888poker, the online poker division of gambling operator 888 Holdings, and Svenska Pokerförbundet, or else known as the Swedish Poker Federation, have penned a two-year deal, under the terms of which the popular poker room would host Poker-SM’s online poker portion, or the online Swedish Poker Championships.
Established in 2004, Svenska Pokerförbundet is a non-profit organization that uses revenue generated to promote the game of poker in Sweden. The federation has formerly worked with PokerStars and Full Tilt, with the two card rooms offering satellites for annually-held live poker championships. As mentioned above, 888poker will now take charge of Poker-SM’s online portion for a period of two years.
Commenting on the latest partnership, Mauritz Altikardes, CEO of Poker Event, owner of Poker-SM, said that it is just what the Swedish Poker Federation needs now – to work with a committed partner that will support the online poker community in its growth.
This year, the said online portion will feature as many as 12 events, which are to be hosted by 888poker from May 24-30. The two-day $160 PSMO Main Event will naturally be the highlight tournament. It will offer players quite a lot of action.
Unlike other years, when the Poker-SM online portion offered a number of poker variants, this year, the things will be a bit different. Players will have the opportunity to enter mostly No-Limit Hold’em events. There will be as many as three tournaments in other variants, with those being Pot-Limit Omaha, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, and a combined No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha event.
888poker’s partnership with Svenska Pokerförbundet has not been the poker room’s first such deal in Europe. In March, it penned an agreement with UK’s Aspers Casino Stratford. In addition, it was last week when 888poker revealed a partnership with King’s Casino in the Czech Republic.
Currently, King’s Casino features one of the largest rooms for live poker in Europe and plays host to a number of prestigious tournaments, with the German Championship of Poker and the Deutsche Poker Tour being among those. 888poker will now be a headline sponsor for the afore-mentioned events. What is more, through its partnership with the Czech casino, the online poker room will have the chance to further establish itself as one of the big names in the German poker community.
