International Olympic Committee set to support poker as skill game

International Olympic Committee set to support poker as skill game

Thursday, 25 February 2010

The International Federation of Poker will be accepted as a member by the International Mind Sports Association in April. What this means is that the International Olympic Committee will add poker to a list of games including chess and Go - skill games.

Don't get too excited - it's not going to be a new part of the decathlon in the Olympic games (but how awesome would that be?) however it will be a hefty blow to the argument in US courts that poker is a game of luck.


"Poker is not like other casino games," says noted poker author and IFP head honcho Anthony Holden. "It's a social game where people are playing against each other, not the house, and a game where skill plays a bigger role than luck. There are 120 to 150 million poker players in the world and we deserve this recognition."


Holden is the author of two best-selling poker books; Big Deal and Bigger Deal, chronicling the events of two WSOP main events, past and modern.



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