Poker in Germany During the past decade, the popularity of poker in Germany, much like in the rest of the world, has been steadily increasing. Ever since games began to be televised a few years ago, poker has been made accessible to a more global market, and people everywhere are catching on. In Germany, Texas Hold 'Em and No Limit Texas Hold 'Em are definitely the most popular games, especially for tournaments.
For the last couple of years, Germany has been a stop on the PokerStars European Poker Tour, which has boosted the popularity of the game. It also recently hosted the Everest Poker European Championship. German poker clubs are springing up too, including the German Poker Player Association and the German Poker League. There are more places and more ways to play poker in Germany every year. Online Poker in Germany Online poker in Germany, however, has had its growth stunted by current laws. Today, it is illegal for a German website to offer poker or any other form of online gambling to Germans. Instead, players who want to play online poker have been forced to use foreign, international websites where they can play freely.
From early January 2008, even this has been difficult, as the German government has been trying to block Germans from accessing foreign online poker sites. The blocks are not very effective though and many good sites still get through. Some even offer their services in the German language. Because the German government has no jurisdiction in the countries that host these sites, players are safe. Furthermore, the EU strongly opposes both the filtering and the ban on internet gambling, so upcoming years could see significant changes for German poker online.
Online Poker Sites in Germany
There are 35 German online poker sites that offer gameplay in English or German and accept wagers in Euros or US Dollars