Ireland will defend their title on home soil when the fourth International Federation of Match Poker Nations Cup is held at Boyne Hill House, Meath, near Dublin, from Friday 22 March to Sunday 24 March.
The host nation heads a field of eight teams including newcomers Peru, Ukraine and Taiwan, competing for the coveted title.
The Nations Cup is the leading international tournament organised by the International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP) which was granted Observer Status of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) in 2018 and which now has 68 member federations worldwide.
Match Poker was devised and developed by IFMP as a team-based mind sport where the element of chance inherent in the “random draw of cards” has been removed. As a result, it conforms to the GAISF definition of a sport as ‘not relying on any element of luck specifically integrated into the sport.’
The development of bespoke technology allowing the games to be played on mobile devices rather than using traditional cards has been a milestone development.
There is no gambling in Match Poker and the sport is available to players of all ages and genders worldwide.
Match Poker does not rely on any element of luck specifically integrated into the sport.
IFMP has successfully developed the Match Poker technology including innovative use of smartphones in game-play and administration, making Match Poker a true 21st century mind sport and eSport.
Patrick Nally, President of IFMP, says the Nations Cup is ‘yet another milestone’ in the continued development of the sport.
“The presence of teams from Ukraine, Peru, Denmark, Taiwan and India indicates how fast Match Poker is gaining traction around the world. Poker is the world’s most popular card sport and the Match Poker variant cuts through the cultural barriers and negative perceptions associated with the root game to enable everybody to compete in competitions which reward skill and not luck,” he said.
“I am delighted to be welcoming the world’s best Match Poker teams to Ireland and look forward to a competition played in the spirit of camaraderie which typifies our sport.”
Match Poker is a team sport where the luck element in conventional poker via the “random draw of cards” has been removed. Far from being another poker ‘variation’ to sit alongside Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Stud etc. it is in fact a revolutionary approach for how any of these variations can be structured into meaningful and sporting competition through a more skill based format.
Match Poker was devised by the International Federation of Match Poker to reduce the element of luck inherent in traditional forms of poker, ensuring that it is a contest based on players’ skill and conforms to the accepted definition of a sport.
- Match Poker is a team sport incorporating regular Texas Hold’em, albeit typically with a pot-limit preflop and no-limit post-flop structure.
- Teams are split onto different tables with one player from each team in each of the different seat positions.
- All players start each hand with an equal number of chips and receive their cards on a digital device.
- The same cards are dealt at all tables (hole cards and community cards). This means that every player in seat 1 (each from a different team) has identical cards. The same is true in every other seat. This allows the best players and the best teams to be identified.
- Each team’s combined chips are compared after every hand and points allocated accordingly. Players reset their stacks and the next hand begins.
- After a pre-determined number of hands the team with the most points wins. All action is recorded electronically enabling real-time automated scoring, animated replay and detailed analysis.
