AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: Poker cards on the table
DATE: 4:50 AM
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BODY:
<p class="mobile-post">From casinos and shops to television and the internet - the poker craze is
taking off in France, leading to huge growth in the industry Call your bluff
Philippe got hooked four years ago, with his group of childhood friends. A
group of forty-somethings who played games together, they were mad for the
games console rather than the casino chips. 'During one of our weekly
meetings, our playstation broke down, so we looked for something else to
do,' jokes the photographer. A few clicks on the internet later, the time to
learn the basics of the game, and from then on it's all passion for the
cards, the strategy, luck and bluffing. 'It's crazy, you get totally hooked.
We choose to limit the bets to 10 or 20 Euros, but we've had to change the
day of the get-together - we can't keep going to bed at 4 or 5 in the
morning mid-week.' They're not the only ones. 'Le Club Poker' is a website
created in 2002, which aims to 'create a network of good players whilst
debunking the negative image of poker.' It claims 5, 688 official members -
profiles from Marseille to Brussels, from ages 14 to 67, from ministry
employees to shop assistants and students, from single and young parents, to
an increasing number of women too. Between 100, 000 to 500, 000 French take
part in one of the many variations on the classic game, in private, in
groups or online. 'It's very difficult to know the number of players,'
explains Francois Montmirel, international player and scientific director of
the École Française de Poker. 'As far as I know, there were 15, 000 regular
players in 2000: today it's close to 150 000. With an increase of 50% each
year, France is at the heels of Great Britain and Scandinavian countries.'</p>
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