The Austrian Pokersport Association (APSA), IFP’s Austrian member nation,  has launched a new membership model. They have now actually “opened their doors” to all individual players.

Till last year only poker clubs and their members could join the Austrian federation. This year they founded the “Digital Poker Club” which serves as the governing body for all individual players who do not have a physical poker club in their territory. The APSA did this in order to raise the number of members and represent a larger number of players.

All Austrian poker players now have the option to chose between four different levels of membership:

  • The “Regular Membership” is free and offers access to their rules, newsletter, and a poker tutorial for beginners as well as free online training tournaments.
  • As a “Basic Member” (24 € p.a.) you can participate in live tournaments such as the Poker-Bundesliga, Austrian Poker Masters, etc.
  • The “Classic Membership” is an upgrade (60 € p.a.) and allows to participate in weekly ranking tournaments and the opportunity to qualify for a seat in the national team.
  • The “Platinum Membership” is for all patrons and benefactors of APSA activities. They get honorary memberships for a arbitrary fee starting at € 120 p.a.

IFP fully supports the Austrian Pokersport Association and its efforts in representing poker players in Austria.

After years of discussions and months of planning, the Poker Federation of Australia has been officially formed.

The Poker Federation of Australia is affiliated to the global International Federation of Poker (IFP), which is the recognised governing body for the mind sport of poker.

The IFP promotes poker and its Match Poker variation as a game of skill and as a mind sport. Having evolved from its original seven member nations to more than 50 federations, the IFP is now the hub for a thriving world poker community.

The Poker Federation of Australia has compiled an interim board, which combines experience in the poker industry with business and media skills.

The interim board comprises Julius Colman (chairman), Robert Huxley (CEO), Keith Sloan, Garth Kay, Jackie Glazier, Sean Callander, Garth Kay and Steve Putsey, representing a wide range of experience across various areas of poker and industry.

Mr Colman said for the first time, the often-disparate elements that comprise the Australian poker industry can now come together under a single banner.

“We play poker at home, online, in local pubs and clubs and at other venues. Operators may treat poker differently but, for the players, it’s all about the love of the game and the enormous skill required to excel,” Mr Colman said.

“The Poker Federation of Australia aims to harness this passion for the game and provide a range of opportunities never before made available to the poker players of Australia.”

“We are committed to fulfilling the requirements for membership of the IFP, namely to be registered as a non-profit organization, to actively support the promotion of poker, and to generate representative activity in poker at a national level.”

“As Harvard law professor Charles Nesson, founder of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society said, ‘poker is not just a game of skill, it is a game that hones a wide range of human skills that can be helpful in confronting a variety of life experiences. It’s a great way to learn and practice the skills of seeing what things look like from another person’s point of view’.”

The Poker Federation of Australia expects soon to release details of its first Match Poker events, which will provide local players with the chance to represent the first ever “official” Australian tournament poker team to wear the green and gold in IFP-sanctioned international tournaments.

The Poker Federation of Australia is also pleased to announce a media partnership with PokerMedia Australia, which will act as the unofficial home of the Federation while its own website is being developed.

More details of Poker Federation of Australia initiatives and events will be announced in coming weeks – details will be posted at http://www.pokermedia.com.au/category/181-federation.aspx. Also check out the Poker Federation of Australia Facebook page.

RZ_Asian-NationsCup-LogoIFP is proud to officially announce the first ever IFP Asian Nations Cup. The event will be held in the picturesque city of Sanya, China from 18-20 October 2013. 12 Asian nations will compete for 4 qualification spots to the IFP Nations Cup Final. The 12 participating nations are China, Australia, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines and Singapore.

To be hosted in the beautiful surroundings of ‘The Grand Fortune Bay Hotel’ in Sanya, the Asian Nations Cup will be the second official IFP tournament to be conducted without physical playing cards and dealers. The event will showcase a whole host of brand new IFP Match Poker technology. Not only will players receive their hole cards on individual smartphone devices, but every single action on all 12 tables will be logged and openly available for replay and analysis via the “IFP Player”.

Stay tuned on www.pokerfed.org for updates and live coverage.

 

The PokerListings website features a fascinating interview this week with IFP president Anthony Holden.

The article, written by Martin Harris, delves into various topics, including the background of IFP, it’s future aims and of course, which is the best poker film.

Holden, as the author of the seminal Big Deal: A year as a professional poker player, also touches on his own favourite poker books, those of esteemed authors such as Jim McManus, Michael Craig and Peter Alson.

The entire interview is well worth a look but perhaps the most important comment related to repositioning poker in modern culture.

“That is perhaps our central mission,” said Holden. “We all know that poker’s history – from its prominence in old western movies to the fact that it is still played primarily in casinos ¬– has given it a somewhat shady reputation, directly associated with gambling.

“But by promoting poker purely for the love of the game, and Match Poker as a new variant for national teams, IFP aspires to make poker as respectable as chess and bridge – which themselves were once regarded as gambling games.

“There is no reason why poker should not reach the same level of acceptance as a game of mental skill and agility, so that governments around the world can separate it from gaming legislation.”

Read the interview in full on the PokerListings website.

Harvard Law School today hosts an innovative discussion on the role Mind Sports can play in education.

Led by Professor Charles Nesson, the event entitled “Bringing Mindsports into the Classroom and Beyond: A Workshop on Curriculum Design and Civic Education”, brings together competitors, leading game masters, scholars, researchers, students, and others to discuss the potential of ‘strategic games’ and ‘games of skill’, such as chess and poker, on educational practices and venues, including schools and libraries.Also participating, in what is the first event of its kind, are members of the Harvard Law School Library, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and the MIT Media Lab, as well as representatives of the United States Mindsport Association.

At the heart of the workshop will be a focus on developing a curriculum for use in a variety of school settings, as well as the associated online tools and resources employed to achieve that. These include customizable syllabi, tutorials with masters, innovative teaching as well as guidance to teachers and librarians on exactly how to implement mind sports in the classroom.

Participants will be asked to consider where the notion of being a strategic thinker, and a ‘player in the game’ can inform and transform understandings of citizen engagement. The effects this could have on a curriculum are sizable, geared towards learners in both traditional and non-traditional settings.

To that end, the resulting curriculum will be geared towards learners in traditional and non-traditional venues, including classrooms, libraries, and other centers of civic engagement and learning, with the goal of teaching and enhancing the principles and practice of active citizenry.