The Truth About The International Federation of Poker and the IOC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 4, 2010 -- The Internet has recently been awash with stories that the recently formed International Poker Federation was imminently going to be accepted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and therefore poker was going to be recognised as a "skill sport".

The truth of the matter is somewhat different.

The International Federation of Poker (IFP) was formed in 29th April 2009 and at that time, Anthony Holden was elected as president. The IFP was formed by seven founding countries:

* Danish Poker Federation (Denmark)

* Fédération Française des Joueurs de Poker (France)
* Stichting Nederlandse PokerBond (Holland)
* Russian Sport Poker Federation (Russia)
* Ukrainian Poker Federation (Ukraine)
* UK Poker Federation (UK)
* Associacao Brazileira de Poker (Brazil

One of it's many goals was to get the proper recognition as a game of skill and a "mind sport" and to do that it applied to become a member of Sportaccord (formerly the General Association of International Sport Federations) and the International Mind Sports Association, who are a group within Sportaccord.

The wild reports have been claiming much. The truth of the matter is that the IFP will be attending the Sportaccord Congress in Dubai in April this year as provisional members. They will then be hopefully making their full application to join which will be presented to Sportaccord at their Congress in 2011 in London.

The speculation appears to have come from the fact that Sportaccord is recognised by the IOC and the 2 + 2 sum, and the incorrect information, led it to be reported as poker becoming an Olympic sport.

My conversation with Mr Holden over the weekend clarified the position and you can read the full article at [url=http://www.pokerblackbelt.co.uk/922/the-international-federation-of-poker-and-the-imsa/[/url]

Anthony Holden     IMSA     IOC     Sportaccord