The last time the Norwegian Poker Championships took place in Norway was back in 2007. Since then the tournament has been held out of Norway but ever since the ministry of culture released a statement encouraging the poker industry, there has been plans to bring back the Norwegian Poker Championships to Norway.
The ministry of culture announced in 2014 that small poker tournaments and poker games that were played at home would be encouraged and tournament organizers have been pushing to bring back the prestigious Norwegian Poker Championships. All the formalities have finally been worked out and the tournament will start in Norway during October 2015.
Amaya Inc owned Global Poker Tours Ltd has confirmed that they will host their first live poker event during the 2015 Norwegian Championships.
The Norwegian Poker Championships will have a total of five regional championships that will take place all across Norway before stopping in the capital Oslo where the championship main event is scheduled to take place. As soon as the tournament was officially confirmed, over 100 players quickly signed up. Tournament organizers expect close to 2000 people to sign up before the tournament commences.
Some of the other exciting events that are scheduled to take place include Østlands Championships which takes place between the 10th-11th October in Oslo; the Sørland Championships which takes place between 17th to 18th October in Kristiansand, the North Championships between 24th -25th October in Bodø, the Central Championships between 31st Oct to 1st Nov in Tondheim, the Western Championships between 7th to 8th November in Bergen and the Norwegian Championships between the 18th to 24th November in Oslo.
Norwegian poker player Ola “Odd Oddsen” Amundsgard was happy to see Norway once again willing to host the tournament. In a statement, Oddsen said
I’m super happy that we finally can play the fantastic game we all love — poker, legally in Norway. Even though there are still some restrictions and a ways to go to get it fully legalized, this is a big step in the right direction. It’s been a bit weird playing the national championship out of the country; it should be played on home soil. I want to give a shoutout to Sigurd Eskeland and Frode ‘Fropsy’ Fagerli for the amazing job they have been doing for poker in Norway.
There is a $180 buy-in for each of the regional events and tournament organizers are expecting around 2000 players to register for the event.
