Current State of Poker

South African Poker is Thriving

Poker is alive and well in South Africa, thank you very much. While this country may not be one of the first that comes to mind when people talk about the worldwide explosion of poker popularity, there is ample opportunity for amateur and professional alike to find a challenging game.

Most observers of the global poker scene consider South Africa to be the place to play on the continent. The country has been called a hotbed of poker. It has lived up to the adjective in the past four or five years, surging ahead of Egypt in poker opportunity.

Rahme: The Face of SA Poker

 Poker’s popularity in South Africa was given a huge boost in 2007 when Raymond Rahme finished third in the World Series of Poker. Not only did the retired gentleman bank $3 million dollars for that high finish, he also turned much of the world’s attention toward the African country.

Rahme’s feat was all the more extraordinary because there were more than 6,300 players in the No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em championship field that year. As nearly everyone knows, the WSOP is considered the premier event in the poker world. A final-table finish is considered a huge milestone for any poker player. This achievement shines even more because Rahme was the first person from Africa to make the final table in the main event. He accomplished this after playing stud poker for decades and Hold ‘Em for only a couple of years.

There’s Action Here

Rahme may have been the most visible South African player at the time but he certainly wasn’t the only person from this country to “cash in” by playing poker. People have played poker in home games for years and have taken up the challenge in public casinos for several years. Christopher Convery won a million Rands in 2006 at the All Africa Poker Series event. Five players from the All African Poker Series get a seat in the World Championship of Poker in Las Vegas.

In addition to individual success that has turned the spotlight on South African poker, men and women have started to organize for the good of the game. Information about poker in this country is available from such groups as the South African Poker Association, formed in 2004 to represent “the interests of the country’s poker gaming community.” Activities of this and other organizations seek to foster legal, healthy growth of poker by establishing strict standards for poker tournaments and public play.

Web World: Online Poker

 It has taken some time for the online-poker world to become established in South Africa. In the early years, few online sites offered games with Rands as the currency. This is changing, even after the country was essentially bypassed as a site for offshore gaming licenses and regulation. Players are finding it much easier to establish real-money accounts in their own currency or set up an account in a foreign currency, if they wish.

But opportunities for online play aren’t the only thing growing in South Africa. Web sites devoted to strategy, hand analysis, celebrity profiles and more are turning up all the time. You can find a number of relatively new poker forums and educational tools with a focus on South African play.

Enterprising individuals have also established poker “stores” with a strong online presence. This makes it much easier for players to find poker and casino products without travelling to one of the few “live” locations. Home games have access to all the items they need, as do live casinos that have been established by the dozen around the country.

Yes, poker is alive and well in South Africa!