Boom in Germany
I am in Germany right now, visiting friends and family over the holidays. Naturally with all the family stuff it is a time of little poker. I think I have played maybe 2k hands in December, which is really sad, because there seems to be an influx of bad players in the last few weeks. I don’t know if that is because of the proposed changes to the Internet Gambling bill or because of new players of emerging poker markets, but the games are not nearly as dry as they were 6-9 months ago.
This also brings up my new point. It is amazing how much Poker has grown in the last few months in Germany. There are a slew of new poker commercials for a bunch of different online poker rooms. I had already noticed that from the german webpages I frequent, but to see it in everyday TV is still a bit surprising for me. I was reading the Stox book on the bus and got into a conversation with this lady that says her husband is crazy about poker. She still doesn’t know what to make of it, but she got a trip to Vegas out of it, so she seemed happy. She just said she couldn’t remember all the percentages and stuff, which I thought funny, because there wasn’t even a question about the gambling aspect, it almost sounded as if her husband had a hobby like chess and she just couldn’t or wouldn’t keep up with it.
I also saw the Boris Becker Pokerstars commercial here, which is absolutely ridiculous, but that’s not the point. It only reminded me how big Boris Becker is here in Germany. On this one TV channel they brought reruns of the ‘87 Davis cup with the legendary McEnroe matches, right on prime-time. Amazing that showing reruns lands you in the Top 5 ratings-wise. My brother in-law also commented about so much poker commercials while watching some reality show on DMAX, the guy channel. I guess they know their market, lol.
But overall there is a more looseview of gambling in Europe. Just down the street there is a huge sportsbook (think Vegas sportsbook without the lights). It is next to a mini-mall and a music school. I mean, there are children just walking by and there is none of this “OMG, the children!!!” mentality. If gambling is just “there” and nothing abnormal or extremely forbidding, people’s attitudes are also more lassaiz fair. I believe that makes less compulsive gamblers. Bet a few Euros on the soccer game of the week… who cares???
So back to poker. I still have found time to play a few hands of online poker here in Germany. Due to the time shift, I also find myself playing against a bunch of European (mostly British, Scandinavian and German) players. While the Scandinavians have a good semi-Lagish approach to the game, I’m finding the Germans are HUUUUGE nits. It’s not just me, there was an article about this on the newest Full Tilt mailing . The players are playing 100% by the book, bunch of multitabling grinders. The tables have 25% players to the flop and most of them are extremely Taggish.
But that’s the problem! If you are going to be predictable, then you lose any edge you have in poker, which comes from the “unknown” component. If I know how you are going to act, it is almost as if you are showing your cards to me and then by the Fundamental Theorem of Poker, I win. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather have a table full of fish, but beating the
TAGs is not as difficult as many make it seem, as the betting patterns are very predictable. Also easy are the “raise or folders”, calling them down with the best hand makes them tilt! While you can win at the micro stakes playing like a bot, there are reasons, why poker bots are rarely seen at higher stakes. The players mix it up to much and don’t play 100% like the book. They have reads on you and adjust accordingly (not bluff a calling station, be wary of passive player’s raises, etc.). Adjusting to TAGs play is fairly easy. So, those were my random tidbits from my Christmas journey in Germany.
I’ll be back in the Bay Area on the 30th. Let’s see what the New Year brings…
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Sounds like the all us Americans should move to Germany, at least for the poker and the beer and the McEnroe reruns! I like the commercial McEnroe has out now, I think it’s for American Express “resolve conflicts” or something like that!