Poker Gone (More and More) Global

Our first cover of 2009 to feature a World Series of Poker winner happens to profile another up-and-coming player from an up-and-coming poker location. Vitaly Lunkin, an excellent player from Russia, started strongly earlier this year by winning a big Russian Poker Tour event in Moscow, good for more than $440,000. He then continued the trend of Russian players faring well in big World Series events by winning the inaugural $40,000 no-limit hold’em event and $1.9 million. Read all about this event on Page 52.

As we go to press, according to the World Series of Poker, Russian players are doing extremely well this year at the Series. Its stats show the nation bagging 15 cashes, good for more than $2.1 million. Through the first 10 events, the WSOP is again looking like an Olympic competition, with players from 57 different nations thus far entering events, including United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Korea, India, China, Belarus, Bavaria, and Turkey. Those 10 events had 17,093 players total, and 14,502 of them, about 85 percent, were from the U.S.

Every four years, the world’s best athletes come together at the Olympics to display their talents, with the winners bringing glory to themselves and their countries. Now, Card Player brings you the poker equivalent, the World Tracker, on CardPlayer.com.

Each month on the World Tracker, Card Player awards gold, silver, and bronze medals to the nations whose players finished in the top three of major events. With the World Series the epicenter for the world’s best players, it will be an ever-changing chart this summer.

Card Player is excited to be taking part in this global poker expansion. We’re now publishing magazines in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Europe, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Add these nations to the United States and Canada, where Card Player is available, and you have more than 20 nations around the world where poker fans can get their hands on The Poker Authority!