Poker as a mental exercise in the club › HL-SPORTS

Poker is about more than just luck. Skill, tactics, analytical thinking, math skills, and much more are part of the card game that enjoys such enormous popularity worldwide. Just as the strategy game of chess is a sport, the card game of poker is also a mental exercise. This has also been officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee since 2010. This makes it officially possible to play poker in a club. Poker clubs in the region are also waiting for enthusiastic players who want to improve their skills at the poker table and play with like-minded people.

Points instead of prize money: What is club poker?

But how exactly does poker in a club work and how does it differ from playing in the casino? Probably the biggest difference is that poker is played in a club without using any money. Instead, the chips represent play money. The players in the tournament usually do not play for big prize money, because this is about sporting competition, fame and honor. In leagues and tournaments, players usually receive points instead of prize money, which they can use to climb up the table. Whoever makes it to the top at the end is usually rewarded with prizes and/or a trophy to honor their intellectual achievement.

Poker clubs also offer an excellent opportunity for poker fans to play in a friendly atmosphere with like-minded people and learn from each other. poker to learn in a group, ultimately offers various advantages. Poker learning groups, both online and offline, are particularly suitable for practicing together, helping each other and learning from each other. Hands can be analyzed and hand histories discussed, players can ask each other questions, give tips and get advice. In addition, playing together without investing any money, both online and offline, offers an excellent opportunity to apply what you have learned and refine skills and strategies without risk. Just as you practice other traditional sports in a club in order to train and improve together, this is also the case with club poker.

Sporty poker in the region

Poker enthusiasts who want to play competitive sports with like-minded people in Northern Germany can find various poker clubs. In Hamburg, the members of the Slowplay eV poker club meet regularly to play together, practice and discuss and analyze hands. The Poker Piranhas team, the poker division of tus Berne, also takes part in regular tournaments. This was one of the first major sports clubs in Germany to launch a poker division in order to promote mental sports. With tournaments that also welcome guests, every poker enthusiast in the region can play here on a regular basis.

The Slowplay Poker Association and the poker division of tus Berne are also two of the over 30 members of the German Poker Sports Association who play against each other in the league system in the HeadsUp Bundesliga. Team HeadsUp plays No-Limit Hold’em Poker, a special and very challenging type of traditional card game. Instead of playing with several opponents, only two players sit opposite each other. The Hamburg club Bulldozers Poker Piranhas tus Berne won the last championship in 2023 for the fourth time in a row prevail, defend the championship title and lift the big trophy towards the sky again. The training in the club seems to have paid off.

Poker in the casino

Poker players who would like to play with stakes in the casino can do so at Casino Lübeck. Cash games with up to ten players are held here every week and players from the region can take part. The game is Texas Hold’em Poker. The Esplanade casino in Hamburg also regularly hosts cash games and tournaments in which poker enthusiasts can play for money. Unlike in a club, there is a buy-in that players have to pay in order to “buy into” the table and be able to play the pot.

Poker demands a lot from players. With sophisticated strategies, analytical thinking and mathematical knowledge, it is important to act skillfully at the poker table in order to be able to outplay your opponents. In order to be able to train the card game in sporting competitions without spending money and to practice with like-minded people, there are a number of poker clubs in the region where the sporting aspect of poker is the main focus.