Official language: Arabic
Population: 23,013,376
Currency: Yemeni Rial (YER)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = 300.4542 YER
1 GBP = 335.3194 YER
1 USD = 202.9410 YER

Poker in Yemen
Yemen is a country of few poker players. The reason for this is simple – poker in Yemen is illegal. In fact, all forms of gambling are banned in the country. The source of this ban is Yemen's official religion – Islam. Under Islamic Law, gambling, wagering, and placing bets are all strictly prohibited. Because most people in Yemen are Muslims, there is little resistance to the gambling ban. A few people take part in illegal, underground poker games, but these are not very common, and are usually not safe since they can get broken up by police and all money involved can be lost. Some players will travel abroad to enjoy poker games, since there are no poker games or tournaments to be found in Yemen.

Online Poker in Yemen
Online poker in Yemen is a good alternative to standard poker games. There are no internet poker websites hosted in Yemen because of the gambling ban, but there are lots of sites run from other countries around the world that offer real-money poker games and poker tournaments online. Because these foreign poker rooms are hosted in countries where online gambling is legal, and because the government of Yemen has no power over what goes on in those countries, players in Yemen can join these sites and play freely. The government of Yemen tries to stop this by blocking online poker sites and other gambling websites, but the filters they use are not very effective, and many good sites slip though the cracks.