The Ongoing Question - Is Poker a Sport?

For the last seven seasons the premier sports broadcasting network in the world has been showcasing a game played with cards at a table - not the traditional picture of a sport, as many see it. Yet ESPN has been broadcasting ever increasingly detailed and comprehensive coverage of the World Series of Poker for a long time now, and shows little signs of slowing down. As poker became more and more a game of the masses, even at the high level poker tournaments with prize packages that frequently hit one million dollars or more, more and more of the participants of this game began to call it a sport. Now that online poker has been put on notice by the government of the US, there may be a call to make poker even more like a sport, with leagues and organizations that play for pride and points rather than money. Some industry experts foresee pro poker teams where players are paid a salary to compete for the team.