Why Poker Is Less of a Sport Than Scrabble

I went for a run this morning, and luckily, instead of my mind focusing on the pain of running, it wandered off to far and distant lands. I could delve deeper into those thoughts, but I honestly don't think anybody wants that.

Unless a person is a complete moron, everybody should be on the same page that poker is clearly not a sport. A sport takes some sort of physical strain, and even Christopher Reeve considers poker to be a light workout (he's a paraplegic and dead).

Now, I will admit that I am in no way a poker player. I have played before, but I find the game to be incredibly boring, because the game of poker is incredibly boring. I would rather pull out individual hairs from my legs than play poker, because at least then I'd be doing something.

But I don't want to dwell on how boring it is; I want to talk about the lack of skill involved in the game. I think about other competitions that are not sports like chess, scrabble, and hot dog eating, and I realize that you could give me a million shots to beat a world class player, and I would always lose. Meanwhile, if you matched me up one-on-one against the best poker player in the world, there is no way that I can't win at least 5% of the time, and I'm guessing I'd win closer to 20%.

At first glance, this may seem ridiculous, but it's 100% true. If I went all-in every single time, eventually he would have to call, and since I wouldn't give the game any respect, I would refrain from ever looking at my cards. Even if he had a great hand, and my hand was awful, I would still end up winning at least a few of those.

So the next time somebody invites you over to play poker, tell them that it's a loser's game that involves limited skill. Tell them to bust out the Scrabble board instead. It may not be a sport, but at least there's a definitive level of skill involved.

-Joe

P.S. Speaking of games, the new additions to Franchise mode on Madden look pretty awesome. I highly recommend checking out all the new features.

P.P.S. There's so much that I love about this video. I obviously love the content. But I also love that they posted it. The thing I love the most is that whoever is holding the camera is far more concerned about getting a good shot than anyone's well-being.