You need to get out more. The world is bigger than your back yard.
I don't really care but I did a search on poker capital and came up with this.
http://212.22.229.210/community/bigs...1/feature2.htm
Feature
Is there something in the water? The rise and rise of Linkoping.
When you think of high-limit poker, the place that most readily springs to mind is Las Vegas. But try it again, this time thinking of internet poker. Still thinking of Vegas? But maybe you shouldn’t be, as a small Swedish city is fast becoming the internet poker capital of the world. And it’s not just the poker capital in terms of the percentage of the population that play. It’s the poker capital in the sense that everyone who plays seems to be so very, very good.
For a start, it’s home to some of Victor Chandler Poker’s most talented and successful players. And it’s also the residence of Erik Sagstrom, the infamous King of Ding, reported to be the world’s most successful ever online poker player with winnings rumoured to be around the million euros mark.
So, in a spirit of intrepid journalism, we decided to investigate further. And after being told there was no chance of a trip to Sweden, undeterred we’ve scoured the web to bring you the lowdown on the poker hotbed that is Linkoping.
* FACT! Linkoping has the highest concentration of engineers in Sweden.
* FACT! Linkoping’s population is 134,000.
* FACT! Linkoping has over 23,000 students (that’s nearly one in six).
* FACT! There are 250 Professors in Linkoping.
* FACT! The Swedish aviation industry was born in Linkoping.
* FACT! Linkoping is home to the Mjardevi Science Park which offers 155,000m2 of office space.
* FACT! Linkoping specialises in IT, Life Sciences, Aviation, Electronic and Communications Technology.
At a recent Dublin-based poker tournament, we managed to catch up with one of Linkoping’s finest after he came third in the €1000 NL event (despite never having played in a real-world tournament before – see, told you they were good.). And according to our source, much of Linkoping’s internet poker success, and indeed, internet poker’s success in Linkoping, can be traced back to a pool hall in the city that’s also home to an internet café. It’s here that a few people (including Erik Sagstrom himself) started playing regular online poker, and as people watched and were spurred on by their friend’s successes, they decided to take up the game too.
Still, that doesn’t really explain why Linkoping’s players seem to be so darn good. Could it be that it’s a highly educated city with a large student population? Do those long winter nights give plenty of opportunity for practise? Or are they putting something in the water? We’re still not sure.
Are you from Linkoping? If so, we’d like to hear from you and find out more about the town and why it’s such a hotbed of internet poker (how did you get involved?). Tell us all, as we’d love to do a follow up article.