Bringing Texas Hold em To Other Countries

[Qcity]

Texas Holdem is a worldwide phenomenon, yet there are still many places where the game is almost completely unknown that have great potential. Here are some places I think could have a huge scene if some entrepreneur(s) were to take steps to market the game:

Japan - poker is unknown here as far as I'm aware. The Japanese are huge fans gaming. Magic the Gathering, a card game with similar mechanics to poker, expanded like crazy and this is the country that invented nintendo, pokemon and yugioh of course. Gambling is certainly legal here as pachinko parlors are on every street corner. This is a country with a huge population and a GDP half as large as the US.

- Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea - Many of the same reasons as above.

- Argentina and Chile - these countries also have a strong gaming culture and they already have casinos in every city. Standard of living is highest in Latin America. There are already some hold em players in these countries, it wouldn't take much to make it widespread.

Any others?

[Bremen]

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Gambling is certainly legal here as pachinko parlors are on every street corner.

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It is my understanding that gambling is not legal in Japan. The pachinko parlors operate through a loophole I believe. Dunno if the same loophole would be possible for poker...

[Bulbarainey]

they should make it legal in TJ since they already have sportsbooks

[00Snitch]

Australia -
Only three casinos in the country play hold'em. one in each of the 3 east-coast states. The one in Brisbane (my city), only started playing last week.

Poker is definatly getting popular in Australia and i can only see it getting bigger after Joseph Hachem won the 2005 WSOP. However, there is still not one card house in the country.

I would love to see one get going, ive often thought about it, and everytime i see a space in the city for lease i think "i wonder if that would make a good card house?" :P

[Quicksilvre]

Unfortunately, gambling is technically illegal in Japan. The yakuza control some pashi-slo (pachinko slot machine) parlors without interference from the police, but I don't see a poker room opening in Japan without legislative action (stictly long-term) or efforts from the yakuza (which likely won't happen; pachinko and pashislo are both more profitable).

Tom McEvoy recently wrote an interesting article about poker in Japan in his CardPlayer column (http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=14875&m_id=65568), particularly the Japanese Poker Club.

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Unfortunately, gambling is not legal in Japan, so players in the poker club can play only for prizes, not cash.

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[Qcity]

Thats interesting because pachinko is almost pure gambling and they are everywhere. There are literally thousands and thousands of these places in the country.

[csuf_gambler]

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Gambling is certainly legal here as pachinko parlors are on every street corner.

[/ QUOTE ]
It is my understanding that gambling is not legal in Japan. The pachinko parlors operate through a loophole I believe. Dunno if the same loophole would be possible for poker...

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i was watching this show about japan on the travel channel. they did this indepth thing about pachinko palors. gambling is illegal but pachinko is allowed since its not cash prizes. they get tokens or balls or something, i forgot. then they go around the corner and they can exchange the tokens/balls for prizes.

[NoFobia]

What kind of poker is offered in Brisbane? Limit Holdem? No Limit Holdem? How many tables? What kind of limits (5/10)?

Need to know this as i am moving to Brisbane soon /images/graemlins/smile.gif