How Poker is Played in Europe:
Poker is usually referred as an American game, but it is also played in various forms in every European country. In the last years, a steady growth of poker popularity and legalization of public poker was registered in Europe. Each European country has its cultural peculiarity which is also reflected in poker. So, poker played in every European country has its own local quirks.
Poker in Spain:
In Spain, for example, poker was recently legalized in Catalonia. It was quite expectable that the authorities of the country where gambling is legal and popular, would finally allow the casinos to have poker rooms. Although Spain has produced one of the World Series of Poker champions, Carlos Mortenson, there are still quite few poker rooms there. Actually Gran Casino Barcelona and Castell de Peralada Casino are the only two reputable facilities that have poker rooms for today.
The legalized poker in Spain, however, has a couple of surprising features. One of them is a rule dictated by the authorities which insists on dealing classic poker games like Holdem and Omaha in the counter-clockwise direction, as it is done in the native hybrid version called Synthetic Poker. The other thing is a small blind on the button, which has no influence because the button always acts first. However, after a hand or two it is not difficult to get used to this alternations, and with the whole mess associated with the opening of new poker rooms no one seems to notice. The games offered at these new venues are Holdem and Omaha at 10-20 Euro limit and a weekly session of no-limit variants of these games.
Poker in Baden, Switzerland:
In Baden, Switzerland, there is a recently open poker room in the Grand Casino. The citizens of this country apparently are very rich, because the smallest limit there is 30-60 Swiss Franc, which is equal to 20-40 dollars.
Poker in Malma, Switzerland:
In Malmo, Sweden, the games are not so expensive. 10-20 Euro tables are a common thing. Holdem and Stud are offered and tournaments are run once in a while. Another Swedish poker room is about to open this summer at Gothenberg. Public poker has only been legalized in Sweden this year, but there are several private poker clubs, including Kortoxen Club in Stockholm, which run poker games for years. No one can tell for sure whether these clubs were or were not legal, but taking the precaution, the citizens of this country used to fly to Marbella, Spain to play their national championship.
Poker in Ukraine:
Another country where public poker was legalized this year is Ukraine. The first casino to open a poker room in this country is Mirald Casino in Kiev. The management of the casino seeks to replicate the most progressive poker rooms in Europe. The opening is planned to occur this autumn with an opening tournament directed by an outside director Stasko Stibilj from Slovenia.
