On the 1st of July, 2009, a new law which forced casinos and slot machine halls to close down went into effect. The idea to this new law was brought to life during the time when Vladimir Putin was the president of Russia. Many casinos/slot machine halls already back then started to transform their premises into poker rooms, because poker was classed as a sport, and therefore it was legal to organi[...] Read more » Poker is no longer a sport in Russia
Joined: Jan '08
Location: Germany
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 153
"comparable to what would happen if the whole country were to become alcoholics" - hey its russia, no country in the whole world has a bigger problem with alcoholism, but what does the government do??? oh btw. the loss of the jobs does not really have to do with the status of poker as a sport (it isn't a sport in other countries. too, but despite legal in casinos), all gambling is banned and i guess only a small part of the casino employees has to do with poker
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 401
Illegal poker in Russia is the second worst possible new to people who play at networks like iPoker. I found they were the second most profitable nationality you can have on a table, next to the french.
Joined: Apr '08
Location: Finland
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1613
Russians are loosing players and the russian government doesnt want their money to be shipped to foreign countries via poker(like USA where players are winning) ... i bet France is to follow soon.
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
No think your getting it wrong Davoodoo, yes they are not the best players, but the money stays in Russia (most) as its casinos and outher live venues that will be closed, the likes of the internet stays open, o soon you will see an influx of russian poker players.
@KingEraiser: The official Announcement is that it's still going to be in Moskau, but I don't know how they work it out. I think that it would be wrong to make this big event in a country, where they prohibit the sport itself and only allow the big events to have the prestige...
Joined: May '09
Location: India
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 4873
civilized solution, poker compared to whole country getting alcoholic lol Wht are 400,000 ppl going to do now and what will all the poker players do? first usa, now russia, why can't people leave poker players alone
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 48 (M)
Posts: 81
Well, there is a difference betwen beeing a sport or a casino game. In most countries, like Portugal, it is a casino game, not a sport. And that does not mean it is illegal.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
We can try to understand Putin's way of thinking, but it looks too conservative. Ok, so tobacco causes cancer and it is still free to sell it, so lets prohibite the sell of tobacco to solve the cancer problem - things doesn't work this way. There are other ways to turns addictive products and services more difficult to reach to the global population: tax it, put it more expensive! This way people who continues to play need to have that amount of money, others will have to arrange by each others houses to play "smaller" buy-ins!
First of all, EPT will take place in the Ukraine instead of Moscow The second thing is: this is a war against gambling clubs (in Moscow there were a lot of poker clubs, where different casino games were played) Poker lost his status of "sport" in my country, but it has an opportunity to become sport again or intellectual game. This question is now under analyzing)))
Joined: Mar '08
Location: Australia
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 1158
man the whole world has gone insane.but the truth has been said,the russians do suck at poker and the government wants to keep the moolah. its a conspiracy.
Posted by scl1975: but the truth has been said,the russians do suck at poker
I am not trying to confront, I just wonder what this judgement is based upon. I thought that guys like Kravchenko, Demidov, Gerasimov, Lunkin and others proved that Russians can play poker. And btw, remind me who has won your Aussie Million in 2008? Wasn't it Alexander Kostritsyn?
Joined: Jul '09
Location: Brazil
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 10
I think this all have to do with the money. Instead of showing their fear governments should regulate this activities. But then true comes out... That there is so much money around and the only way to prevent the lost of power is to hide things up. The casinos (and yet politicians) know that very well, I think they just dont want big trouble below their noses... Otherwise they would have to really do some for the people with the massive revenue generated at the gambling centers, they couldnt hide it for so long.
Joined: Jun '09
Location: Argentina
Age: 34 (F)
Posts: 53
Posted by fejset: poker is not a sport its a game.. all you need is some luck..
The poker is a strategy game, is 70% of hability and 30% of luck; if you play a hand with anytwo waiting the luck you lose more than you win. For luck only win a pair of hands, but with hability a good player win much more.
uh no it will be like in hollywood the Eagle on the Table Abused Cards and Amateurs get Fucked from the big Mafia i wait on the first report in TV youll see it
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Serbia
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 116
Ok, for the slots i agree. But why the hell is poker a game of chance!? Same shitty opinion the goverment in Germany shares. Why? BEcause the state doesn't want to loose his monopol on gambling. We live in a democratic country, hahahaha!
its a conspiracy.
no it will be like in hollywood the Eagle on the Table Abused Cards and Amateurs get Fucked from the big Mafia 
