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.