We are proud to announce two newly recognised member federations – Switzerland and Canada.

Switzerland will be represented by the Swiss Poker Sport Association which has been promoting poker as a sport in Switzerland for a number of years, running a successful national league and are eager to focus their efforts towards Match Poker.

Match Poker Canada will be IFMP’s Canadian NF, run by individuals who are well-versed with sport governance, management and administration, looking to introduce Match Poker to their nation.

IFMP has previously had members from both nations but due to non-adherence with IFMP’s national federation rules and obligations, the board and congress decided to rescind recognition of those organisations. We are proud to be associated with both these newly recognised national federations and are excited for the future of Match Poker in both Canada and Switzerland.

On November 29th 2020, the Barbados Federation of Poker launched their poker season under the West Indies Poker Championship (WIPC) banner. Action started off with their exclusive invitational tournament which consisted of the best performers from previously held events. 

‘Emerging to the top was Dwayne Nurse, who is no stranger to the winner’s circle. In fact, prior to going into this event we were able to catch up with him in an informal interview. With a high level of confidence and a sense of conviction, Dwayne gave us an early prediction that this tournament was going to be won by him and him alone. 

After navigating through a tough field of competitors over ten hours of play, it appeared as though with his chip lead, it would be an easy road to victory. In order to do so however, he would still need to get through the skilful play of Michael and Ronald; two seasoned players in the circuit. Following some gutsy moves, Dwayne was able to come out on top with a 1st place finish, followed by Michael Atkins for 2nd and Ronald Greene for 3rd. 

Champion – Dwayne Nurse

Main Event Championship

On the following day we celebrated Independence with our Main Event Championship, which attracted a diverse group of players, all from different backgrounds coming to battle it out on the felt. With a larger group of unknowns in the foray this meant players looking to repeat their success would need to cautiously assess opponents with the idea of potentially exploiting any weaknesses that they discovered. 

Main Event Champion – Michele Cornacchia

All attempts to do this however were futile, as we saw the emergence of two new faces to the list of champions after approximately twelve hours of play. These were Michele Cornacchia from Italy who captured 1st place and Barron Helgoe from the US who captured 2nd place. Coming in strong for 3rd and 4th place respectively were Barbados’s own Kyle Albert and Gabriel Taylor who put on a good fight all the way to the end. 

(left to right Klye albert, Barron Helgoe, Michele Cornaccia, Gabriel Taylor)

After a successful appearance at the 2019 Asian Nations Cup where Team Israel finished in 5th place and was 1 point behind Taiwan who finished 4th and qualified for the Nations Cup Finals, preparation for the upcoming Nations Cup 2021 are underway!

Israeli Poker Players Federation (IFMP Israel) has almost fully assembled its new Israeli Poker Team. Most of the Israeli Team members were chosen based on their results at the Israeli Online Poker League which ran for 52 tourneys during 2020.

The last members will be chosen based on ICOOP 2020 – Israeli Championship of Online Poker.

The first ever national online poker championship is being played in a virtual manner while Israel deals with Covid-19 like the rest of the world. Participation is available only for National Federation members who hold a 2020 Poker Player Card.

The entry fee is 250 NIS (~75$) and the prizes vary from packages to Israeli Poker Championship (IPC) played live in Bulgaria, the animated digital course “Pre-Flop Poker Secrets” by the Israeli Poker Academy, and poker equipment by “Lion Card”.

The championship has 4 semi-final stages in a satellite structure where 10% of the players in each semi-final qualify to the Final Stage. Each semi-final is played with 10,000 chips stack and 10 minutes blind levels.

So far at the first 3 semi-finals there was a total of 191 players and it is expected that a total of ~250 entries will be recorded.

The Final Stage will be held on Saturday 12th December and will be played with a 10,000 chip stack and 15 minutes blind levels.

We wish all the best for the Israeli poker sportsmen & women, and cross fingers for a historic qualification to the Match Poker Nations Cup Finals in 2021! – by Stas Tishkevich, Chairman of IFMP Israel.