of the world, today became interested in a new sport - poker. And he also won a prestigious tournament in London.
     One can only dream that tournaments like those in Las Vegas, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona would be held in Moscow and Novosibirsk - with the same success, in the same festive atmosphere and with the same number of guests and participants.
     Today, poker has deservedly taken its place among the greatest and most recognized games of mankind (and the most popular, which is important) along with chess, bridge, backgammon, and billiards. I actually believe that the state, represented by the leaders of Rossport, showed wisdom in recognizing this game as a sport and providing its development with state support.
     I care what games my grandchildren play. I would be sad if the most intellectual fun for them was to pull the handle of a machine gun. And if they chose bridge and poker, I would be happy.
     At one time, Boris Shapiro, an American of Russian origin, achieved a golden double: he became the world bridge champion twice - once in 1938, and the other in 1998, with a difference of 60 years. The first time he was 30 years old, and the second time he was 90. Such a fate can be envied. A 90-year-old man does not spend his time in a shelter for abandoned, powerless old people, but goes to the World Championship, and, moreover, wins it.
     Anyone who plays bridge is not afraid of Alzheimer's disease. Brain cells engaged in intellectual play or other strenuous work do not atrophy. The same can be said about poker players. Everyone chooses their own old age.
     In conclusion, I would like to show the reader a reproduction of an old moralizing engraving: playing cards, dice and... chess are flying into the fire of an auto-da-f? under the accusatory speeches of a formidable old man in a monastic guise. Humanity is changing its views on the nature of sin. Chess received recognition some hundred years earlier than poker...
     And I also think that our descendants will judge us. Perhaps the recognition of poker as a sport will be given to Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Fetisov no less than the Stanley Cup.

Dmitry Lesnoy