Over the short period of existence of poker in Russia there have been ups and downs.

📣In 2001, the birth of the first poker school was associated with Dmitry Lesnoy, who, as a fan of the game, devoted several books to poker and was actively involved in its promotion.

The popularity of poker was promoted by the success of Russian players in prestigious world tournaments🏆. The victory of Dmitry Gerasimov in 2002 at the World Heads-Up Poker Championship in Vienna, the victory of Alexander Kuzmin at the Aviation Club de France in Paris, the victory of Alexander Kravchenko, who was later recognized as the player of the year according to the magazine “Poker Europe”

🥇A prize of 💲5.8 million, which Ivan Demidov received for 2nd place in the WSOP 2008 tournament, caused the effect of an exploding bomb. Passion for poker has become widespread.

From 2007 to 2009, poker in Russia was considered a sports discipline. Thousands of poker clubs were opened: from luxurious, where businessmen and pros played, to very small ones with one table. Many sought to repeat the success of Ivan, the rest just played for fun.

But then everything came to zero❌

⛔️July 2009. The Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation has excluded poker from the register of sports games. Favorite game by many moved into the category of gambling. After which a ban was immediately imposed on her.
⛔️ Order of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports dated March 26, 2007 No. 149 “On Recognition of a New Sport“ Sports Poker ”was canceled. And playing was allowed only in strictly designated places.

The 1st gaming zone is Primorye, located 50 kilometers from Vladivostok. Then open:

🎰 “Siberian coin” (Altai Territory);
🎰 “Azov-City” (Krasnodar Territory);
🎰 Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi.

The problem of long distances and the lack of high-quality roads was also experienced by visitors to other gambling reservations. Gambling zones suffered enormous losses and tried their best to attract customers.

Floating Casinos🛳

Game halls on ships can work quite legally if the ship is in neutral waters. The first ferry was called “Princess Maria”, cruising on the route “St. Petersburg-Helsinki”. As soon as the ship went into neutral waters, the doors of the casino opened and the games began, incl. and poker.

The most interesting thing began in 2009, but more on that later...

To be continued….