The worldwide poker boom has had very particular consequences in Europe where there are at least a dozen poker hotspots on the tournament schedule (see www.pokerineurope.com), and last month brought things to a head when two behemoths faced off -- the Concord Card Casino in Vienna with the Austrian Masters from the 7th -- 15th May, and the Aviation Club de France with the Paris Open of Poker from the 9th -15th May. A straw pole revealed that most players were confused about which to attend, and Dave Colclough even told me he was planning to get the train back and forth! I kid you not...
The Austrian Masters saw relatively low numbers, and was moved forward by a month compared to 2004. With good weather there are few nicer places to be, but the tour had last visited Vienna for the EPT in early March so perhaps it was too early for a return visit.
The first big event there was the grand-prix style Pot Limit Hold'em, in which players had four attempts to qualify for the championship in super satellites. Players could qualify twice if they to start the main event with 10,000 chips, as opposed to the standard 5,000, which made for some heated debate. It was former plastic surgeon Michael Keiner who took his second win of the week, though a deal was done with Austrians Peter Muhlbeck and Stefan Rap who took second and third.
The Main Event was a E1,000 No Limit Hold'em freezeout, where 69 runners sat down and British based South African Greg Amoils almost pulled off a shock victory but eventually settled for second after business was proposed by the chip leader, Joachim Sanejstra to distribute the E40,000 on offer. Thomas Lamatsch and Thomas Kremser ran the festival smoothly and efficiently and Kremser also revealed that he and Marina Rado (of Late Night Poker fame) are to marry in June in Las Vegas!
The Paris Open of Poker fared better, consisting exclusively of No Limit Hold'em Freezeouts with buyins between E100 and E1,000. This was obviously enough for the locals as, despite the poor turnout of tour players, not a single field was below the hundred mark and an impressive 162 runner played the main event which was won by Irish master Frank Callaghan for E48,200 with Ouri Cohen second for E25,610.
These kinds of problem comes as no surprise given the announcement of so many new events in the past year, and event organizers have been encouraged to check the tournament schedule and make enquiries before announcing new dates. A good example of how this can work out was seen in April, when the Torneo di Poker in Slovenia and the Italian Poker Championships in Jesolo were arranged to run back to back to the benefit of both events. On the second day of the event held in Jesolo, a secluded beach resort just outside of Venice, car loads of players turned up raring to go after a two hour drive from Nova Gorica, and the Park Hotel Brasilia, a stunning four star hotel located right on the beach, didn't disappoint.
Upcoming tournament director Ian James headed up the event, and was responsible for showing enough flexibility to head off a potential clash, being rewarded with a healthy turnout. The moral of the story? Perhaps operators in one area should regard each other as allies, rather than enemies -- after all what better news is there for a jetlagged poker player to hear nowadays that that he can play two festivals in one area on consecutive weeks?
