RytasStaniukynasRytas Staniukynas, who hails from Lithuania, led the day’s poker competition on the second day of the PokerNews Cup. The opening day’s main event was won by Timothy Claude Weltner who is German on 19th November. The love for poker knows no bad weather as witnessed during this event that is being monitored by poker enthusiasts in many countries.

The second day of this year’s PokerNews Cup tournament saw heavy rain pound the streets of Rozvadov nearly without a break. Yet King’s Casino had its share of enthusiastic poker fans as well as a group of eager competitors. As they enter the competition, each of the poker players hopes to be in the list that gets to share the prize money totalling €200,000.

Online poker versus Conventional poker

Poker players everywhere respect each other as they are aware how easily tables can turn even for the most experienced of all. Still, skill and experience play a big role in a poker player’s performance. That notwithstanding, there is the environment to get used to. Those players who are used to playing in brick and mortar casinos may feel a little disoriented when playing online. Conversely, poker players who are used to playing online poker also get a little disoriented when playing within brick and mortar casinos with the event being watched by a live audience.

The latter was the experience the star of Day One, Timothy Weltner, had as he sat at King’s Casino playing. Weltner is used to playing online poker and can often be found playing at the PokerStars as well as Full Tilt poker hosting sites. At the table at King’s Casino, Weltner was unable to play many hands the way he ordinarily would. Luckily, he is still in the tournament and hoping to have a share of the ultimate prize money.

Poker laws in Lithuania

It is not surprising that Lithuanian Rytas Staniukynas should do so well at the PokerNews Cup competition. There are great chances for people in Lithuania to practice poker. Whereas poker in conventional casinos in Lithuania is legalized and income generated from it taxed, the state laws are silent in regard to online poker. Hence, Lithuanians continue to practice the game online without any worries of being nabbed because there is no law any officer can quote as being broken although online poker is not explicitly legalized.

Lithuania legalized conventional gambling in 2001 although people in Lithuania had begun playing it since 1990 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Before then and for all the years that Lithuania had been occupied by the Soviets – 1940 to 1990 – gambling remained illegal. The only thing close to gambling that the Soviets permitted was not poker but lotteries. These were run by the state and the government took all the proceeds.

Big Names Grace the Poker Tournament at Rozvadov

The poker tournament at King’s Casino attracted famous movie personalities as well. There was Anna Yamshchikova and her counterpart, Nikolay Karman who played very competitively at the end of Day 1 of the PokerNews Cup tournament. They qualified to participate in the poker competition when it resumes on Day 2. Although their stack of chips is not as high as that of the leading player of the day, Rytas Staniukynas, they are likely to make a good show when next they sit at the poker tables. Anna Yamshchikova ended with a stack of 90,000 chips while Nikolay Karman ended with a stack of 70,000. This was against Staniukynas’ 446,000 chips. All eyes are now directed at the Czech Republic, the host country for this year’s PokerNews Cup.