World Cup, World Series of Poker: Two Big Sports

The Washington Post this past weekend reported on how the FIFA World Cup and World Series of Poker will be running simultaneously throughout most of June and part of the month of July.

"Technically, poker is not a sport; it's a game. And, of course, in many parts of the world, soccer is not a sport; it's a religion," writer Norman Chad of the Post contends.

Chad compared the two "sports".

Watching from home - Poker is much easier because of the relative small space in which the game is played, according to Chad.  Soccer is played over a much wider space. 

He's right in the regard only Gambling911.com believes that the World Cup is very easy to watch regardless of the field size.

He also points out that "The World Cup is about national pride and bringing home soccer's world championship. The WSOP is about personal pride and -- in the case of the Main Event -- bringing home maybe $10 million."

Certainly the World Cup is about national pride, but as Gambling911.com reported Tuesday evening, the Brits are already ecstatic over the fact that three of their representatives have taken home WSOP bracelets in the past week.  And in recent years the World Series of Poker has been played up as a competition between players of varying nationalities. 

This is a good one and so true: "The World Cup has the likes of Pele and Diego Maradona; the WSOP has the likes of Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu. But soccer players, like most athletes, eventually get too old and retire. Poker pros never retire, they just buy more chips."

Patrick Flanagan, Gambling911.com