With a viewership of 2 billion people, the Olympics is the third most-watched sporting event on the box behind the FIFA World Cup (3.5 billion) and the Tour de France (2.6 billion).
But the Olympic movement has a problem.
Despite close to a third of the population expressing an interest in the event, data gathered by Nielsen shows that the median age of viewers has risen from 45 in 2000 to 53 in 2016, and folk aged between 18 & 34 had dropped by 30%.
The Olympics need new blood, and that’s good news for poker, with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) crazy enough to take a look at events like rolled up sock football, kerby, and hide and seek.
Poker and The Olympics?
The likelihood you will see a form of poker in the Olympics by the time a mortician is stuffing your eyeballs back into your socket to make you presentable for your open coffin hoorah is quite high, but it won’t be the poker you want to see.
Back in November 2017, several media sources went to print that the IOC recognised Esports as a potential Olympic sport and that it would be on the list of full medal events at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, but it seems that the idea is now in the garbage can, after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) took it off the menu because Esports don’t have a unified international federation.
Poker does, but not in the No-Limit Hold’em, Fedor Holz, World Series of Poker sense of things.
The only recognised international federation in poker is the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP). Born in 2009, those behind the alliance have done everything in their power to make Match Poker (a form of poker played live on electric devices where everyone has the same hand) an Olympic sport. Last winter The Global Associaton of International Sports Federations (GAISF) handed Match Poker ‘Observer Status’, meaning the game is one step closer to becoming a bona fide Olympic sport.
But does anyone care?
Does Anyone Care That Poker Could Become an Olympic Sport
Last week, Rahul Sood, CEO of the Esports sports-betting outfit, Unikrn, had some interesting thoughts on the Olympics. It seems clear to me that Esports is likelier to beat poker to the honour of becoming an Olympic sport, and when it does, the likelihood that poker follows suit increases, so what Sood has to say is worth a listen.
By Rsvdhd (talk) – self-made, CC BY 3.0, Link
Sood told Reuters in an email interview that he believes the IOC needs Esports more than Esports needs the IOC.
“It’s extremely unlikely top athletes would choose the Olympics over top esports events, said Sood before continuing. “It’s misguided, or egotistical, of mainstream culture to think the Olympics are somehow a greater honor than The International, Worlds or a CS:GO (Counterstrike) major.
“Esports athletes haven’t been playing for years, sometimes over a decade, putting everything into a grind to win a gold medal. They’ve been doing it to win the top title in their game.”
Sood makes some good points, but the weak link in his argument is a lack of input from the players themselves. It got me thinking about poker players. If poker was successful in its bid to become an Olympic sport (and Fedor Holz, Alex Foxen, and the likes can play Match Poker), and let’s say hypothetically, the games clashed with the WSOP (they wouldn’t), would a high stakes poker player choose to win a gold bracelet or a gold medal?
Partypoker ambassador, Philipp Gruissem, is more than just a high stakes poker player. The German star is an effective altruist, meaning he plays poker to earn money to reduce suffering in the world, and yet, Gruissem would still choose the Olympics over the WSOP.
“I would choose the Olympics,” said Gruissem. “There is so much energy and intensity in Olympic competitions. I would love to experience that…we love the intensity of high stakes poker, but the Olympics is one of the few things that provide more intensity.”
Gruissem isn’t the only German high stakes star who would choose the Olympics. The 2017 Poker Masters winner, Steffen Sontheimer, said, “It’s not even close.”
“The WSOP has no special meaning for me,” said Sontheimer. “It’s “just” a pure EV-calculation. The Olympics are one of the biggest things for me. To participate and to spend two weeks with all the other great people would mean the world to me.”
What about the other nations around the world, do they share the same view as the Germans.
It seems they do.
Sergio Aido has won close to $8.3m playing high stakes live events, and the Spaniard said:
“I would love poker to be an Olympic sport, and I think that would be very positive for The game. My main motivation in poker is money, but this would be a clear special case.”
Bryn Kenney has a WSOP bracelet amongst his many trinkets and trophies, so would he exchange that feeling for the chance of Olympic gold?
“Yes I would because I’m all about the glory and being the best at what I do. I never thought about the money; just the love of the game and competition.”
And the Brits?
After spending 25-consecutive weeks at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI), amassing close to $19m on live tournament earnings, and winning the US Poker Open, Stephen Chidwick, is still missing a WSOP bracelet, but that wouldn’t stop him skipping the event to compete in the Olympics.
“There are like 80 chances a year to win a WSOP gold bracelet and only one chance every four years to win an Olympic medal,” said Chidwick. “Also, having the chance to meet elite performers in all kinds of different fields would be really fun…and likely in a nicer location than the Rio.”
Even the part-timers seem to agree.
“I would choose the Olympics if I thought I had any chance of a medal,” said the CEO of Meditor Capital Management, and avid poker fan, Talal Shakerchi. “I guess I see that as more of an achievement.”
And sometimes, just sometimes, competing in the Olympics isn’t only about the medal.
“I’d definately skip the WSOP for the Olympics if only to put “Olympic athlete” in my Twitter bio,” said the Triple Crown winner, Niall Farrell.
It seems the answer is unanimous.
If the Olympics clashed with the WSOP, then the games’ elite would choose medals over bracelets.
How about you?
What would you choose?