In the meantime I was an established player at the casino in Baden-Baden and had gained a certain recognition. Now I wanted more. That’s why I travelled to Innsbruck to take part in the European Poker Championships there. As far as the winnings go I couldn’t complain, but according to the local rules I finished in one of the lower positions. The winner was the person who had won the most pots. The amounts in the respective pots were completely irrelevant. If someone won only one pot of 100,000 schillings, he would still be the last in the tournament. This disastrous rule was, thankfully, soon abandoned. In December I travelled with Lothar Landauer to Amsterdam for the “Master Classics of Poker”. Lothar and I were then, as far as I know, the only poker pros in Germany, which is why the organizers personally invited us. In Holland I got to know the poker variation Texas Hold’em for the first time, and at first go managed to finish in eighth place in the tournament. By the way I spent roughly 220 days in casinos in Germany and Austria. At the end of the year I was again able to register a distinct plus in my bank account.