German Poker Bug

Poker clubs are springing up like mushrooms across Germany. Every week, poker tournaments take place in practically every urban area. It's a game almost everyone is familiar with, either from playing simple variants like Draw Poker or from any good old Western.

"The basics are there, so people quickly lose their inhibitions to play," said Michael Körner, a poker commentator at Germany's leading sports channel DSF. He said poker's fascination is due to three elements of the game.

"It's about money, suspense and player types, which people can relate to," Körner said. "You have the poker lout, the nice guy, the parvenu or the young wild one."

Figures by the German Poker Players Association show there are some 260,000 active poker players in Germany -- 90 percent of which are male. Sandra Dellenbusch from Rhinepoker in Hilden said her poker school offered seminars for an average of 200 players per week.

"A lot of them are young people, who are also interested in strategic computer games or chess," Dellenbusch said.

Televised poker is particularly appealing

The worldwide poker boom began in the United States following the prestigious World Series of Poker in 2003 in Las Vegas. Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, won the first prize of $2.5 million after qualifying online for a spot. The triumph sparked a wildfire of amateur players hoping for the big money.

On this side of the Atlantic, the European Poker Tour (EPT) is a leading tournament. The German open will take place at the Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund from March 8-11. It is the first EPT event to be staged in Germany and all EPT tournaments are televised throughout Europe.

Poker's popularity is also due to this transformation into a spectator sport, said Jo Mainz, head of the poker division at Casino Hohensyburg.

"We have really experienced a tsunami of poker here since it started showing on television," Mainz said.

German comedian Stefan Raab is hosting five poker tournaments in his popular late night show "TV Total" this year. And DSF plans to broadcast 800 hours of poker by the end of 2008. It reaches an average of 200,000 viewers with each tournament.

According to Körner, poker on television is all the more fascinating, as cameras give viewers a head start in terms of information.

"The viewer becomes omniscient and this lets him get very close to the game," he said.

"Rampant gambling will lead to rampant social problems."

There is a dark side to the poker boom, though, according to the Association for Gambling Addiction in Herford.

"Poker is being marketed as a hip event," said the association's spokeswoman Ilona Füchtenschnieder. In televised tournaments, dynamic young men sit at the tables. This has freed the game from its dingy image of being played in the back rooms of grimy bars and increased enthusiasm for poker.

"But rampant gambling will lead to rampant social problems," Füchtenschnieder said. "That's as sure as night follows day."

Poker's popularity on television has also led to an increase in online gambling, turning people's living rooms into gambling havens. But in Germany, gambling for money is only allowed in state-controlled casinos.

"It is a legal vacuum and the government should decide whether to regulate it or not," Füchtenschnieder said.

For DSF's Körner, the association's criticism is unfounded.

"Poker is just like power, sex, alcohol or food," Körner said. "Too much isn't good. No one is forcing you to bet your car."

James Bond is boosting card sales

The poker boom in Germany has already brought up one sure winner, though.

Eastern Germany's ASS Altenburger, the market leader in card manufacturing, brought out a playing card and poker set in casino quality when the latest James Bond film "Casino Royale" hit the movie theaters last November. Bond, played by British actor Daniel Craig, has to defeat the bad guy this time in a high-stakes poker game.

"There is no better advertising medium for playing cards at the moment than 007," said ASS managing director Peter Warns.

The next poker film "Lucky You" with Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall hits the theaters this summer. It will certainly fuel the poker fire even more.