On 23rd March 2021 the IFMP Board voted in favour of a membership application received from ‘The Mongolian Free Poker Federation’. We are excited to see the Match Poker family growing and proud to welcome Mongolia as our latest member federation.
The Mongolian Poker Union was founded in 2009 with the main aim of developing poker as a sport in Mongolia. They are the only official organisation of poker sport in Mongolia and recognised by the Mongolian Sports Committee. Since launch, they have successfully organised the very first national championship and been organising it every year.
The federation wishes to become a member of IFMP, develop poker and Match Poker as a sport in Mongolia, train professional players and participate in international competitions.
The association adheres to IFMP’s rules and declares that it accepts, respects and implements all decisions made by the bodies of the IFMP, including the Congress, Board, Continental Councils, Sport Department, Commissions and Working Groups, Anti-Doping, Disciplinary and Appeals Commissions, Athletes Commission, Medical Commission, Para Match Poker Commission and Ethics Commission.
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)
IFMP have unfortunately recently received the letter shown below, from our Peruvian Federation which confirms that Lima, Peru will not be able to host our Nations Cup as originally planned and agreed.
The country is still having political problems and that until a new National Sports Authority has been formalised they cannot proceed with the hosting of the event as foreseen. They have agreed to fund compensation to those nations that incurred costs in preparation for the event and have agreed to work with us for a future event when matters have been regularised.
In the meantime we have started negotiations with a number of potential venues for the current Nations Cup and do anticipate announcing a replacement with dates in the very near future. It is our intent to have this event hosted prior to mid May as we are also keen to get on with the schedule of events for this year and are currently seeking confirmation for hosts for our European, Asian and American events.
We are extremely sorry about Peru, a matter that was entirely out of our control, but now being the officially recognised sport that we are, we need to move forward in a positive vein and secure new hosts for our upcoming calendar of events.
IFMP is aware of the growing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus and has noted the change of location for the upcoming SportAccord conference. IFMP will monitor developments closely, and may consider to delay even later the Peru replacement event so as not to exacerbate any coronavirus concerns.
I will be back to you again shortly with an update accordingly.
Kind regards
Patrick Nally
February 4th 2020 saw the IFMP Board unanimously vote in favour of membership applications received from Malta and Switzerland to become the latest additions to the Match Poker family.
Malta:
Malta Sport For All – MSFA is a multi sport federation divided in different divisions. Each division is technically independent and coordinates the different sports assigned to them. Each single division is recognised by the respective International Federation and develop the sport with the help of all the MSFA members. Match Poker division aims to achieve recognition in Malta and the status of sport in their country.
Anita Pariani, President
Marco Tomasini, General Secretary
Jean Claude Dimech, Vice President
Tonio Grech, Treasurer
www.maltasportforall.org
Switzerland:
FederSwiss Sport for All – FederSwiss was born in 2016 and it is a multi sport federation based in Gorno, Switzerland. The vision of FederSwiss is that all the athletes in Switzerland need to have the opportunity to achieve excellence in sport and high-level competition, to have the possibility to play integrated sports and to have promotional level sports to improve their capabilities. FederSwiss aims to develop amateur and promotional sports for all the athletes. FederSwiss is also an elite level federation for different sports like Pole and Aerial Sports, E-Sports, O-Sports, Majorette Sports and Aesthetic group gymnastics. The division of Match Poker Federation will be the new and most important division for the future of FederSwiss.
Marco Tomasini, President
Linda Casalini, Vice President
Piero Acquaro, Vice President
Thomas Babler, Treasurer
Vincenzo Preziuso, Director Gerenal
Andrea Pantano, General Secretary
Both the organisations for Malta and Switzerland are ‘official’ sports groups established in each country, to help promote new sports not currently part of the Olympic or local Sports Ministries activities. In both cases these bodies are recognised in their individual nations and can help us present and develop the sport of Match Poker actively in each market. This therefore means that we are formally granting recognition to each body to be the National Match Poker Federation in the two countries.