How similar are cricket and poker?

Are you bowling me a googlie? Are you trying to catch me out with a sudden batting switch to a reverse sweep shot?

This is surely a twister of a question that seems about as trustworthy as a Shane Warne flipper.

Surely the games of cricket and poker are not similar – they’re almost opposite. One is a game… and the other a sport.

Cricket is a ball game that rewards physical abilities and teamwork – poker is an individual pastime, played sitting down and relying on a mix of luck and skill.

Yes, both are hugely popular – but is that where the similarity ends?

Okay, let’s have a closer look…

In a country like India, both poker and cricket are extremely popular across all sections of society and in all regions. Both have presented an opportunity to players from lower income groups to excel and become famous.

Both cricket and poker have created stars from enthusiastic and adept street players – and rewarded them with great wealth and accolades.

Today both the games of poker and cricket can command vast audiences. The top player’s exploits are talked about everywhere and often copied.

Playing poker and cricket

Of course the obvious similarity is that both games require concentration and stamina. Unlike most games, the players need to be focused for many hours.

Illogical decisions and sudden rushes of emotion can be a player’s undoing at either game. Both games are often contested in the mind of the players.

How does a batter behave in the first over? Aggressively taking the initiative from the bowler – or taking care to play into the game first?

Shame Warne was the master of fooling batters. His balls could be a bluff – or an unplayable spinner.

In the world of poker meanwhile, bluff and deception are major strategies too.

What does a player do when he has a weak hand? Fold – or bet high, pretending he has a strong hand?

In some ways it’s no surprise that both games are often likened to chess.

Changes in poker and cricket

Both games have evolved in recent years to have more and more varieties. In cricket there are now all sorts of formats with different rules, from five-day Test Matches to limited games like The Hundred, providing superfast crowd-pleasers.

In poker too there has been a boom in creating new combinations of rules. If you want to play Texas Hold’em it now more popular than ever thanks to its suitability for the online casino world.

Plenty of other varieties are available to play online too – from stud to Omaha. The game is adapting to changing audiences and players.

The players

Cricketers and poker players generally have a steady, constant level of performance. Staying calm helps greatly in both sports.

Practise and experience are crucial factors in success at both cricket and poker.

Players know they won’t always win but they should be constantly watching and learning. That’s the main way players of both games learn to become elite performers.

Many lesser players can practice to get better at both games. This could involve playing in the nets for cricketers or rehearsal hands for poker learners.

Both games can involve coaching sessions from superior players or professional training from online or printed guides. There are increasing numbers of internet tutorials for poker skills.

The rules

Poker and cricket are of course both games governed by a complex set of rules. Outsiders can often be perplexed – but it doesn’t take long to understand the basics.

More important to both games is a set of conventions and informal regulations about how to play. This is part tradition and part sportsmanship.

Cricketers try to be the highest models of professional sportsmen. They are always expected to behave with courtesy and respect to their opponents.

Poker players likewise have to behave with decorum, even in the tensest moments. Aggressive language and hostility is completely frowned upon despite the high stakes.

This is despite the fact that both games often involve bluffing. A poker expert may pretend to have a much stronger hand than reality and persuade others to fold instead of matching their stakes.

Cricketers too can use bluffing in all sorts of ways. A captain may deliberately leave a gap in the field to tempt a batter into a foolish shot or a bowler may disguise their hand position to unleash an unexpected ball.

But in neither game does bluffing extend to cheating. The slightest hint of foul play is totally forbidden in both games.

The final outcome

Both sports are tense and exciting – and are even more so if followers make wagers on the outcome. Poker is all about winning bets – and increasingly cricket is a favourite in the sports betting world.

Look at the career of the charismatic late cricketer Shane Warne. He took an extraordinary 708 test wickets – and also won $71,528 in playing live poker. Other poker-playing cricketers include former England Captain Mike Atherton and Dimitri Mascarenhas, who is equally acclaimed as a limited-over all-rounder and poker tournament player.

Perhaps gaming and sports experts have the final say: they have found people who love cricket are often great fans of poker too.

Both games are considered the ultimate conquest of skill and strategy over blind emotion and foolish bravado.

If you love one of them already, why not try the other? You may love it too!