IFP President Patrick Nally talks to Marco Brambilla, Italian senior reporter of That’s Poker News – TPNEWS.IT, about match poker, the Nations Cup, rankings and TV coverage.

F.I.G.P (our Italian member nation) is working very closely with the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) towards the acceptance of poker as a mind sport in Italy.

Read the 2nd part of the interview here – http://tpnews.it/mind-sport-poker-mente/il-match-poker-liquidita-nations-cup/11122

IFP’s Serbian member nation, Poker Savez Srbije (PSS), has launched the poker league of Serbia for 2014.

Supported by their sponsors – BalkanPokerStar, Poker Savez Srbije have organized 7 Tournaments (from 10th to 16th March) plus 1 Final Tournament, which is part of the European Poker Tour Vienna. The best ranked player will participate in this competition – the European Poker Tour in Vienna.

For future competitions, they have scheduled the Spring, Summer and Autumn leagues. The finalists of these leagues will join Poker Team Serbia, that will represent their country at international competitions organized by IFP.

Alongside the Serbian Poker League, they will host an “Open Poker School”, with more than 300 online poker tournaments, for all members willing to upgrade their skills needed for success in the game of poker!

The Israeli Poker Union had organized its first-ever legal Match Poker tournament in Israel. The tournament was held in the center of Israel, and 6 teams of 6 players participated in this unique event.

Before the event was carried out, the Israeli Union had send an official letter to the Head of the Israeli Police, stating that the tournament will have no entry fee, and no cash-prizes in the end, which makes the tournament legal according to the Israeli law. The Israeli news-papers quickly posted about the “gamble” of the Israeli Poker Union, little do they know/understand about the difference between gambling & taking well-thought risks.

2 sessions, each combined of 30 Match Poker hands, were played. The Israeli team tried some mixed strategies in the 1st session in order to prepare itself for the Nations Cup Finals, and found itself behind the Women Team in that session, a gap that could not be closed until the end of the competition!

Many Israeli celebrities came to play including comedians, sports reporters and many more. The beer was for free, the environment was very happy & friendly and everybody was extremely excited about this new and promising format of poker.

The tournament was televised and will be broadcasted in the biggest TV channel in Israel, Channel 2 News, alongside with a big story about the Israeli Poker Union and its quest for promoting Poker as a game of skill.

Stas Tishkevich, the head of the Israeli Poker Union seemed very happy during the event, bringing “poker trash talk” to the table, exposing his opponents’ leaks and player types. Stas said that this is only the first tourney, and that there will be many more tournaments to come, among which is Israel’s Woman Championship.

A player from the Stock Exchange Team was quoted saying:

“When I play poker I compete, when I work I gamble on money”.

Hadas Wilf, the female representative of Team Israel said:

“The women team took 1st place because asides from being very good players, we also have a strong & healthy intuition”.

Check out their official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ILPokerIL/

IFP’s Spanish member nation, IF Poker de Espana (IFPE), has partnered with Marca to launch a poker league across Spain.

Along with Marca, a Spanish national daily sport newspaper owned by Unidad Editorial, IF Poker de Espana launches the ‘LIGAPOKERMARCA’ or Marca Poker League. This poker league will consist of two phases – the first will be played online and serve as qualifiers with the second phase involving live poker being played in casinos across the country.

The Poker La Liga will have 12 stages of online play held from 7 to 22 April 2014. On qualifying through the online league phase, live events will be held from April 26 to June 1. There will also be a period of online playoffs from April 28 to June 1 for those that missed out on participating the first time.

Qualify via the online events to play live satellites that will lead to the final, to be played at the Casino Gran Madrid on 7 and 8 June, where the top eight ranked fight over the following big prizes:

  • WINNER: Package to the main event of the WORLD SERIES OF POKER (WSOP) 2014.
  • SECOND: Stay and entry to the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona 2014.
  • THIRD: Stay and tickets for three tournaments (including the main event the ESPT) of EPT Poker Festival of Barcelona celebrated after mid August 2014.
  • FOURTH: Stay and tickets for two tournaments (including the ESPT) of EPT Poker Festival of Barcelona 2014 .
  • FIFTH: Stay and entry to the STAR POKER TOUR (ESPT) of Barcelona 2014.
  • SIXTH: Stay and entry to the ESPT of Barcelona 2014.
  • SEVENTH: Entry to the ESPT of Barcelona 2014.
  • EIGHTH: Entry to the ESPT of Barcelona 2014.

Official website of the Poker La Liga – http://poker.marca.com/

 

IFP’s Italian member nation, Federazione Italiana Gioco Poker (F.I.G.P), has recently collaborated with Em@ney, an electronic money institution based in Malta.

Em@ney avails itself of a management team with ten-year proven experience in the world of electronic money, emissions of online bank accounts and issuance of rechargeable credit cards.
The Institute started working a few months ago with the Italian Federation of Poker, an important partner in the world of poker, providing their innovative financial products.

Here is an English translation of the interview with Germano Arnò, CEO of Em@ney:

Em@ney is a new reality in the electronic money market. Can you briefly those who don’t know you when your financial institution was born and what your mission is?

Em@ney has been licensed to Electronic Money Institution last April 2013 by Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) according to Em@ney European Directive 2009/110/EC.

Even though recently established, Em@ney has the support of experts who have ten-year know-how in the Electronic Money world and who have decided to invest in the future given the changes in technology and the increasing demand for payment services in “real time”.

Our Mission is to make a substantial contribution to the growth of businesses that need of a solution in the payment processes in terms of solutions range and instantaneity.

When did you decide to marry the “Poker Sportivo 2.0” project? Did you decide to embrace it when you knew FIGP or when you had already assessed other plans related to such niche markets? What was the trigger in the choice of FIGP?

Em@ney based its core business on other markets such as services and tourism and thanks to the encounter with FIGP it had the opportunity to discover how “Poker Sportivo” world needed advanced tools of electronic money, like our Em@ney tools, to be compliant in the labyrinth of Italian financial laws. Certainly challenge mixed with curiosity and the safety in working with a partnership with a well-defined CONI path, have strongly influenced our decision.

In your opinion, Sport Poker and an authoritative Financial Institution as Em@ney can go hand in hand? And what benefits can be drawn from each other?

Considering the current Italian sphere, the two must necessarily go hand in hand. On the one hand Poker SPORTS, and, on the other hand, a Financial Institution that complies with the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism checks that only a banking abstraction institution may make: mutual benefits can be summarized in a synergy that can lead to a complete customer satisfaction in terms of safety, legality and transparency.

The fruitful collaboration between Em@ney and FIGP has gone beyond the initial choice to provide a simple service. What have you proposed to the Federation and on the basis of what this important decision has been made?

During the initial request for prepaid cards, Em@ney noted that its additional security and loyalty tools go well with FIGP world. From study to integration the step was short.

How do you see Em@ney and FIGP in the future? Do you plan to test other European markets?

Em@ney is already working on other European markets with great success. The objective is to widely cover the whole region SEPA with our Em@ney debit card circuit. At the same time, we are pleased to note that FIGP is taking substantial importance that we hope to have in other markets soon. Once you have solidified the relationship in a market, you can safely consider to tackle together new markets.

What do you want to you recommend to FIGP that decided to embark on this important journey with “Poker Sportivo 2.0”?

We always recommend to choose the path of safety and innovation. Customers will be pleased.

 

http://www.figp.it/emney-entra-nel-pianeta-del-poker-sportivo-intervista-a-germano-arno-numero-uno-dellistituto/