Poker at the London Olympics

Even after the IOC and IMSA vote, it is unlikely that a definitive answer can be found to the question of whether the card game, which is especially popular online, is a game of chance or a mind sport. Nevertheless, poker is now officially part of the Olympic family. The World Mind Sports Games were initiated by the IOC and IMSA as the third pillar of the Olympic ideal and are intended to take place every four years, like the Summer and Winter Games, in the same year and location as the Summer Olympics. This means poker will make its international debut at the 2012 Olympics and could shed the somewhat negative image associated with games of chance for good.

At the first edition of the World Mind Sports Games, held alongside the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the IOC and ISMA welcomed around 3,000 mind sport competitors from 143 nations as hosts of the event. The exact qualification arrangements and format for the Olympic poker tournament in London have not yet been announced, but international stars of the game are expected to flock to the Tower of London.