Poker Boxing
There was once a strange sport that had some legs, at least for a small portion of time. This sport was known as Chess Boxing. If you haven’t heard of it, it is pretty much what you would think it is; half chess, half boxing. The aim was to combine the participant’s whit and athleticism against one another. The poker community took ahold of this concept and replaced the chess portion with poker. It is a pretty seamless change. Poker carries all of the attributes that chess does with it. Both the mental and competitive aspects of chess remain with the swap of poker.
The idea of poker boxing was pushed around when poker star Gus Hansen participated in a boxing match. Hansen lost the match but that is where the idea of poker boxing began. As of now, poker boxing is just an idea but if it ever comes to fruition, it is expected that the rules will be very similar to the current rules of chess boxing.
The rules of chess boxing are as follows:
A full match of chess boxing will consist of 11 rounds. Within those 11 rounds, there will be 5 rounds of boxing and 6 rounds of chess. Players start with chess and alternate each round between chess and boxing. Each round of chess will last 4 minutes and each round of boxing will last 3 minutes. There is also a 1 minute break between every round making the total game time 49 minutes. This is to allow the participants to change in and out of their boxing gear. The players will play by the rules of fast chess. There will likely be a similar time rule in place to ensure that poker is played at a fast pace like it is with chess boxing.
An opponent will be able to win the match early with a knockout, technical knockout or a checkmate. With poker, players would win the match early by obtaining all of the other player’s chips. If the match is not decided when all the rounds are complete, it will be left to the 5 scores of the boxing rounds to determine the winner. One of the differences that poker offers over chess is being able to see who is ahead at any given point. It is logical to assume that poker boxing will incorporate chip count in some way to determine the winner in the event of a full match. The rules are further explained here.
Even though it may not happen, the prospects of poker boxing is exciting for both fans of poker and fans of boxing alike. There is already a rule template in place that is currently being tested as we speak so that is promising. In the meantime, download pokerstars and brush up on your skills at the table so you are well prepared to analyze and maybe even participate in a poker boxing league near you (coming soon?).