For the second year in succession, Dublin has beat London to the desirable title of ‘Europe’s Poker Capital’ as voted by the leading European poker magazine ‘Bluff’. The home of the famous “Irish Open”, Dublin has always been a preferred location when it comes to poker tournaments. Philip Conneller, editor of ‘Bluff Europe’ commented that there has always been close competition between London and Dublin, yet Dublin has proved to be the better contestant with its variety of Card Clubs and the overwhelming enthusiasm shown in the game, with special mention of the card rooms which are player friendly!
The Irish have such a great passion for the game of poker which is not felt elsewhere and their sense of fun and fair-play adds so much of essence to the game, leave alone their involvement and commitment to the game. London cheerfully accepted the second place closely followed by Vienna, Tallinn and Galway respectively. London received equal praise for its venues, tournaments and for the astounding growth of pub poker in the city especially over the past years.
The leading European poker publication intentionally did not cover countries strict laws prohibiting gambling, as they felt that these restrictions dampened the spirits of the players and limited the public’s enthusiasm toward the game. ‘Bluff’ also did not include cities which were known for exploiting players through unfair rakes, their emphasis was mainly on rewarding cities for the priceless value they place on the popular poker game of cards.
‘Bluff Europe” is aimed at the poker fans and is the most widely read poker magazine in fact the largest in the UK. The magazine is seen distributed throughout card rooms, poker clubs, online poker casinos and on all newsstands in the UK. 2009 is a milestone for poker as it marks the 3rd anniversary in the park which is scheduled to be held in Leicester Square where nearly 15,000 poker fans will participate in free poker tournaments and hone their poker skills through free lectures and free games.