Poker In Russia

In the first few years of the 21st century, it was clear that poker was going to experience a big boom. This boom occurred largely in the United States and to some extent in the Scandinavian countries, although there was some global interest as well. However, as often happens with trends, the popularity of poker has migrated to other parts of the world, and one of the places where poker is getting big is in Russia.

The Evolution of Poker in Russia

There have always been a handful of Russians interested in poker. In 2002, even before video poker started it’s polularity, an émigré from Russia, Ralph Perry, made the final three players of the main event of the World Series of Poker. However, there were a number of factors that really made poker take off, including the Internet, Russian poker stars, and the Russian Poker Tour.

Poker in Russia: The Internet

Russia is a big place, and there are many areas where casino games are not accessible. Even when casinos are accessible, most of them, like in the pre-boom United States, do not have poker rooms. Russians who wanted to play poker before used to have to play in private games. Of course, the Internet changed all that. Suddenly Russians all over the country could play poker anywhere, anytime, providing they had an Internet hookup.

Poker in Russia: Poker Stars

The popularity of an activity among a certain group usually is predicated by a member of that group doing well. In the case of Russia, it was a one-two punch. In the 2007 World Series of Poker, it was Alex Kravchenko, Russian pro who made it as far as fourth place at the final table of the World Series of Poker. The following year, in 2008, it was Ivan Demidov, who almost won the title, falling only to the eventually champion Peter Eastgate in heads up play.

Poker in Russia: The Russian Poker Tour

PokerStars has now introduced the Russian Poker Tour, a series of poker tournaments held throughout Russia. As with other poker tours before it, this one is sure to bring even more talented Russians into the great game of tournament poker.