[NickMPK]

I think poker playing is much closer to something like hedge fund managing than professional sports. Professional athletes are paid as entertainers...the amount of money they can make depends on ticket sales/TV right contracts/sponsorship revenue from third parties. They are not making money off the other players (except for golf/pool hustlers).

Poker players are not entertainers, because the poker game would still exist without the professional players. Tournaments like the PPT and PPL were trying to turn poker into more legitimate professional sports, but they appear to have failed so far.

Hedge fund managers make money for themselves and clients by locating inefficiencies in market without actually promoting productive activity (e.g. buying and shorting a stock at the same time). I think that is a better analogy.