Russia Recognizes Poker as a Sport
Russia Today has an interesting article that declares poker has been recognized as a sports in that country for the first time ever, and with good reason.
Ivan Demidov, who is 27, became the first Russian to clean up at a top international tournament even though he only started playing poker two years ago after obtaining a degree in Math.
"A friend of mine told me that I must try playing online saying it was easy money. He put $50 on my account and I went from there," Ivan says.
Russia is a hotspot for online poker. Live games also have a big following there according to the paper.
Demidov is now perhaps the most known of the professional poker players to emerge out of Russia in recent years. Kirill Gerasimov, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Ralph Perry and - most famous of them all - Alexander Kravchenko, have helped fuel the passion for poker in their native homeland the same way in which Chris Moneymaker and others have over the years back in the US.
Casinos will soon disappear from Russian cities. From July next year gambling is to be restricted to four special zones spread throughout the country.
But poker players have nothing to fear. Russia has made a landmark decision to recognize the game as a sport.
Ivan Demidov plans to buy a flat in Moscow with his winnings. As a science graduate, he says it's skill rather than luck that marks the difference between winners and losers in poker.
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