Poker Popular With Czechs

Estimated number of players rises to 200 000 as poker rooms mushroom The Czech Republic has been at the centre of an Internet and land poker boom over the past year, the newspaper Prague Daily Monitor reported this week, revealing that poker venues have proliferated and the national poker player numbers have surged to around 200 000. The newspaper reports that added impetus to the game was given by Czech Jan Skampa's victory at the European Poker Tour in Prague last December (see previous InfoPowa report). Skampa, a 23-year-old student of economics, won the Euro 682 000 main prize. The best Czech poker professionals earn hundreds of thousands of crowns a month, the newspaper claims, whilst others satisfy themselves with several tens of thousands, which is enough to live on comfortably. More than 160 poker clubs have been registered in the Czech Republic, and in the urban centre of Prague some have up to 2 000 members. They have their own rooms to host poker tournaments, whilst casinos offer facilities and the Internet attracts many players.