A short review of the PokerFeEst projects
This is a year of elections when projects usually stagnate. It is regrettable that the budget is losing money.
by Poker Player
Mr. Constantinescu, what can the Romanian live tournament players expect in the near future?
Starting with this fall, PokerFest resumes its series of poker festivals, featuring large tournaments and high attendance. We consider the association with local partners, clubs or casinos, located in easily accessible areas in the country, to cover for the poker needs in the region. The tournament players are competitive people, they like being successful and the small and regular tournaments are only good enough for a weekend entertainment – they want to play in big fields for big prizes and for their portfolio. A PokerFest cup means a lot for the participants and this is the reason why we chose the best scenario: great festivals where the entire community meets and fights for titles that matter for their career. We should not forget that the PokerFest trophies can be the perfect starting point of a successful career in partnership with big online operators (Robert Cezarescu, for instance).
What should we anticipate from PokerFest?
We are trying to develop ourselves. There is no time to stay still in this industry: you either go up or you go away. Besides the series of national festivals to be scheduled almost on a monthly basis, we are also going abroad. PokerFest is a perfect brand for such ambitions as it has impeccably organized everything so far, at standards that most rival operators in Europe have never reached. It is true that we have a small geographical disadvantage. It would have been a totally different thing if we had started PokerFest in a western country, with a good legislation, better financial capabilities and a larger audience. But it is our intention to turn this into a real leverage and want to be the first voice for the poker festivals in the eastern European and even the eastern Mediterranean region.
Any other details about the calendar for this year?
We kicked off the fall series with the first festival in Cluj. Then, we are getting ready for a repeat of the smallest but of the one we enjoy most, PokerFest Timisoara. This is the city where we started the PokerFest festival series longtime ago, with only 56 entries. For the edition of this year at Gentlemen’s Poker Club, we hope for the best. Timisoara is the city of my soul and a triumph there would mean the world for me. Things are moving and we will come back with info about the next events.
As an insider in this industry, the question for you is what are the legal prospects to fully regulate the career of a poker player?
This is a year of elections when projects usually stagnate. It is regrettable that the budget is losing money. No political decisions are taken until the elections are over. A few steps have been taken at the technical level: we have a clear idea of how a law to regulate gambling in Romania should look like and sound, have functional models from abroad; we only need the political will. It is necessary to drop the taxing of the players’ profits, as the countries with fiscal and legal maturity behave. Bulgaria managed to step ahead of us but I hope to see the solution in Romania in no more than six months.
What will this law mean for PokerFest?
It will bring a lot to the table, not only for PokerFest but for everyone involved in poker. Once the online gambling is regulated, Romania will become attractive for the important operators. This equals promotion, investments and, more than that, the opportunity to organize legs of big circuits in Romania – see WPT, EPT, Eureka. This will be the time when we can say that the Romanian poker is finally in sync with the world.
Thank you!
