Poker, close to become an Olympic sport in 2012

With this decision, the International Opympic Committee will have to acknowledge poker automatically in its list of games of skill, such as chess or bridge. “It is a great advance for poker to achieve the same status than chess or bridge”, said the President of the International Poker Federation, Anthony Holdem.

Maybe we are before a great advance in the fight to legalize poker in those countries in which it is illegal, because COI recognition may be used as a great argument in any new judicial process, defending it as a game of skill different from any other casino game.

It will also allow the opening or maintenance of private poker clubs in countries in which this sport is an exclusive casino game or in which casinos have a monopoly on poker practice, as it happens in Spain right now.

“Poker is not as another casino game. It is a social game, where people play against each other, not against the house, and a game where hability has a bigger role than luck. There are between 120 and 150 million poker players worldwide and we deserve this recognition,” declared Anthony Holdem.

IMSA will organize the World Championship of Mental Sports during the celebration of the Olympic Games London 2012, and poker will be among these sports.