Greg Raymer is a regular columnist in one of the Swedish dailies. Before the
European Poker Tour event in Copenhagen, he predicted a Swedish victory. It's an honor that he believes in us up here in the north, but it's not really that strange; when you think about it, Greg was just playing the odds. Almost two-thirds of the 400 players in
EPT Copenhagen were Scandinavians. And, of course, Greg was right. I'm sure Magnus Petersson has been mentioned elsewhere in this magazine, so I'll let a short congratulations suffice.
The biggest event in Europe
So, what is the biggest event in Europe, in terms of the number of competitors? Is it one of the
EPT tournaments? No, most definitely not. In the small town of Grebbestad, Sweden, located a few hours by car or train from the nearest larger town, there's a bit of poker going on every year. Last year, they got 600 entrants; this year, they're expecting 700 players (the seats are very likely to fill up quickly, as half of them were sold in just three weeks). It's a three-day tournament starting March 23, and the buy-in is set as low as €250. For more information, including hotels and such things, see http://www.grebbestadpoker.se. As far as I know, you can pay the entry fee only through the 24hpoker client (and winnings will be paid out this way, too, to lower the risk of the police stopping the event).
Self-praise …
Self-praise stinks, according to a Swedish saying … but I can't refrain from proudly telling you about our new poker program in Sweden -
Poker.se TV. I'm in it as a "poker expert," and I'm very grateful for the assignment, which is great fun. "So," you think, "yet another poker program?" Well, it's not like any other program; we differ in that we're not going to watch ongoing poker games. Instead, each program is separated into two blocks: one 20-minute part with book reviews, questions from readers, news reports, and so on, and one 25-minute part in which we put famous Nordic and European players on a couch and interview them. If there's enough interest, the show will be subtitled in English and put online. Tell me what you think!
Swedish and Norwegian championships
Last year, the Norwegian championship was held in Sweden, and the Swedish championship was held at Casino Cosmopol, which is owned by the state. The Norwegian championship will be held outside of Norway this year, too, in a yet-to-be-determined country, this May. The Swedish championship will be played … at two locations. Casino Cosmopol will be arranging its version, and the Swedish Poker Federation one of its own. I'm wondering which event will be recorded as the official one. It's a regrettable situation, but I understand that the Poker Federation felt the need to hold a rivaling championship; it's about politics and lobbying, and showing that the players won't accept being forced by the state to do things.
The Finnish Clash
Last December, a new concept in poker was tried for the first time: the
Finnish Clash (or
Swedish Clash, if you're Finnish), a competition in which Finns and Swedes battle each other. After the successful first test, the event will now be held regularly.
After having tried it out last year, an event with 200 players (100 from each country) will be held this season. The tournament works as usual, but points are given for knocking out people from the opposite country, and taken for busting a countryman. It's a fun idea, which I hope will spread.
Ola Brandborn is a writer and blogger at Poker.se.
