UK comes to the rescue in Norwegian Poker Championship

Apr

UK comes to the rescue in Norwegian Poker Championship

Norwegian gambling laws force poker championship overseas

This month sees the annual Norwegian Poker Championships taking place. However, due to the tightening of gambling laws in Norway, the tournament has been forced to seek an alternative venue.

Poker is currently classified as illegal in Norway and police raids have been carried out on some clubs.

Unable to hold the annual championships in their home country, hundreds of Norwegian players will be travelling to the UK to participate. Special flights are being reserved to accommodate the players, estimated at 500.

The temporary home for the Norwegians will be the Dusk till Dawn poker club in Nottingham, in the Midlands. This is one of the biggest poker venues in Europe, and having only opened several months ago, is thriving on the British poker scene.

Norway has produced several poker champs in recent years and has a respectable poker history, with famous names including Thor Hansen (2 WSOP bracelets), Johnny Lodden, and most recently Annette Obrestad – the young winner of last year’s WSOP Europe event.

Annette became the youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet when she won the London event last September, aged just 18. She has since made a name for herself in the online poker world, with consistent wins and several poker site partnerships.

The Norwegian Poker Championship will take place from April 28th to May 5th 2008. It will include pot-limit Omaha, limit Hold’em and no-limit Hold’em in the main event. The prize pool is expected to be around £350,000, with the winner receiving a seat at the World Series of Poker main event – a coveted prize.

With two to three games scheduled on each day of the eight-day championship, it’s sure to be an action-packed event, all captured on camera for a TV documentary.