Poker fever is rampant
Why poker is becoming a popular sport
Uncomfortable feeling to confide in a provider of online poker. No matter. Everything goes very fast. Why is everyone leaving the table now? I had just won 30 cents twice in a row. And that with relatively weak blatters. A new table is needed. No problem, there are almost 15 thousand players online. And that in the afternoon at three o’clock. There are ten players at the next table, so it doesn’t take long for six dollars to go into the pot. Pedrofino46 leaves the table after having lost two dollars against my 10 parchment. The cards are in my favor, I bet only on good blattern and win 14 dollars within half an hour. Rough deal.
Poker is popular. Celebrities gamble on stefan raab, james bond no longer plays baccarat in "casino royale", as in the original story by ian fleming, but plays poker against the bosses, DSF broadcasts entire tournaments. Now the sports betting company bwin has entered the business with a casino license from gibraltar and providers from the USA have penetrated the european market. Poker fever is rampant in germany.
The best evidence of the hype comes from accessory dealers, clubs and online casinos. "We more than tripled our sales in the poker segment in 2006," confirms peter warns, managing director of altenburger spielkartenfabrik. During christmas, poker cases with card games and chips were one of the best-sellers in the retail trade.
License to print money
The german poker player association organizes tournaments all over germany, monthly meanwhile over 5.000 male and female players took part. Also the nationally licensed casinos organize regularly pokerevents. Where once one tournament a week was enough, now chips are going over the table four nights a week. On 15. January 2007 starts the open german pokerliga with a qualification tournament into the first season. Only non-cash prizes can be won here.
At the rough on-line poker offerer partygaming it goes around more. At times there are over 70.000 players are logged onto the servers, playing poker for sometimes large sums of money. Last year the company turned over more than $800 million in poker alone, most of it in the U.S. The company pokerstars, through its offshoot partypoker one of the main sponsors of many german poker events, is considered one of the world’s largest privately held gaming companies. Due to the delicate legal situation, the business model is branched out: pokerstars is owned by a costa rican holding company, rational enterprises, but its headquarters are on the isle of man in the irish sea. Securing tax advantages. In order to be able to operate overseas, an online gambling license has been obtained from the kahnawake indian reservation near quebec, canada. The data center there hosts various gambling providers. Indians insist on their right to autonomy, canadian authorities are critical of the activities, and prere from the U.S. Is growing.
The golden age of gambling has been over there since october 2006. Under the SAFE port act (H.R.4954), the UIGEA (unlawful internet gambling enforcement act) was passed, according to which no more financial transactions from US accounts to online casinos are permitted. The consequence: players and providers are drawn to the old world.
In germany, bwin does not allow US burgers at the table. Nevertheless, the accounts are settled in dollars. The conversion within a quarter rose 2006 from 1,9 to 2,7 million euro. All in all, the poker industry in germany is said to have turned over more than 23 million euros in 2006, with growth estimated at 50 percent. Virtual poker rooms make their money by keeping a small amount of money from each pot played, usually five percent.
Poker in brussels
The hustle and bustle is taking place against the backdrop of an uncertain legal situation. Gambling is allowed in germany only in licensed casinos, online poker is therefore illegal. Anyone who offers a gambling game with the possibility of winning money without a license is liable to prosecution. But the virtual gambling houses have their headquarters abroad. No one has yet tried to force them to stop accepting players from germany.
Poker forums are now discussing how to proceed with poker and the state gambling monopoly: is poker a game of chance at all? Despite the possible minimization of the luck factor through experience, finesse and tactics, the distribution of the cards is naturally up to fortuna. Nevertheless, a phenomenon known from skat and backgammon is emerging: in the long run, the better player wins. Only, of course, no one wants to admit that they are not a good player.
Already the addiction researchers specialized in homo ludens are speaking up. With the hype, the logical amption is that the number of people who have problems with the drug poker will also increase. Only laymen are surprised that the state is involved in double standards by warning against gambling on the one hand and earning money from it on the other. This is not different with tobacco and alcohol.
In the meantime, the industry is helping itself with non-cash prize tournaments; for the time being, there is only kassler and hand-circuit announcements for a full house. One hopes for brussels, because there it will be decided whether the german gambling monopoly is compatible with european community right. "It would not be the first case in which europe clearly demonstrates its powers," says markus maul of the association of european betting entrepreneurs (VEWU).
Private matter
More honestly than other TV events, poker shows what the participants care about: money. And more openly than in other "sports" the financial aspect is clearly visible. Apart from the bluff, it is above all the always visible and tangible (game) money that makes poker so attractive. In addition, the participants are surrounded by a touch of "everyman". It seems that everyone can understand the rules of the game. The rest is chutzpah. The fact that the programs are so well received on TV is also due to the introduction of under-glass cameras and the insertion of probabilities for the present blatter. The spectator knows more than everyone at the table.
The most popular poker variant is texas hold’em. Five cards are revealed face up by the dealer. Beforehand, each player receives two cards face down, which he can combine with cards from the five face up to form a hand of five cards – the best combination wins.
In small private rounds poker quickly shows the limit of friendship. Many people only find the game really exciting when the chips represent real euros. In this way, 20 euros are quickly lost in the evening, but sometimes as much as 100 euros. And while the skatkasse is drunk away together at the end of the year, poker debts are to be settled immediately. After the pokerweisheit that one does not play the cards, but the opponent, prevails tense observation atmosphere. Colorful evenings, at which at the table lively one laughs, are rare under these conditions. If you take this idea a step further, poker is private equity in miniature, the stake is short-term venture capital, the participants play grasshopper for an evening. You can like it, but it’s not much fun in the long run.
Meanwhile, television tries to make real stars out of the professional cardholders. The pompous australian toni G, who always makes a point of stating that he is representing his country, the cool lebanese sam farha, who always appears with a dry cigarette due to the smoking ban. And of course the moneymaker, whose dream victory at the 2003 world series of poker is considered by many to be a role model. He qualified via the internet and won $2.5 million after a marathon tournament against more than 800 opponents. Today he earns more as an advertiser. Perhaps this is the news that is so tempting for everyone: anyone can get rich playing poker.
