An unusual business arrangement began this year: the casino at Baden-Baden worked together with my GPPA. Normally casinos don’t want to have anything to do with such arrangements. However, Baden-Baden made an exception so that in March I was able to organize the Seven Card Stud Baden-Baden Poker Festival. Furthermore,  from then on a Poker Classic, an open-to-all tournament for all interested parties, took place every Sunday. Thus, for the first time in Germany, a freeze-out principle was applied that was later adopted by many other casinos and organizers.

 

In Wiesbaden, I came across hefty resistance to a Monday tournament, along the lines: “Nobody will come here and play poker on Mondays”. They are still running to this day. I opted out of the organization as the Internal Revenue decided to levy a 90% tax on the entry fees from which I was paid. Already in January I travelled to Las Vegas and finished in fifth place at the Four Queens Classic at the hotel of the same name. My connection to Austria continued the whole time to be intense. At the end of October I was invited to the opening celebrations of the Poker Card Casino Paradise in Hörbranz. In the interests of poker in Germany I decided to start a company as I wanted to become more involved in improving its grubby back room image. That’s how the German Poker Players Association came into being, which today operates as the largest organizer of non-cash prize tournaments in Germany.