After a successful launch earlier this year, Match Poker Online is ramping up the action even more this winter. The app is bringing the thrill of international competition to the online poker tables with the Match Poker Online World Cup. Eligible players of all levels have the chance to represent their country and play to determine the best Match Poker player in the world.

All eligible players can get in the action by competing on the app. To be eligible, players must have achieved at least one of the following by Nov. 27:

  • reached an IFMP (International Federation of Match Poker) Rating of 1,200 or above
  • be in the top 15% of the Ivory, Sapphire, or Emerald tiers of IFMP Ratings
  • be among the top 15% of eligible players in any Premiership Season
  • won a Weekly Challenge 
  • won a Special Event, such as the May Cup or Battle Weekend

There were 385 eligible players as of Oct. 5, but players can still qualify. Eligible players will be notified via email.

“From the start, we’ve wanted to be much more than an app, we’ve wanted to be a sport – albeit one that is played via an app,” Match Poker Online head of customer relations Jake Colman says. “Being a sport necessarily involves holding championship events, world cups, and other big events to determine the best players in the sport of poker. So this is the first time we are offering the pinnacle of our sport.”

How the World Cup Works

Each competition features Playoffs and Finals exclusive to players of the same Rating Tier. Tournament play features Match Poker Online’s new Triple Battle format, which sees players compete in one battle royale each hour for three consecutive hours. The top 36 players then advance in the Finals. The series comes after months of planning and continuous growth on the app.

“What’s been wonderful to see has been the enthusiasm from our players,” Colman says. “Each of our matches goes for 30-45 minutes, and heaps of players play 20 or so matches each week, which is a wonderful commitment of time and effort. There are some players who have played more than 100 matches a month! Adding even more players at all skill levels gets us closer to our goal of running matches almost instantaneously. Happily, we’re getting closer.”

For most players, the Playoffs are set for Dec. 3-4 with the Finals playing out on Dec. 10-11. U.S. players can compete on Dec. 2-3 with the Finals on Dec. 9-10. The winner of the Ruby division, the top competition, is crowned the overall World Cup champion. And not just bragging rights are on the line. Match Poker Online is awarding cash prizes for top players. In total, players can compete for a share of more than $2,000 and here’s a look at the payouts:

Ranking Category1st Place Prize2nd Place Prize3rd Place Prize
Ruby$625$250$125
Ivory$450$175$75
Sapphire$200$100$50
Emerald$100$50$25

* Amounts in US dollars

How Does Match Poker Online Work?

Match Poker Online truly gauges where a player stands by having competitors play the same hands across the platform. Players can work on their skills by comparing their own play and decisions to others around the world who have played exactly the same hand.

The app is packed with features, statistics, excellent graphics, and exciting gameplay. You can even compare your own play against friends in a fantasy sports-style competition. There’s no longer a need for arguing or debate on which players are better based on conjecture and insufficient data. With Match Poker, all that data is available for players to check out.

When playing, you’re not just competing against the players at your table, but against players seated at other tables in the same seat you are. All players in that seat are dealt the same two “hole” cards and see the same flop, turn, and river. It’s a unique twist on traditional poker.

Even More to Come

Beyond the World Cup, Match Poker Online developers are working to bring players even more in the weeks ahead. More analytics should be coming soon, substantially increasing from two key statistics to 12. Players will see a massive increase in how they can gauge their own play.

“We’re going to start analyzing everything from how often you make it to showdown, win at showdown, three-bet or fold to a three-bet, continuation bet, or move all in,” Colman says. “Each statistic tells the player where they are, and where they should be.”

Also in the works for 2023 are country-specific events. This feature will then expand to allow anyone to create a club and host their own competitions. Players can battle it out with others like they’re playing in a club competition or round-robin tournament. The moves come as Match Poker Online continues to “sportify” poker. The World Cup and these other additional offerings only add to these efforts.

“Even though it’s played in an app, Match Poker is a sport,” Colman says. “We’re working hard to see it become as widespread as basketball, tennis, or chess, with communities in every part of the world, at every level – from suburban leagues to national titles. The World Cup is the most important step forward we’ve ever taken in getting there.”

Player Reactions

After more than nine months in operation, players have been pleased with the game. Here’s a look at what a few players had to say:

  • As a former professional poker player I am super excited by your project, I truly believe that we need to rethink poker and show it as a skill game rather than gambling. – “Cukrapok”, France
  • Let me congratulate you on the best poker app ever developed. – “Fairbank”, USA
  • I want to thank you for a great way to play poker and your game is so fantastic. I no longer play in other places. Great job!    “Stinger”, USA
  • Loving the game, awesome concept.👌🏼I have deleted all other poker apps from my phone. – “Rendog”, Australia
  • You’ve made something truly fun, unique, and innovative and I look forward to what the future brings🙂.  “RedBacon”, Israel

Match Poker Online is available in the App Store and Google Play Store. Players can also simply click here to take them right to the download option.  For more details on the Match Poker Online World Cup, click here.

*** Editors, for more information or to test drive the new Match Poker Online app, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re also happy to provide more information and answer any questions regarding the World Cup and new features. Please find relevant links and contact information below.

WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website – https://matchpoker.com

Facebook – https://facebook.com/MatchPokerOnline/

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean Chaffin, [email protected]

Team Germany might not have made it to the Finals during this round of qualifiers for the Nations Cup, but their strong second place finish still begs the question “How do they train for Match Poker?” Well, we are going to spill the beans with you in this article. Team Germany is sharing their secret on how they train as a team and improve their poker game together in a group.

