The Match Poker Federation of Australia (MPFA) is affiliated with the global International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP), which is the recognised governing body for the mind sport of poker.
The IFMP promotes poker in its Match Poker variation as a game of skill and as a mind sport. Having evolved from its original seven member nations to more than 50 federations, the IFMP is now the hub for a thriving world poker community.
The Poker Federation of Australia is chaired by Julius Colman and represents a wide range of experience across various areas of poker and industry.
The Match Poker Federation of Australia was represented by Team Australia – which they nicknamed “Team Straya”, at the 2020 Nations Cup of Match Poker. The team, represented by Julius Colman, Tanja Vujanovic, Jarryd Godena, Daniel Levy, Josh Budin, Ashley Warner, Chris Wookey and Heidi May, played brilliantly, coming 2nd to Ukraine who backed up its win from 2019. The remaining finalists were Lithuania, India, Taiwan, Poland, Ireland, Belarus, Germany, Spain, South Korea and Singapore.
The MPFA expects to release details of its online Match Poker events soon, providing local players with the chance to represent the “official” Australian tournament Match Poker team, wearing the green and gold in IFMP-sanctioned international tournaments.
More details of Match Poker Federation of Australia initiatives and events will be announced in the coming weeks. Also check out Match Poker online at matchpoker.com.
About the International Federation of Poker:
Founded in April 2009 in Lausanne, Switzerland, home of the Olympic movement and most other sports federations, IFMP champions poker as “a mind-sport of strategic skill”, alongside chess, bridge, draughts and Go.
As it campaigns to emphasise the skills inherent in poker and present it as an officially recognised ‘mind sport’, it will also lobby legislators to separate poker from gambling. “It’s a disgrace”, says CEO Justin Huxley, “that ordinary slot machines carry the label of ‘pokies’ when they are nothing but gaming machines with no element of skill.”
IFMP’s member nations now number more than 50 worldwide from five continents. IFMP events do not involve buy-ins or gambling. IFMP now has observer member status of the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) and GAISF – the Global Association of International Sports Federations. IFMP is also working closely with the recently established Mindsport Research Network at the Berkman Center at Harvard University.
Since its creation, IFMP has grown in scope and stature to become Match Poker’s official governing body. Beyond its role in organising major international tournaments, IFMP, in partnership with its online arm, matchpoker.com, will compile international rankings with separate national classifications and present players from around the world to compete against each other. While the size and scope of IFMP keeps expanding, the goal remains the same: to promote poker and its match variation as a mind sport, without any discrimination as to race, sex, creed, or disability; and to reinforce the element of skill involved, as well as the talent and determination required to succeed.
What is Match Poker?
Each hand of Match Poker, in isolation, is a hand of No-Limit Texas Hold’em where a player is looking to win the most (or lose the fewest) chips they can. A chip stack of 100 big blinds is set for every player at the start of each hand and the blinds do not increase.
The same cards are dealt at all tables.
Match Poker can be played by individuals or teams.
In a team event, one player from each team sits at each of the tables, always in a different seat position. Over the course of a hand, therefore, each team receives each set of hole cards in every position. To avoid figuring out what cards their opponents have, teammates cannot communicate with each other. A team’s collective skill in playing these hands and consistently outperforming the other teams determine their finishing position. In no way does the quality of the cards a player or team receives influence their chance of winning the tournament, thus the majority of the luck inherent in poker is removed.
When played by individuals, a sophisticated algorithm quickly determines a player’s ranking across all players in the world. This ranking then rises and falls depending on that player’s performance against other players. The need for an algorithm makes online play a perfect platform for mass play of Match Poker.
Match Poker Online – an eSport
While Match Poker in its live format is growing its base of federations around the world, gaining momentum towards its ultimate goal of making poker an Olympic sport, a separate team is working to bring the sport of Match Poker to the world through an online app.
Match Poker Online™ will revolutionise the poker industry. Since Match Poker allows players to compete on skill, rather than luck, players can be ranked according to their poker ability. There will be a leaderboard that ranks all poker players in the world.
But, as many players can’t expect to rank very highly in the world, Match Poker Online will leverage the many IFMP federations, nations and States to create leaderboards specifically for members of their national federation. Added to this, at the local level, groups of like-minded individuals will be able to form clubs with their own leaderboards, and compete for local, regional or state-wide championships as well.
The app is about to enter its internal testing phase. Groups of mates who regularly play poker against each other have been volunteering to create clubs and be amongst the first poker players in the world to receive their global ranking. The first such event will be held in June 2021. If you play poker with just your mates and want to know who the best player is and who the luck-boxes are, you can sign up to participate in our development testing at matchpoker.com/club-tester-signup.