“TEXAS HOLD’EM, one of the scores of variations on poker, is today the most popular form of the card game in the world. It’s played everywhere, from the neon-streaked sands of Las Vegas to the back bar of the Jubilee Hotel in uptown BrisVegas. Across Australia, some 500,000 people fight it out in venues each week: bowls clubs, footy clubs, RSL clubs, worn-out pubs and mock taverns – there’s a game around every corner.
Entries categorized as ‘Australia’
Players all in for new Pokerdome (Australia)
July 25, 2007 · Leave a Comment
“The poker juggernaut that is currently holding the Western world captive continues to build momentum: this week’s conquest, Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.
The Texas hold’em poker craze will tighten its grip on Sydney with the opening of the city’s second “Pokerdome” at a refurbished Coogee Randwick RSL on July 27.
Categories: Australia
Cheats set to sour poker fun (Australia)
July 10, 2007 · Leave a Comment
“Poker game laws are under review in NSW because of an explosion in player numbers, sky-rocketing jackpots, allegations of cheating and the arrival into pubs and clubs of foreign gambling interests.
The speed of poker’s growth – close to 400,000 members joined poker leagues in less than 18 months – is said to be only the beginning of the phenomenon.
Categories: Australia
High stakes in the suburban poker boom (Australia)
July 6, 2007 · Leave a Comment
“The poker craze has led to calls for some rules to be applied before more novice players get their fingers burnt, writes Deborah Cameron.
When it comes to business cards, hers is an ace. She draws it out slowly, holds it face down and then deftly puts it on the table where it reads, Rosie “Royal Flush” Fiorentino. Obviously, it’s about poker.
“I love the feeling that I have outplayed all of the boys at their game,” says Fiorentino, savouring how it is to win all the chips, as she has done in Sydney at least a dozen times.
Categories: Australia
Poker craze coming to SA (Australia)
June 11, 2007 · Leave a Comment
“Texas Hold ‘Em – the poker phenomenon that’s become a TV hit – is coming to Adelaide pubs.
The National Poker League will start free Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments in South Australian locals from the end of this month.
No money will change hands during the free social, knock-out games, which amateurs and professionals can enter.
Instead, players will use “non-value” chips and accrue points to win prizes including overseas trips and cars.
Similar tournaments have been run in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania for the past 18 months.
More than 80 Adelaide venues have expressed interest in hosting the “free-roll” tournaments and National Poker League director Garry Nicholson expects that number to exceed 100 by the end of this month.”
Categories: Australia
Teens becoming hooked on poker (Australia)
May 29, 2007 · Leave a Comment
“Popularised by blockbuster movies such as Casino Royale, Texas Hold’Em tournaments and games around the kitchen table are sparking concerns that poker could soon rival slot machines as a source of problem gambling.
Studies have shown that one in five high school students is gambling on card games, wanting to emulate players in televised celebrity poker tournaments and Australia’s World Series champion Joe Hachem.
Welfare groups including Uniting Care Wesley fear young men could fall into the trap of gambling vast sums of money in hotel poker tournaments and in the unregulated home gaming industry…”
Herald Sun (05/28/07)
Categories: Australia