The Germans use a platform called Poker Castle. It is an interactive tool that allows a poker coach to train more than one player at a time. So, pretty much perfect for a Match Poker team. While players are playing random or custom created hands, the coach can actually see the cards of the players. This really helps to get behind the thought process of your teammates. 

“Normally, poker is about making the decisions with the highest chip EV (with ICM adaptations in tournament poker, if necessary),” team coach Daniel Eylenfeldt explains, “In the current Match Poker scoring system, however, the overall chips do not play a role. For example, it is often more important to win many small pots than one big one. Therefore, various adjustments have to be made in order to be successful in this system. When we train with the German team via Poker Castle, we usually play the hands as in the normal cash game, but in the replay function we then consider which adaptations would have made sense in Match Poker.”

So, how does it work?

After a hand has concluded, it is discussed in the Replay. During this phase, all participants can see the cards and the coach clicks through the action while interacting with the students via Discord, Zoom or any other third party communication platform.

 

Poker Castle platform

Without a platform like this teams are stuck with theory sessions and/or home games. It is often difficult to get into a flow and really see why and how a player was taking as long as they did for a decision. However, using Poker Castle means that the coach can observe the hand selection and decision making of the students in real time. It also means that the coach can see the learning progress of the players across the different sessions they play. The coach can even “Like” a play, which is obviously only visible to the player who’s move was praised. Poker Castle offers a range viewer tool where the coach can go through different options for the hand selection or explore the opponents’ ranges.

Weekly Preparation Sessions

Team Germany made sure to meet for training sessions at least once a week from a couple of months before the competition date, closer to the event they even trained twice a week for 3 hours each time. That is a lot of high intensity coaching as a team and their close second place finish behind Austria in the Qualifiers proves its value.

In Poker Castle you can choose to play random hands or custom hands and while it was mainly random hands that were played during the coaching sessions, team coach Daniel Eylenfeldt often used actual hands from his own online sessions that he deemed interesting enough.

Team Germany is made up of Jan Heitmann, Timm Albrecht, Niklas Andrews, Alexander Kleppe, Kai Rieche, Stefanie Haffke, Mila Monroe, Julie Schumacher, Arash Fazeli and Daniel Eylenfeldt. During the time the team prepared for the competition, the members really learned to appreciate working with Poker Castle. Especially the fact that once you fold you can see other players cards, which is an incredible feature to learn in a group. Poker Castle is not exclusive to the German team. Any team, study or staking group is welcome to check it out and start training with it. 

They play their next qualifier on 7th August and will no doubt be putting in the hours on training and strategy in the weeks leading up to it, with the aim of sealing their spot in the Nations Cup Finals. For more information please visit www.pokercastle.net

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.

As the world deals with everything that has been thrown at it this year it’s nice to see IFMP’s Lithuanian national federation host it’s 11th Sports Poker Championship!
This event is taking place at Du Karaliai (Two Kings) – the first and biggest sports poker club in Lithuania, located in Vilnius.
The championship will last 4 days – from Thursday to Sunday, containing 3 starting days 1A, 1B, 1C, 2nd day and final day.
The 4 day event will consist of the main event in No-Limit Texas Holdem and side events in Pot-Limit Omaha.
The main event is a very deep freeze-out (levels up from 40 to 60 minutes, 30000 starting stack).
The main partner of LSPF (Lithuanian Sports Poker Federation) is Olybet, which, of course, gives the main prize – buy-in to the biggest poker tournament in Baltics – The Kings of Tallinn main event (1100EUR buy-in).
Every player also collects rating points towards top 10 of the year within the federation structure.

Alexander Zholnerchik – born on 25/08/1975, he used to be a businessman, but several years ago came to the conclusion that if business prevents him from playing poker, then he should quit business. And since then Alexander has been passionately playing both online and offline, also being fond of extreme sports, travelling and psychology.

Kirill Denisenko – 27 years old. Professional poker player from Minsk. Regular player of Texas Hold’em live and online tournaments along with cash games. A member of the Belarussian National Poker Team.

Kim Pavel – Builder, 52 years old, 7 years poker playing experience and enjoys going spearfishing in his free time.

Maryna Khatskevich – She started playing poker in 2014 as a home game with friends. She liked the game because she won and then started playing in the Minsk poker club. It was a cash game. Her first tournament was a Ladies free roll organized by Belarusian Federation of Sports Poker where she took 3rd place and then decided to continue learning poker. She worked a lot on improving her game with trainers and coaches and still does this everyday. Her best tournament result is 4th place in EPT Prague. Now she spends most of her time in poker: playing offline tournaments and working on the game. Her hobby is karaoke and skiing.

Sergej Vladimirov – Born 01.11.1968. Businessman and a proud father of two children. Sergej finds amusement in both active sport arts such as snowboarding and windsurfing, and quiet evenings with closest friends and board games. His life is filled with traveling and adventures. Sergej has been a part of the poker world for more than 10 years and he enjoys Texas Holdem, Omaha and OFC the most.

Yauhen Burlo – 36 years old. Lives and works in Minsk, Belarus. Started playing poker 6 years ago. There are no victories in WSOP and WCOOP, but he believes and does not give up! In his spare time, he enjoys travels, motorcycles, fishing & hunting. Happy man, husband and father.

Mikalai Nikanovich – Born on 16.08.1978. He is a lawyer who loves football, music, old movies and poker. He started playing poker about 7 years ago and is going to Kiev with the slogan: “Who, if not us?”