Deal and Win!

Poker Popularity

Poker is becoming more and more popular all the time and more and more popel are beginning to play it with an avidity that is now often found. Poker has become mainstream and is quickly evolving its own star system. Top of the heap is our own Joe Hachem, 39, who cast a long shadow over the Aussie Millions Australian Poker Championship, which kicked into gear at Crown Casino yesterday. Hachem wasn't there — he's in the Bahamas, which is where you go when you win $10 million tax-free, as he did in the US last year — but his friend Dusan Stoevski was at the tables. No millions for him though, just a run of bad luck. The 26-year-old Melbourne man said Mr Hachem "was like my brother" and had been an inspiration to him. Mr Stoevski said the increase in poker's popularity was a new chapter in the card game's history.

While Mr Stoevski plays in domestic tournaments, Noah Boeken, of Amsterdam, jets to Las Vegas, across Europe and now Australia as part of the Circle of Outlaws poker group. Made up of about a dozen young professional players, Mr Boeken said the group had good team spirit and enjoyed the fame and recognition. "I don't really have to worry about money and I like the lifestyle, so I can just play where ever I want," Mr Boeken said. Mr Boeken, who arrived in Melbourne from Europe on Thursday night, yesterday celebrated his 25th birthday, suffering jet lag. He had planned to spend the day at the beach but instead found himself at the poker tables — and out of luck. Marcel Luske, the Outlaws group's mentor, said poker was now booming across the world, helped by an increase in television exposure. The Age asked him for some tips but Mr Luske said: "You have to be in the game to win, it's like diving into a pool — you don't know if the water is hot or cold." Well, at least we asked.